Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center Receives Grant To Support Expanded Mental Health And Substance Use Treatment Services

Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center (EMCMHC) is pleased to announce that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) recently awarded EMCMHC a $4 million dollar, four-year planning and implementation grant that will allow the agency to implement the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model for care delivery in eastern Montana.

The CCBHC model of care focuses on comprehensive and coordinated care, including: Crisis Services; Treatment Planning, Screening, Assessment, Diagnosis & Risk Assessment, Outpatient Mental Health & Substance Use Services, Targeted Case Management, Outpatient Primary Care Screening and Monitoring, Community-Based Mental Health Care for Veterans, Peer, Family Support & Counselor Services, and Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services. Services are delivered quickly, conveniently and are not dependent upon an individual’s ability to pay.

Per CCBHC planning and implementation requirements, EMCMHC is currently in the process of inviting public input via needs surveys and working with assigned consultants to conduct internal audit and reviews of services, technology, infrastructure and CCBHC service conversion pathways internally and via MOU’s with area stakeholders and other service providers. It is anticipated that EMCMHC will have a majority of the CCBHC required services implemented in its primary service centers (Custer, Dawson, Richland and Valley Counties) within 12 months, with expansion through the remaining thirteen Eastern Montana counties to follow over the course of the grant.

According to CEO at EMCMHC Brenda Kneeland,, “We’re honored to be one of four selected Montana providers to receive the SAMHSA CCBHC planning and implementation grant. The next four years will be exciting we’re looking forward to working with our Eastern Montana communities and stakeholders to deliver on this model”.

Eastern Montana Community Mental Health Center was established in 1967 and provides a variety of behavioral health services for over 1,700 adults and children in Eastern Montana. With approximately 125 employees, EMCMHC operates staffed offices in Miles City, Glendive, Sidney, Glasgow, Wolf Point, Colstrip, Forsyth and Plentywood, with telehealth services available in all seventeen Eastern Montana counties.

More information on EMCMHC can be found on their website at http://www.emcmhc.org and follow the EMCMHC Facebook page for continuing CCBHC updates.