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HB76 passes the House

by Beth Ayers, Family Support Training Coordinator

January 22, 2025

On Friday, January 17, the House of Representatives voted to pass HB76 creating Family Peer Support certification. Now on to the Senate! House Bills will get passed to the Senate on March 4. As we wait, this is a great time to email or meet with Senators to share what Family Peer Support is, how valuable it is/was for you and/or the families you work with, and why certification is important to the development of the workforce. You can find a list of Senators and their contact information on legmt.gov. HB76 will most likely be heard by the Senate Public Health, Welfare & Safety committee. Here is list of the Senators on that committee:

Lenz, Dennis (Chair) (R)
Ricci, Vince (VCh) (R)
Smith, Laura (VCh) (D)
Emrich, Daniel (R)
Fuller, John (R)
Glimm, Carl (R)
Kerr-Carpenter, Emma (D)
McGillvray, Tom (R)
Neumann, Cora (D)
Windy Boy, Jonathan (D)
Yakawich, Mike (R)

Here are a few key talking points:

  • The Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Commission included Family Peer Support funding in their formal recommendations.
  • Gov. Gianforte allocated $700,000 for Family Peer Support.
  • Family Peer Support provides peer to peer support for families, reducing feelings of isolation and guilt and increasing protection against chronic stress. 19% of Children in MT have a Special Health Care Need (SHCN) including Behavioral Health and 31% of SHCN Parents experience clinical Depression (vs. only7% of non-SHCN Parents).
  • Family Peer Support provides support for early intervention, diagnosis, and treatment reducing the risk of substance use and improving health outcomes. Family Peer Support provides uninterrupted care during transitions, covers the gaps in services, and gives access to after-hours support reducing the use of crisis services. For every Family Peer Supporter, MT Medicaid saves $112,103.18 annually.
  • Family Peer Support provides support in communities across the state including urban, rural, frontier, and tribal lands. Family Peer Supporters fill gaps in and help with the workforce shortage in healthcare providers.
  • As of 2020, 28 states have certification including Washington, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, North Dakota, & Idaho. SAMHSA included Family Peer Support in their recently published National Model Standards for Peer Support Certification.
  • 94% of families surveyed feel the quality of their family’s life has IMPROVED since having access to a Family Peer Supporter. 83% feel the quality of their child’s care has IMPROVED since having access to a Family Peer Supporter. 87% feel more comfortable and confident managing their child’s health challenges and care since speaking to a Family Peer Supporter. (as of 8/15/24 with 182 family encounters surveyed by Montana’s Peer Network during a 2-year pilot project) Note: Family Peer Supporters work directly with the parent or caregiver not the child. However, 83% of parents felt the quality of their child’s care improved. Parents felt better about their child’s care and more empowered to advocate for their needs when working with a Family Peer Supporter.

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