Montana Mental Health Trust calls for grant proposals

From Montana Mental Health Trust

Dr. Gary Mihelish, chairman of the Montana Mental Health Trust, announced that the trust is now accepting applications for distribution of trust funds. The trust intends to award a total of $500,000 of new grants in 2017 to help Montanans who suffer from serious mental illness.

The Trust also announces the addition of four new trustees to replace outgoing members, Hon. John Warner, Ret .; Dr. William Docktor; Pam Veis; and Marcia Armstrong.

The new trustees are Hon. Pat Cotter, Ret., Helena, a former justice of the Montana Supreme Court; Dr. Ian McGrane, Missoula, University of Montana School of Pharmacy faculty; Zoe Barnard, Helena, administrator of Adult and Mental Disorders Division in the DPHHS of Montana, and Amber Spring, M.S., LCPC, Havre, a counsellor at Montana State University-Northern and private practitioner.

Current trustees continuing with the trust are Dr. Gary Mihelish and Robert Runkel, both of Helena, and Sweet Grass County Sheriff Dan Tronrud, Big Timber.

In 2016, the trust paid a total of $214,690 to grantees of prior grants. Grants of $631,856 were awarded in 2016 and $141,699 was paid on those grants in 2016.

Grant Guidelines and the Grant Application Form are found on the internet at http://www.MMHT.org.

Grant applications are to be submitted to the trust by attachment to an email sent to [email protected] in a PDF format by Sept. 8.

The trust funds will be distributed to programs and groups which provide services and resources in several different areas. During 2017, those areas include:

• Development of evidence-based or promising programs to serve individuals with co-occurring disorders. The trust is interested in fostering creative linkages between existing entities. Community-based approaches will be more highly rated than inpatient models.

• Provision of physical, psychological and pharmacological services to all persons in Montana. This would be a distance-based service to assure provision of expert advice to rural practitioners and their patients without requiring them to leave their communities.

• Provide transitional housing for all persons released from treatment/custodial facilities. Many of the mentally ill released from prison, detention and even involuntary treatment cannot secure adequate housing upon release and often return to custody because of that problem.

• Establishment and/or continuance of community crisis systems for law enforcement agencies, community organizations and courts to divert mentally ill person from incarceration.

The trustees are interested in innovative and thoughtful ways to assist Montanans. The trust website lists factors that will weigh favorably in considering applications.

People and organizations interested are requested to refer to the Trust website at http://www.MMHT.org. For more information, or to respond to questions, applicants may contact Trust Director Judge David G. Rice, Ret., at [email protected]; P.O. Box 8666, Missoula, MT 59807; 406-399-5940.