LAC utilizing awarded grant to fund projects

The Hill County Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council voted at their monthly meeting Monday to fund a number of the group’s projects using a $20,000 grant recently received from the Addictive and Mental Disorders Division of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

LAC Vice-Chair Amber Spring said, in addition to presentations she’s been organizing for Hill County youth about anxiety, she’s been working with the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line to set up a contest for local students to create mental health awareness posters, with prizes for the winners and a gallery to show off the entries, but she needs help.

“I have way too many irons in the fire, as usual,” Spring said.

She said Krystal Stienmetz of the Boys & Girls Club has experience handling the organization’s fundraisers and said the contest could be handled in the same way that they did the Festival of Trees last year, with online submissions that could be voted on.

She said she needed assistance with some of these projects and wanted to put together a planning committee to assist her.

Spring also said Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line Club Director Tim Brurud said, after seeing her work, that they could expand education from the original grades 5 to 8 range to all age groups, which would require a bit more money but not make a huge dent in their grant funds.

LAC members voted unanimously to approve the estimated $1,000 it would take to cover the contest, prize, t-shirts and accompanying dinner.

Spring said she’s also hoping to talk to young people about depression but doesn’t feel her current project is equipped to discuss such a serious topic in the same way that it talks about anxiety.

Hill County Youth Reporting Center Coordinator Matt Erdel offered to help her with some of these projects.

Spring also said progress is being made on the mental health resource guide the organization is creating with the help of a cooperative student at Montana State University-Northern.

She said a print form of the guide would be completed soon with a web version soon to follow.

Spring said she’s also worried about the career fair she’s organizing for potential health care workers to help guide them to the professions that best suit their talents and qualifications, or inform them of what skills and qualifications are needed for different career paths.

She said she received suggestions that the fair incorporate some training for attendees to use the digital tools that potential employers may require them to use, as well as having a panel of people to talk about how COVID-19 has affected various aspects of the health care industry.

But, Spring said, setting up the fair itself is already a significant amount of work, and she’s concerned that she may not be able to complete necessary preparations before June.

She said she’s open to the event being pushed back.

She also reminded board members of this week’s suicide awareness walkm which will begin on Northern’s campus beginning 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

LAC members also discussed finding interview subjects for the mental health awareness PSAs they are hoping to produce using funds from the grant, as well. These PSAs would play over the radio in the area including potentially Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy’s Indian reservations and have video versions available online.

This project is estimated to cost around $3,000, but much depends on how much they are able to do.

Board Chair Andi Daniel said she’s hoping to have a diverse set of voices in these PSAs, including Native American community members and veterans with experiences dealing with mental illness.

National Alliance on Mental Illness Havre President Crystal Laufer also provided an update on her organization’s recent activities and plans including in-person training which they are collaborating with their Helena office on.

Laufer said the organization is also gearing up for Mental Health Awareness month in May including their drive-through-only Taco Crunch from 5 to 7 p.m. May 6.

She said the organization is otherwise running its classes as normal.