County awarded $40,000 state matching grant
Lincoln County has been awarded a $40,000 grant from the state of Montana to design a jail diversion and crisis intervention program for people suffering from mental health issues. The grant is part of a county matching grant program started in 2009. In total, $1.8 million was awarded to 16 Montana counties.
“Too many Montanans are suffering with mental illness without access to the help they need,” Gov. Steve Bullock said in a press release Wednesday. “I’m pleased to support these innovative community solutions and investments that will treat people before they end up in our jails and prisons.”
Lincoln County is in dire need of local mental health care, according to Abby Harnett, executive director of Western Montana Mental Health. Harnett covers all of Lincoln and Sanders counties, and said the area’s need is great.
“We recognize the need for mental health services in Lincoln County,” Harnett said. “Lincoln County mental health professionals have responded to more than 350 requests for emergency evaluations since 2012. More than 50 percent of them required out-of-county inpatient placement.”
Harnett said patients in the area are lacking the necessary crisis intervention and stabilization services that allow treatment before they commit crimes and are then incarcerated.
“Through various services, we know that people with mental health issues do not belong in jail,” Harnett said. “This is actually an epidemic. We want to meet people where they’re at in their crisis. We want to evaluate them and meet their needs before crimes are committed. Jails are not properly equipped for people in psychiatric crisis.”
The grant, Harnett said, is the result of a collaborative effort with a number of other organizations in Lincoln County.
“Cabinet Peaks Medical Center is a wonderful player in all this,” she said. “We’re also working with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the County Attorney’s Office and the commissioners. Mark Peck has been very supportive. The county has been very helpful. As a team we’ve all been meeting and trying to come up with a plan for this. It’s been a great collaboration.”
The plan, Harnett said, is to begin to design a voluntary crisis facility in Lincoln County. The group is now working on a feasibility study, doing the groundwork to determine if it will be possible to build and manage a local crisis facility.
“That’s our goal, to build a facility in Lincoln County,” she said. “It’s not only to divert people from jail, but also to provide crisis stabilization on a voluntary basis.”
The plights of people suffering from mental health issues is exacerbated when there aren’t nearby facilities available. In addition to the long travel, often times handcuffed in the back of a law enforcement vehicle, the patients are removed from friends and family.
“We want people to stay in their county and be around their family, friends and support systems,” Harnett said. “We want people in Lincoln County to have access to the services they need.”
Commissioner Mark Peck said the issue is one that is personal to him.
“Mental health is a significant issue in Lincoln County,” Peck said. “This one hits close to home right now as I just had a family friend commit suicide the other day. The suicide rate is high here. We need to provide these services.”