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Jan. 2: Barbara Hadley shared her story at several meetings of a behavioral fitness network in northwest Montana, detailing her struggle to help a father suffering from a severe intellectual fitness crisis, a crisis that ultimately led to her being arrested and sent to county jail.
“He sat in there for at least six months … six months with no mental health care, nothing — as if he’s a criminal,” Hadley said. “Granted, he did something and needs to be accountable for that. But I’ve been trying to get somebody to step in because it wasn’t like a criminal mind. It’s somebody who’s sick.”
There are few characteristics for other people in Hadley’s position and she said she feels she has exhausted all avenues. His beloved has lately been in the state hospital awaiting an evaluation and court appearance.
But it’s hard to even walk down the stairs to see it,” he says. The public hospital is in Deer Lodge County, three and a half hours from his home.
“It’s a long drive, I went up there last Sunday. I made an appointment for an hour visit for me and an hour visit for my chaplain. We got there at the time we had scheduled and they told us that we were going to only be allowed 15 minutes each because there was only half an hour total available,” Hadley said.
Hadley’s experience is one of many across Montana when it comes to navigating mental illness, whether it be for a loved one or themselves.
The Montana Legislature passed House Bill 872 in 2023, which aims to revamp the state’s behavioral health system with $300 million slated for initiatives, projects and facilities. According to the Montana Department for Health and Human Services, the legislation will “expand intensive and community-based behavioral health care and developmental disabilities services across Montana.”
The law created the Behavioral Health System Commission for Future Generations, which held meetings across the state, focusing on other spaces of interest. The commission will give its approval to the bills that will be sent to Gov. Greg Gianforte, who will have the final say.
Rep. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, took a spot on the committee after bypassing Gianforte to lead HB 872 in the 2023 legislative session. The bill called for $70 million to be spent over the next few years, he said. This includes the use of $40 million in this biennium and another $30 million to be spent in the next biennium.
Another $75 million of the $300 million total will go through a separate approval process, involving legislative committees, before being sent to Gianforte’s desk.
“That would be for more bricks and mortar, for building, remodeling and renovating,” Keenan said. “Which, you know, that might end up being what we do with the Western Montana Mental Health Center campus there in Kalispell, some of that money may be made available [for that.]”
The rest of the $300 million, or about $155 million, has not yet been allocated, Keenan said, but is intended for long-term use.
The $70 million expected to be spent over the next few years will be used to fix the formula, according to Keenan. He said he hesitates to even call it a formula because “it’s so flawed. “
MANY OF the issues surrounding Montana’s mental health care system stem from budget cuts made in 2017. Roughly $120 million was trimmed from the state’s general fund following a special session of the state Legislature in an effort to avoid a budget deficit. The Department of Public Health and Human Services suffered cuts to the tune of nearly $50 million.
“Our projects that came out of that were to help providers who had closed care centers, whether they were . . . short-term or long-term business households, etc. ,” Keenan said.
Like Hadley’s father, many other people are caught in the bottleneck of court-ordered evaluations, Keenan said.
“Because they are being performed at a position, about two miles from Warm Springs, at the Galen facility, which is only a few miles from the public hospital. . . it is the only position where we are in a position to proceed. ” Keenan said. We have between 53 and 54 beds there, six are for women and the rest for men. There is a nine-month waiting list. Well, what clearly happens is we go back to the local county detention center and then we’re done. “with other people who are not compatible to continue.
Gianforte has already approved two short-term initiatives, or NTIs. These include grants to inspire court-ordered network testing and grants to build housing capacity, for a total investment of approximately $17. 5 million.
The above grants would be used to provide 24-month pilot grants to counties with funds from HB 872, fund the final touch of institutional fitness to continue testing, fitness to continue court-ordered testing and related stabilization and use of on-site facilities and/or psychiatric telefitness for Americans deemed incapable of getting back into physical shape, according to state fitness officials.
Housing capacity building grants would provide a one-time investment to consolidate network housing service providers serving others with severe intellectual ability or developing intellectual disabilities. This money could be used simply to secure a new facility, improve and maintain existing facilities, rent and staff exercise, and as a supplement to revenue.
Keenan believes the grants for increased bed capacity will have a positive effect on communities in need of expanded or new facilities. He said he recently met with Flathead County commissioners and that they plan to apply for the grant to potentially aid in reopening Glacier House, a shuttered 24-hour crisis receiving center in Kalispell formerly operated by Western Montana Mental Health Clinic.
