Current Projects
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The University of Montana 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 resources, knowledge and clinical expertise to multidisciplinary professionals 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. The goal is that 75% of training participants will become newly credentialed CHWs and health support workers. We also 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 available 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: Charlotte Moores
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The Center is working with DPHHS Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Division on the following projects:
- Youth and family leadership 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 and Developmental Disabilities Division
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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 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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The Center partners with the University of Missouri and the National Center for Rural School Mental Health 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