Our Current Projects
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The 91视频 partners with the Montana Access to Pediatric Psychiatry Network (MAPP-Net) to bring a virtual learning series to primary care and behavioral health providers treating children and adolescents with mental healthcare needs in Montana. The sessions feature subject matter experts and case presentations to provide multidisciplinary professionals with resources, knowledge and clinical expertise in their treatment and care for children and adolescents with behavioral health conditions.
Contact: Cat LeMay
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The Center is helping expand the public health workforce by training new and existing Community Health Workers (CHWs) and health support workers, as well as provide financial support to offset expenses that would impede success in training. The goal is to provide training so that 75% of participants become newly credentialed CHWs and health support workers. We will increase CHW and health support worker employment readiness through field placements and apprenticeships, developed in collaboration with a network of partnerships, to enable trainees to support public health services, while providing them with employment opportunities. Increasing the number of CHWs will advance health equity and help reduce health disparities in underserved communities in Montana .
Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Contact: Mackenzie Petersen
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The Center partnered with the Missoula College Paramedicine Program to develop an online Community Integrated Health curriculum for community paramedics. Community Integrated Health, an emerging field in healthcare, expands the role of EMTs and paramedics so that they can more effectively respond to underserved populations and fill gaps in care in their community.
Funder: Montana Healthcare Foundation
Contact: Kim Spurzem
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The Center provides wrap-around capacity development services to Early Childhood Coalitions (ECCs) throughout Montana. Through meaningful thought partnership and adaptable support, we empower ECCs, individually and collectively, to effect sustainable improvements to Montana’s early childhood system. The Center's services help our partners maximize their 91视频 resources and develop skills and strategies. Our support work includes:
- Program Sustainability
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Outreach and Marketing
- Revenue and Resource Maximization
- Policy Leadership
We evaluate and track process and outcome measures related to these support efforts. Additionally, The Center co-facilitates the Montana Early Childhood Coalition in partnership with Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies and Zero to Five Montana.
Funder: Headwaters Foundation
Contact: Mary Collins
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The Court Improvement Program aims to improve court practice in child abuse and neglect cases so the three goals of safety, permanence, and well-being for each child are achieved in a fair and timely manner. The Center assists in creating training for attorneys, judges, and other court personnel who are working with families involved with the child and family service system.
Funder: Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children, Youth, and Families Division
Contact: Jeff Folsom
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The Native Youth POWER project is a 5-year (2023-2025), $7.1 million grant focusing on adolescent health and wellness, providing young people with health education to help them make the best decisions for themselves throughout life. This information is provided through evidence-based programs covering healthy relationships, communication, values, goal setting, reproductive health, family planning, STI prevention and decision-making skills. In partnership with the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, this project is being implemented in Navajo Nations (Chinle, Arizona and Shiprock, New Mexico), All Nations Health Center in Missoula and the Rocky Boy Reservation in Montana. Programs are chosen by the local staff through community and youth advisory boards. Additionally, staff and community members will make cultural adaptations (including language integration when possible), provide adolescent-friendly referrals to youth within the community and create a system of support for adolescents. Laurie Sunchild and Jan Mitchell lead the Rocky Boy project.
Funding Source: Office of Population AffairsContact: Maria Hamm or Mackenzie Petersen.
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The PAX Good Behavior Game (PAX GBG) is a school-based, universal preventive intervention designed to teach children self-regulation, self-management and self-control. PAX GBG provides educators with strategies to teach social-emotional and behavioral skills and academics, creating a trauma-informed, nurturing environment. PAX GBG has been proven to change student brain chemistry with life-long effects that dramatically impact mental health, substance abuse, graduation rates, and suicide in our children and communities.
Funder: MT DPHHS, Behavioral Health and Disabilities Division (BHDD)
Contact: Wendy Ekegren
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MTDPHHS contracts with The Center to organize Project ECHO for three projects: Disease Intervention Specialists (DIS), HIV prevention, and hepatitis C virus (HCV). ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is an evidence-based, hub-and-spoke tele-mentoring, training, and education model that uses an interactive format to improve patient care, decrease health access disparities, and support healthcare providers in rural and frontier communities. Led by subject matter experts, Project ECHO includes didactic learning and case presentations with question-and-answer loops for peer support and case-based learning. The DIS ECHOs are open to Montana DIS workers and interested public health professionals and community members. The HIV and HCV ECHOs are open to healthcare providers interested in offering PrEP and PEP for HIV prevention, and building expertise in evaluating and managing patients with chronic hepatitis C.
Funder: MT DPHHS, Communicable Disease Control and Prevention Bureau, HIV/STD/HCV Section
Contact: Stacie Pannell
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The Center partners with the University of Missouri and the to develop and evaluate the Early Identification System (EIS), where rural schools screen students and provide evidence-based interventions. Rural schools are invited to participate and are placed in control and experimental groups. This five-year project has been extended for two additional years (ends 2026).
Funder: Institute of Education Science
Contact: Karlee Tchida
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Training, technical assistance, tuition assistance, and research/evaluation services to help Montana’s CFSD prevent child abuse and neglect.
The evaluation has three separate aims designed to increase the competency and confidence of new and existing workers and resource families. Child welfare literature indicates well-prepared workers are less likely to turnover resulting in a stable, higher-quality workforce. And well-trained and supported resource families are likelier to remain licensed and continue fostering. As a result, in both instances, states see improved outcomes for children and families. Current evaluations: 1) New workers' in-person and eLearning onboarding and training. 2) All workers regarding new state-mandated training on ongoing skill development. 3) New or ongoing resource parent licensure training.
Funder: MT DPHHS, Child and Family Services Division
Contact: Kerrie Ghenie
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The Center is working with DPHHS Behavioral Health and Disabilities Division on the following projects:
- Family partnership and engagement in behavioral health services
- Leadership, consultation, and informed thought partnership in behavioral health policy
- Addressing systemic barriers and developing provider capacity in serving youth with unmet complex needs
Funder: Montana DPHHS Behavioral Health & Developmental Disabilities Division
Contact: Jeff Folsom