Mental health clinic offers family support programs

Struggling families in Sanders County now have another tool to help them during stressful times and crisis, Western Montana Mental Health has begun a new family support program to aid families in need.

Eric Diamond has replaced Juanita Triplett as the new WMMH office director and outpatient therapist. He wants all families who are struggling to know that their family support program is available and that his staff are eager to help.

“We’re moving into doing a pretty intensive family support program, it focuses on parent empowerment, conflict mediation, communication and a host of other good skills for families,” Diamond said.

In the program each family will be assigned to a case manager and a therapist who will help them to set and achieve goals. “The program is intensive and it’s short lasting six months to a year,” Diamond said.

Diamond hopes that more Sander County Residents will take advantage of the WMMH’s three facilities in Plains, Hot Springs and Thompson Falls.

“A lot of times some people don’t know we’re here and we want to get the word out and have more of a presence in the community,” he said.

In addition to their family support program diamond and his staff are already working on a 10-week parent empowerment course that would be held in Thompson Falls. He and his staff are concerned for families and want to help in anyway they can.

“Families are under more stress especially because of the rising financial costs,” Diamond said. “For a lot of people we are a place where people can come and get what they need, probably the best benefit we offer is for children and families.”

Diamond is also planning a program to assist people who have suffered from psychological and emotional traumas reincorporate themselves back into society with jobs and educational opportunities.

“We are also looking to support clients on vocational and educational fronts,” Diamond said. “It’s hard for them to work. We’re looking to not only support the mental health needs but also the daily needs.”

Though he knows that setting up theses programs and implementing them won’t be an easy task, Diamond takes confidence in the faithfulness and intelligence of his staff members. “I’m lucky here because we have a team that’s tireless and professional and they have a real desire to support the community,” Diamond said.

Yet Diamond said while confident in his staff, he also knows the importance of community involvement. “We want to join with other professionals throughout the county to provide better support,” Diamond said, explaining that a goal of the non-profit organization would be to corroborate with police, medical professionals and city officials to help their patients.

The mental health clinic also wants to invest in new technologies to help their patients. One machine that they are considering is called a neural feedback machine. It would be used as an alternative to medication and would treat patients by scanning their brain waves and then helping them overcome problems by retraining their brain through media, such as music and different types of imagery.

Diamond said that the machine has been used to treat cases of attention-deficit disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The clinic has already raised about one third of the money to purchase the equipment.

Diamond said that he thought mental health needs are a big priority because of the benefits that are given back to the community. “When mental health needs are met the community benefits in a number of ways, people are more productive, there’s decreased crime and decreased drug use,” Diamond said. “I think mental health needs really need to come first.”