LAC welcomes new member, discusses mental health PSAs

The Hill County Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council welcomed a new member in Jesse Bergren Monday during its monthly meeting where they also discussed use of grant funds and possible new programs coming to the area.

LAC Treasurer Darlene Sellers said Bergren would be an excellent addition to the council and she welcomes his involvement as someone with experience working with the addiction side of mental health. The council at large agreed and he was welcomed as a member without objection.

During the meeting Bergren discussed his own mental health program, Strategies for Self-Improvement and Change, and his hope that the LAC would support it by helping get more books for the program.

He said, while the program does charge, the accompanying books are given out free and do represent an expense the program could use help with.

Council members said the funding of book purchases for this program would be allowed under the terms of their recent grant, but it may also be coverable by mini-grants provided by the Central Service Area Authority they belong to.

The council also discussed the budget that was recently constructed regarding use of the grant funds and after some discussion about specific items on it, approved it.

During that conversation Council Chair Andi Daniel said she’s been discussing a contract with an freelance videographer to help conduct the interviews necessary to create the mental health PSAs the LAC is looking to create.

The PSAs would feature local people with experience dealing with mental health issues and how they found help.

The LAC is still looking for people interested in being interviewed for the project, and in an interview last month Daniel said anyone interested in participating can get in touch with her by email [email protected], and find more info at http://hillcountylac.com .

She said the contract she’s working on would cover 10 interviews and three to five videos made from the footage captured from said interviews, depending on how much post-production work is needed.

Council Member Curtis Smeby said he wanted to thank Daniel and other LAC members for their work on all of this, and Hill County Youth Reporting Center Coordinator Matt Erdel said he hopes the community will realize how much work Daniel and others have put into all of this and thank them for their efforts as well.

Smeby also provided updates on his own activities in the past months.

He said the Montana Office of Rural Health and Area Health Education Center in Bozeman has expressed an interest in supporting behavioral health programs across the state including a number of workshops including “Question. Persuade. Refer.” and “Mental Health First Aid.”

He said they are looking at using Hill County as a pilot for their efforts and he’s reached out to the county commission about it.

Smeby said he wants to impress upon the commission the importance of mental health first aid in particular and the possibility that they could become the first county in the state, and perhaps nation, to have all their employees certified in mental health first aid.

“It should be as common as CPR,” he said. “I mean, if you have to have a certification in CPR to work at the county, to work at the school, to work at MSU-Northern you should have mental health first aid.”

It’s very doable, he added.

National Alliance on Mental Health Havre President Crystal Laufer agreed with Smeby about the importance of mental health first aid.

Smeby said he trying to improve communications between the state and the commission in maters of mental health programs and make it known that CARES Act funds for things like this are available.

Laufer also provided an update on her organization’s activities including their recent barbecue which drew more than 75 people.

She said she’s also working on getting their new classes, “Peer to Peer,” and “Connections,” set up and they will be running by the end of August, though she’s hoping they can begin sooner in their new building in the Atrium Mall.