At the close of its inaugural Mental Health Conference the week of Sept. 14, Disability Rights Montana will be recognizing Representative Joel Krautter for his work during his freshman legislative session in 2019. During that session, Rep. Krautter sponsored and passed an important community mental health bill that established state grants for local mobile crisis units. These crisis units consist of mental health professionals that go to people in crisis to provide treatment in their homes and other community settings.
The Conference, entitled “Shifting the Narrative: An Intersectional Approach to Mental Health” features treatment providers, self advocates and legal advocates who will talk about how we can make mental health services more effective and responsive to the people served. One featured speaker is Dr. Jodi Daly, Ph.D., who was the Chief Executive Officer of the Western Montana Mental Health Center before taking a position to provide services in Washington state, where she is the Comprehensive Healthcare CEO, one of largest behavioral health organizations in the state of Washington.
She will identify important ways in which Montana can improve its mental health system. One of those things is encouraging and funding successful community based practices such as the type of mobile crisis units that were encouraged and funded with Rep. Krautter’s bill. She will be speaking on Tuesday, Sept. 15, along with Wayne Dagel, MS, LCPC, and founder of Perspectives Counseling & Consulting, LLC, who will be talking about cultural competency in community mental health delivery.
On Wednesday Sept. 16, self advocates will speak about the importance of culturally competent treatment as well as how we can better forge alliances within disability community as well as other communities to achieve a better system for all. On Thursday, civil rights attorneys will talk about the critical importance of legal advocacy to improve mental health treatment.
The closing session with awards will be on Friday, Sept. 18. Then, Disability Rights Montana will honor Representative Krautter with their Spirit Award, Senator Jennifer Gross, Billings, with their Courage Award, and Representative Mary Caferro, Helena, with their Lifetime Achievement Award for their work to support and expand community mental health services in Montana.
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