LAC welcomes new member, hires two QPR trainers

The Hill County Behavioral Health Local Advisory Council discussed recent progress on their mental health PSAs and mental and behavioral health care directory, as well as voting in a new member and hiring two Question. Persuade. Refer. trainers at their monthly meeting Monday.

At the meeting the group voted unanimously to offer a seat to Mindy Smith, who will sit on the council as a mental and behavioral health care consumer.

LAC Chair Andi Daniel said organizations like this are supposed to have at least 51 percent representation from consumers, and while they’ll still need more to meet that requirement Smith’s inclusion gets them closer.

The group also voted unanimously to hire two QPR trainers, one of whom works at District 4 Human Resources and Development Council and the other works with local public schools.

The council has been talking for the past few months about trying to get QPR trainers evenly spread throughout community organizations and institutions, but there is one area they still have work to do in, the local reservations.

Council members discussed one applicant who may be able approach QPR from a Native American perspective and help these areas, but they need more information from them before accepting their application.

The council also discussed work on their PSAs, which they have been trying to develop for the past year.

The idea was to put together videos of local people talking about their mental and behavioral health struggles in an effort to encourage people to seek help and generally destigmatize the issue.

But the project has been delayed due to a lack of volunteers, causing the council members to participate themselves.

Daniel said this past weekend they got four interviews with council members, along with one volunteer, recorded and she thanked her fellow members for doing that.

She said she thinks the interviews went well, but the testimony received was somewhat dominated by people talking about substance abuse issues, and she would like to try to get a few more interviews with people focusing more on mental health before proceeding.

The council also talked about the mental/behavioral health care directory they have been putting together, particularly a legal question they encountered some time ago.

During the ongoing development of the project the issue of liability came up, with council members wondering if they could be held liable in the event of a provider in the directory committing malpractice.

They asked Hill County Commissioner Jake Strissel to bring the matter to the county attorney, but he said then-Interim-County Attorney Brian Lilletvedt did not have a chance to look at the matter before his resignation Monday morning to make way for permanent Hill County Attorney Lacey Lincoln.

Strissel, said he has brought the question to Lincoln, telling her it is a high-priority matter and he hopes that issue will be cleared up soon.

During the meeting members also talked about their own recent activities.

National Alliance on Mental Illness Havre President Crystal Laufer said her organization is now fully moved into their new location at the Atrium Mall and are now open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Laufer said they are getting classes lined up for January and anyone interested can call 406-265-2258.

At the meeting LAC Vice Chair Amber Spring said she’s going to be doing some QPR training with staff at North Star Schools Jan. 7 and will be talking to them about how to reach out to parents in the area as well.

Spring also said she’s working on an anxiety awareness program with the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line, teaching recognition and coping skills to students of all ages.