LAC discusses updates with potential new members

The Hill County Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council heard updates from their various associated organizations with a number of new faces at their bi-monthly meeting Monday.

LAC Chair Andi Daniel said the council is required to have at least 51 percent of its membership be consumers of behavioral health services, or the family member of someone who does, and they are always looking for more members.

Daniel said they are at about 45 percent right now, which is much better than it used to be, but they still need to meet that 51 percent threshold.

She explained the organization’s mission of connecting people with behavioral health services around the county, and coordinating with the state on improving access to services.

After explaining the organization to the meeting’s new faces, the group moved on to receiving updates from their various associated organizations.

LAC member and National Alliance on Mental Illness Havre President Crystal Laufer, who is also the vice president of the Central Service Area Authority Executive Board, said NAMI has made some recent changes to its hours.

Laufer said their hours Monday are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

She said they are also running Family-to-Family and Connection Recovery support groups from 1 to 2 p.m. and from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., but if people cannot make those times NAMI can probably work out another time.

As for the CSAA, she said, they are working on legislation for the upcoming session and are doing a lot of good work on that front.

Laufer said Mondays at 2 p.m., meetings will be held to talk about legislation that are open to the public.

She said CSAA also had a great conference in October where she learned something she wants to get the word out about.

She said the 988 suicide and crisis line allows veterans to press 1 to automatically speak to someone with the armed forces who can help them, which she thinks is a great service people should know about.

After hearing from Laufer, Daniel also provided an update on the Montana Peer-to-Peer Network, which employs people in recovery to use their personal experiences to help others.

She said the network was instrumental in getting peer-to-peer support certified as a profession and making it eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, and now they are trying to do the same with family peer support.

She said parents with children who live with serious behavioral health and are experienced with interacting with the mental health system can provide assistance to other parents going through the same thing.

Daniel said having a child go through the system can be frightening and parents can help each other in a similar way to traditional peer-to-peer participants.

She said a task force has been put together to work on getting professional certification for family peer support, but it will take time and probably won’t be ready for this coming legislative session.

She said the task force meets from noon to 2 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month.

LAC members also heard from Montana Assertive Community Treatment Program Team Lead Keli Mutscheller of Many Rivers Whole Health who talked about the program.

Mutscheller said the program provides telehealth services to adults, but they have other programs out of the Havre office, like outpatient therapy, psychiatry and case management, for all ages.

She said the MACT Program covers the areas between Glacier County and Philips County with offices in Havre, Conrad and Cut Bank.

Heather Thompson of Many Rivers Whole Health also talked about her organization, which has offices across the state that provide group home and foster care services.

Thompson also said they have been able to expand their substance-use services after a recent merger and they are looking to expand their other services as well.