July 13, 2006
State Spends $875,000 to Improve Mental Health Services
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) has awarded grants totaling more than $875,000 to six local mental health programs across the state, officials announced Thursday. The purpose of the grants is to improve the ability of local communities to respond to people who are experiencing mental health crises.
The money was appropriated by the 2005 Legislature to help people with severe disabling mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse get help in their own communities.
“Lawmakers recognized that there’s a critical need for alternatives for people suffering from severe mental illness so they don’t have to seek help in hospital emergency rooms or institutional settings,” said Lou Thompson, chief of the Mental Health Bureau of the Addictive and Mental Disorders Division of DPHHS. “We need programs that give people in crisis the opportunity to stay in their communities where they have the support of friends and family.”
The Mental Health Bureau issued a request for proposals and awarded grants to programs in Billings, Butte, Great Falls, Hamilton, Helena, and Miles City. Awardees are:
- Billings: South Central Community Mental Health Center, $139,700, for purchase and installation of a case management and tracking system in 10 rural hospitals and to provide regional crisis intervention training for law enforcement personnel.
- Butte: Western Montana Community Mental Health Center, $231,126, for development of a peer-to-peer consumer recovery program and to help develop a non-medical crisis stabilization facility in Butte.
- Great Falls: Golden Triangle Community Mental Health Center, $163,908, for a pilot project that will develop Medicaid-reimbursable crisis peer support services.
- Hamilton: Western Montana Community Mental Health Center, $67,300, to help establish a crisis center for stabilization and/or detoxification services.
- Helena: Rocky Mountain Development Council, $207,984, for creation of a mental health crisis response partnership among Lewis and Clark, Jefferson, and Broadwater counties. The grant will support operation of a crisis stabilization facility and creation of a mobile crisis response team.
- Miles City: Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center, $65,000, for 1) a portable teleconferencing monitor, 2) a pilot project that would establish 30-day eligibility for individuals who are at imminent risk of suicide, and 3) supplemental funding for crisis response for beneficiaries of the Mental Health State Plan.
Page last updated: 07/14/2006
