Advancing School Mental Health in Montana: Partnership, Research, and Policy

Abstract

Montana consists primarily of "frontier" areas (less than seven persons per square mile), extreme geographic isolation, and few metropolitan zones. Montana ranks first in the nation for suicide and fourth for adolescent drinking rates. Research suggests that rates of emotional/behavioral problems are similar for youth located in urban and rural areas, yet youth in rural areas tend lo lack access to mental health treatment. Montana was an early pioneer in implementing school mental health (SMH) to allow rural youth better access to mental health services. In 2010, Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) and the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) employed a researcher to write a white paper on effective school mental health practices. Through this collaborative research project and the subsequent white paper (described in this chapter), state and local leaders began to advance the Trilateral Framework: Partnership, Research, and Policy as an effective tool for building school mental health agenda in Montana. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)