HELENA — A new fund has been created to help increase mental health services for tribal and rural communities statewide. The Montana Mental Health Access Fundwill leverage technology and other resources to increase access to mental health services to every corner of Montana.
The fund was established at The Montana Community Foundation, Inc. (MCF) by Frontier Psychiatry, a Montana-based telepsychiatry service, through a $150,000 grant from AMB West Philanthropies.This initial gift helps seed the fund and will provide mental health support to children and adolescents living on the Crow, Flathead, and Fort Peck Indian reservations, which are faced with ever-increasing mental health challenges.
“The Montana Mental Health Access Fund is designed to reduce barriers that patients, nonprofits, or healthcare organizations may face when engaging next-generation clinical solutions,” according to Dr. Reza Hosseini Ghomi, Chief Innovation Officer at Frontier Psychiatry. “Frontier Psychiatry is on a mission to make timely psychiatric care accessible to every Montanan by 2025. We cannot do it alone.”
Nonprofit mental health providers, like primary care clinics and mental health centers, will be eligible to apply for grant funding starting November 1. Grants from the fund will help offset the cost of using technology, such as telepsychiatry, among other services, that are proven to increase access to mental health services.
“We are so excited for this partnership,” says Mary Rutherford, MCF President and Chief Executive Officer. “This is an immediate way philanthropy can help address the mental health crisis in our state.”
More information about the Montana Mental Health Access Fund can be found here.