Dear Editor: Mental Health

Dear Editor,

Commissioner Bob Mullen is a wealth of information when it comes to mental health. He worked for the State for 15 years at the Addiction and Mental Health Department. He has helped to bring mental health training to county employees. I sat with him to see what was going on in mental healthcare at the county level.

The State has started the Regional Community Mental Health Centers. So far, they are in Great Falls, Missoula, Billings, and Miles City with plans to expand. The Montana Association of Counties offers health and human services, which help with physical and mental health in unison. The thought is that mental health benefits from physical health.

There is the Jefferson County Local Advisory Council which is tied in with the Local Advisory Council Service Area Authority. They also combine physical health and mental health. This advisory committee prefers to have the committee board be made of 51% of family members that have experienced mental health issues. Bob says that the local level works best to recognize changes and problems with our neighbors. Locally we notice the child who has no friends, the teen who stays to him or herself. Families and friends recognize when anxiety or depression sets in or family problems of all types start to interfere with life.

Lewis and Clark County has a Veteran Suicide Program which Jefferson County is starting to pick up on with Lewis and Clark County’s help.

There is the Certified Communities Behavior Health Center. They are specially designated mental health and substance abuse clinics, making services available to ensure high-quality health care for underserved populations. CCBHCs are required to serve anybody who requests their help. This includes children and teens. CCBHC is available in Great Falls and Missoula. With plans to expand as grants are applied for.

At the school level, one of the programs used is called PAX. PAX is a set of strategies to help students learn self-management while making their classroom a more productive learning environment. PAX is not a classroom management system. But it does help to make the classroom more manageable. As an employee of the Cardwell School for the last ten years, it seems to work well.

Jeannie Ferriss of the Whitehall Community Library has provided mental health training sessions at the library and Sarah Layng has done the same for Jefferson High in Boulder. Bob tells me that Hannah Nieskens is doing an excellent job at the Whitehall Schools; Whitehall is lucky to have her. She was a finalist in the 2019 National Principal of the Year and the 2018 Montana Principal of the Year.

Public Health Nurse Pam Hanna says that 1 in 5 people experience a mental break of some kind annually. That is 20%.

Bob has spent time talking to our Helena Representatives, trying to get the work laws for teens loosened up so that teens under 17 will have more opportunities to work. Busy hands kept me out of trouble......mostly.

It is also great for self-confidence and self-worth.

One thing I could never understand is that our government at a national level throws tons of money around like confetti for every nation to enjoy and for every special interest group to enjoy. But when someone completes a 30-day mental health program, what happens? Out they go and it seems to me, they are pretty much on their own.

Jim Buterbaugh

Candidate for Jefferson County Commissioner