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Mission: To carry a message of recovery, empowerment, hope and healing to people who have been labeled with mental illness.

When people are suffering from cancer, diabetes, heart disease or broken bones, their first line of help is usually a doctor’s office or hospital emergency department. However, for people suffering from mental illnesses, the first line of help often is police officers, sheriff’s deputies or even the county jail.

HELENA - Former Montana Supreme Court Justice John Warner, now overseeing a $9.5 million mental health trust fund, announced Monday he has assembled the seven-member committee to help decide how the state spends the money.

Who: For youth (grades 8‐12; ages 13‐17) diagnosed with mental illness; and for parents that have a child with mental illness What: Training/workshop to develop leadership and advocacy skills in the System of Care for Mental Illness and in the community When: Friday, June 11th‐ Saturday, June 12th 2010 Where: Fairmont Hot Springs Resort; Anaconda, MT

Click here to download the flyer (PDF) When: April 7, 2011 6pm to 9pm, 3 CEUs, $50.00 Where: Summit Medical Fitness Center Community Conference Room 205 Sunnyview Lane, Kalispell What: This is an overview of a 15 hour course designed for parents of a child with a brain disorder.  NAMI Basics is a peer education program. Parents and other primary caregivers of children and adolescents with mental illness have diverse and complex needs. Education and support for families helps them to live the best life possible while managing the trauma that often accompanies the onset of mental illness. NAMI Basics allows families to connect to one another while learning about brain disorders and empowering themselves to overcome new challenges. It provides information families want and need about their child.  This course is taught by a team of trained NAMI family members and direct caregiver volunteers who know what it’s like to have a child struggling with one of these brain disorders.  Topics covered will be: the ‘no fault’ approach, the biology of mental illness, getting an accurate diagnosis, an overview of treatment options, the impact on family, communication, crisis management, the systems/agencies involved with your child, the importance of record keeping, and advocating and team building for you and your child.  To register:  Contact Stephanie Luehr at stephanie.luehr@pluk.org, or 406-270-1086

What: This group is designed for parents & caregivers of children with mental health issues. The group meets once a month for the purpose of supporting one another and sharing resources as parents/caregivers of children with mental health issues. The group is open to the community we just ask that personal information be kept confidential. We periodically will have resources come and talk about what resources they offer. A representative from PLUK attends each meeting. When: Every 3rd Wednesday of the Month 5:00pm Mountain Where: Families in Partnership 83 Collins Ave. Libby, MT

Click here to register What: The webinar will feature discussions on streamlining the screening process, communicating the value of screening with patients and parents, delivering screening results, and managing referrals from two distinctly different perspectives. Christina Carro Newport, Program Coordinator, TeenScreen Primary Care, will discuss how best to use the resources and support available through the TeenScreen National Center. When: June 30, 2011 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Mountain

Missoula County Public Schools is the only district in Montana to receive a nearly $400,000 grant for counseling and mental-health programs in its schools. The grant was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education as part of a $15.2 million nationwide outlay to school districts in 19 states.

Ed Amberg is retiring in December after nine years at the helm of the Montana State Hospital and 30 years of working at the state's mental illness institution in Warm Springs. During his tenure, Amberg has been a key player in the push toward community-based care, which tries to get help for people with mental illnesses where they live instead of in an institution.

Every week an average of 10 children with serious mental illnesses are admitted to Billings Clinic Psychiatric Center and about the same number are discharged. Most young psychiatric patients stay less than a week. “We try to stabilize them in two or three days,” said Terry Smith, a clinical social worker who cares for kids at Billings Clinic. The kids come from the Billings area, the Hi-Line, Eastern Montana and beyond. Billing Clinic is the only psychiatric hospital in the eastern half of the state that cares for children. It serves all children who need its services, but two-thirds of them depend on Medicaid — the state-federal health program — to pay their medical bills.

Click here to register for this event What: Social inclusion occurs when individuals and entire communities of people have access to rights, opportunities, and resources that are usually available to members of American society. People with mental health and substance use problems are more  likely to fully recover and rebuild their lives when they have access not only to care and services, but also to social, economic, educational, recreational, and cultural opportunities that most citizens take for granted.  A socially inclusive society also provides opportunities for individuals in recovery to contribute to their communities as peers, employees, parents, residents, students, volunteers, teachers, and active citizens. Social inclusion provides a policy framework to make this vision a reality.  The SAMHSA ADS Center invites you to a FREE teleconference training to learn about three innovative community programs that are improving lives, changing communities, and transforming systems through social inclusion practices. The training will highlight the promising practices of the 2010 Campaign for Social Inclusion Award recipients, including:  SC SHARE’s Dream Team, which is reaching thousands of young people throughout South Carolina through partnerships with key government, faith, and community leaders. The Dream Team uses lived experience to show that there is hope; that a full, productive life can be the expectation; and that recovery is possible.  Heartland Consumer Network’s Poetry for Personal Power, which is changing lives and influencing educational systems by bringing open mic spoken poetry competitions to colleges throughout Missouri. This program is offering young people with mental health and substance use problems the chance to use personal experience and creativity to inspire others.     Advocacy Unlimited, Inc., which developed a 30-minute documentary titled Shining Stars – Young Adults in Recovery to give a voice to young people with mental health and substance use problems who teach about what recovery looks like and the important role all of us play in supporting each other. This program will be featured during a public viewing of the documentary in June at the State Legislative Office Building in Connecticut.    These SAMHSA-supported community-based efforts will demonstrate how social inclusion programs improve lives, communities, and systems. Participants will also learn how they can apply for the 2011 Campaign for Social Inclusion Awards and become a pioneer for building a socially inclusive America.   Date and Time Monday, May 9, 2011 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Mountain

The proposal would expand on a set of pilot youth crisis diversion programs around the state. In the last year, four programs -- serving Helena, Missoula, Yellowstone County and Eastern Montana, have been having some "good results," said Jani McCall of the Yellowstone Youth Crisis Network, who works with the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch.

The panel unanimously endorsed the draft legislation, setting it up for discussion in the 2015 Legislature.

We spoke to Uta Frith, author of Autism: A Very Short Introduction and asked her about diagnosis, the perceived links between autism and genius, and how autism is portrayed in culture. Autism was not identified before the 1940s. Weren’t there any autistic people before this? Autism was not a new phenomenon starting in the middle of the 20th century, but it needed people like Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger to point out the striking constellation of poor social communication and stereotypic behaviours for others to see it too. Clinicians used the terms ‘infantile’ or ‘early childhood autism’ and located it among the neglected population of children who were born ‘mentally deficient’. Gradually clinicians became aware that most of this neglected population showed similar problems in varying degrees, and that specialist services were needed to educate children who could not communicate appropriately. They embraced the idea of the autism spectrum. So, just as there has been an increase in the autism spectrum diagnosis, there has been a corresponding decrease in the diagnosis of mental retardation.