At a Nov. 30 town hall in Kalispell, members of the state’s Behavioral Health Commission heard similar proposals for the Mobile Crisis Response Team program, which is active in Montana’s urban centers and sends social personnel along with first responders concerned about others in intellectual fitness crises. They approved two NTI proposals that will provide grants to crisis reaction cell groups, as well as a certification and curriculum progression initiative. Keenan said he and his colleagues hope those projects get approval from the governor.
Sarah Winfrey, a Flathead County crisis therapist co-advocate, spoke at the commission meeting in Kalispell and said the state deserves to provide consistent additional money for crisis intellectual fitness systems.
In an email response to the Daily Inter Lake, Winfrey said she believes the Crisis Assistance Team program, or CAT, has been going well. The program has been housed under various agencies and was most recently taken on by the county. She said they have had 398 contacts with people in crisis so far this year.
“I think that being embedded with law enforcement has been such a benefit. I also am available to assist the numerous fire departments throughout the county on crisis calls and we all just work together to help people and keep people safe,” Winfrey said.
Finding a temporary co-worker to take on the workload proved to be a challenge, he said. And there are more questions on the horizon, as the program will no longer be funded solely through grants, but will move toward help through Medicaid reimbursements starting Jan. 1. . Winfrey said she believes the state program can’t stand on its own. These are the only repayments, which is why it has called on the Commission to establish longer-term investment pathways.
As for Flathead County’s program, he said it is heavily funded by local municipalities and the broader network. About $100,000 donated to the city of Kalispell from a national opioid regulation has been funneled into the program, a recurring source of investment that Winfrey says will help it through the Medicaid transition.
Medicaid reimbursement would fund the program based on the number of calls it answers, which it says is consistent enough for the work it does.
“Some weeks I only answer 4 calls, other weeks I only answer 15 calls. In fact, this is another emergency reaction service that wants constant monetary help and can’t get help from call volume alone. Only believe it if the fire or police departments were funded only through their call volumes,” Winfrey said.
Winfrey has a wish list of fitness resources in the area, including the reopening of adult and juvenile fitness crisis stabilization centers, a walk-in center, an out-of-town detox center, and a rural bus service. for others in need. Access in the city.
These are goals that could be addressed through the funding provided by HB 872, though it will take time.
WHITEFISH REP. Dave Fern, a Democrat, said the NTIs presented by the commission, of which he is a member, are likely to all make the cut, as they are offered at “an extraordinarily reasonable” expense. He gave the example of the mobile crisis response unit grants being funded at $7.5 million.
“I’m pretty optimistic; we’re not going to ask for unreasonable things, it’s a goal,” Fern said. “Hopefully we’ll get an internal management and approve all of our requests and take a look at some other circular for 2024 and beyond. “
Fern said his purpose for the commission is to identify long-term investment opportunities. This includes reviewing Medicaid reimbursement and Medicaid expansion.
“In order to partner with our third-party providers, they have to have some degree of confidence that if they move here, there will be a rebate, at least a realistic and workable rebate,” Fougere says.
He said that running on the commission has been one of his reports in the Legislative Assembly, adding that it is a framework where relations are fair and respectful. He said the Department of Public Health and Human Services is transparent about the formula’s desires and the disorders faced through public servants and workers over the years.
“I think it’s because we’ve all suffered from some degree of intellectual illness or have a circle of family members or close friends who have suffered from it and witnessed tragic encounters in our own communities. So it’s a very applicable topic,” Fern said. From a political point of view, it’s a smart topic to work on. So long-term investment and having enough people to hire, I think, are key issues here and we can address them in the future. “
Keenan is committed to seeing situations for others in Montana living with intellectual fitness issues.
“You know, we’re not going to reinvent the world, we’re not going to fix everything, but we can start the process,” Keenan said.
For Winfrey, she hopes the CAT program will continue to expand on her success in her project to help netpaintings. The work encompasses what social work is, offering itself at micro and macro levels to netpainting members and tracking resources, she said.
“This is an incredibly dynamic job, where I might spend my day driving across the county from Columbia Falls to Lakeside assisting with the de-escalation of people in crisis,” Winfrey said. “I love my job and I’m so excited for the day that it is fully staffed and really rooted in the community that I love and care for.”
Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by email at tinman@dailyinterlake. com.
Charlie Brereton, director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, speaks at a Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Commission meeting at Flathead Valley Community College on Thursday, Nov. 30. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
A from the Commission on Behavioral Health System for Future Generations at Flathead Valley Community College on Thursday, Nov. 30 (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake).
Casey Kreider
A Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Commission meeting at Flathead Valley Community College on Thursday, Nov. 30. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
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