Resource Category: Mental Health

Montana State Health Improvement Plan 2020 Annual Report

The 2017 State Health Assessment (SHA) and 2019—2023 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) were published in February 2019 after a public comment period. An updated version of the 2019 SHIP was released in January 2020 and again in February 2021 to include refined objectives for improved monitoring and evaluation; several objectives in the original documents did not have baseline data calculated and targets established, both of which are now included for all objectives. The SHA and the SHIP are published on the A Healthier Montana website and were developed in collaboration with the State Health Improvement Coalition, a group of statewide health partners.

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Medicating Normal- The Film

Combining cinema verité and investigative journalism, Medicating Normal follows the journeys of a newly married couple, a female combat veteran, a waitress and a teenager whose doctors prescribed psychiatric drugs for stress, mild depression, sleeplessness, focus and trauma. Our subjects struggle with serious physical and mental side effects as well as neurological damage which resulted from taking the drugs as prescribed and also from attempting to withdraw.

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Healing Voices

Healing Voices is a social action documentary which chronicles the lives of people experiencing mental health issues or extreme states in real time. The film features characters who have made incredible recoveries, or are working towards recovery, by finding alternatives to the current one-size-fits-all medical model.

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Treatment Considerations for Youth and Young Adults with Serious Emotional Disturbances and Serious Mental Illnesses and Co-occurring Substance Use

This guide presents three evidence-based practices that engage and improve outcomes for youth and young adults with co-occurring SED/SMI and substance misuse or SUD. These approaches will assist clinicians, behavioral health organizations, primary care providers, schools, insurers, transformation experts, and policy makers to understand, select, and implement evidence-based interventions that support youth and young adult mental health. These include psychosocial interventions, family behavioral therapy, medication, proactive outreach, and use of web-based and other technologies.

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Mindwise Innovation Suicide Prevention Program

Middle and high schools across the country use SOS Signs of Suicide to educate students about suicide prevention and identify students in need. SOS has shown a reduction in self-reported suicide attempts by 40-64%.

Through a video and guided discussion, students learn to identify warning signs of suicide and depression in a single class period. At the end of the session, students complete a seven-question screening for depression (anonymous or signed – the school can decide) to further encourage help-seeking and connect students at risk with trusted adults. The curriculum raises awareness about behavioral health and encourages students to ACT (Acknowledge, Care, Tell) when worried about themselves or their peers.

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Oregon Considers a New Approach to People in Mental Crisis

HB 2980 would provide funding for three “peer respite centers”—short-term, homelike facilities for people experiencing mental health crises. Currently, people suffering such crises often end up in jail or emergency rooms, neither of which are equipped to handle them. This bill proposes instead to create safe places where people who’ve had mental health crises themselves—i.e., peers—would provide the services.

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Social Determinants of Mental Health As Mediators and Moderators of the Mental Health Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Contracting COVID-19, being exposed to it, or being affected by societal containment measures can have consequences that are themselves social determinants of health. Preexisting social determinants of health also drive the disproportionately high prevalence of COVID-19 infection and deaths among minority, marginalized, and other vulnerable populations. Thus, the social determinants of mental health act as both mediators and moderators of the pandemic’s impacts, and like all social determinants, the effects of the pandemic are underpinned by public policies and social norms. The major economic impacts of containment measures have had cascading effects that will affect mental health for years to come.

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Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Model

The Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model alleviates decades-old challenges that have led to a crisis in providing access to mental health and addiction care. CCBHCs are responsible for directly providing (or contracting with partner organizations to provide) nine types of services,1 with an emphasis on the provision of 24-hour crisis care, utilization of evidence-based practices, care coordination and integration with physical health care. The demonstration program represents the largest investment in mental health and addiction care in generations.

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Alzheimer’s Association, Montana Chapter

The Alzheimer’s Association leads the way to end Alzheimer’s and all other dementia — by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support.

Montana is a great big state and the Alzheimer’s Association has an enormous mission. Help us determine how we can best reach the growing number in need. Whether you live in a larger city or a smaller town, we invite all feedback.

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Alternatives Conference

The mission of the Alternatives conference is to include as many diverse perspectives as possible on mental health recovery.

The Alternatives conference continues on the legacy of the late Judi Chamberlin, a pioneering leader in the peer rights movement, and is funded entirely through registration fees and donations. “We will be ‘on our own’ again, connecting to the roots of our movement,” said conference chair Anthony Fox. “We will be free and empowered to express our unique voices, to learn from each other in the spirit of self-help, mutual support, and the principles of recovery in action, with the goal of living full and independent lives in the community.”

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U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, transgender status, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

The Mental Health Provider’s Role in a Client’s Request for a Reasonable Accommodation at Work

Enforcement Guidance on Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship under the ADA

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Vikram Patel TEDTalk

Outlines a highly promising approach to mental health care– training members of communities to give mental health interventions, empowering ordinary people to care for others.

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World Health Organization Suicide Prevention

WHO’s approach to suicide prevention is known as LIVE LIFE (leadership, interventions, vision and evaluation). This approach is the basis on which comprehensive national suicide prevention strategies should be developed. WHO has many other resources including Preventing Suicide: How to Start a Survivors’ Group.

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You Are Not Alone

Community where teens and young adults struggling with mental health conditions can find a safe place to talk about what they’re experiencing by sharing their personal stories of recovery, tragedy, struggle or hope.

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Young People in Recovery

Provides the training and networks all individuals, families, and communities need to recover and maximize their full potential.

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