LAC discusses QPR trainers and state-level changes

At their monthly meeting Monday, members of the Hill County Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council discussed progress on hiring Question. Persuade. Refer. trainers, as well as some changes at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Addictive and Mental Disorders Division.

LAC Chair Andi Daniel said that division is a bit tumultuous right now with the recent change in administration and a few people leaving their positions.

Daniel said the state’s Comprehensive School and Community Treatment program, a school-based behavioral health service for children diagnosed with serious emotional disturbance, has also seen a major and disruptive change in its funding structure, and she’s not sure how it is going to affect each school in the area and how they provide services.

LAC Member Ron Kling said he thinks Rocky Boy Schools will be provided telehealth services to students age 7 through 12, but beyond that he’s not sure either.

Members of the council also discussed the hiring of QPR trainers at the meeting.

LAC Vice-Chair Amber Spring said people don’t need to be mental health care providers to become trainers, saying she’s been actively trying to push back on that idea to try to get more people involved.

Spring said suicide, which QPR is meant to help prevent, has really been affecting not just the Hi-Line but the U.S. as a whole recently.

She said the U.S. is not in a great spot right now when it comes to mental health, and she’s noticed that her work as a counselor at Montana State University-Northern is becoming more intense.

At Northern, she said, the issue of suicide seems to be weighing particularly heavy on Native American students and their communities in particular, especially in the last six months.

She said she reached out to the Little River Institute at Northern and they said they may know a student who would be a good QPR trainer and may be able to help.

Spring said she’s also hoping to find someone who can train high school students in QPR as well, since these students are becoming increasingly aware of the issue themselves.

“There’s a lot of pressure on our high school students, who feel like they have to be the mental health supports for their peers,” she said. “While I think it’s great that people are opening up to each other, I don’t think they necessarily have the training to know the right things to do, like when it’s OK to break confidentiality and tell a parent or tell a teacher or the school counselor.”

National Alliance on Mental Illness Havre President Crystal Laufer also provided a brief update on her organization’s activities.

Laufer said they recently moved into the Atrium and by the end of the month they will be settled into their permanent new office there.

She said because of this ongoing move they are requesting people contact them through Facebook for now.

Daniel said she’s still looking for people to participate in LAC’s mental health PSAs and encouraged members to talk to people who may be interested in being interviewed for them.