For several decades, Montanans dealing with mental illness, whether personally or with a loved one, have found themselves sojourning through the state’s healthcare system with little support. The potholes in the state’s healthcare system caused by lack of funding and resources became like quicksand, subsuming its victims before they could reach for help. Some examples of this include sending patients out of state due to lack of beds and staff; treating the mentally ill like criminals by sending them to jail with no medication while they wait for the judge’s decision; and forcing family members to travel long distances and endure unendurable wait times to see their loved ones due to lack of crisis centers and mental health facilities.

Montana State Legislators are forging a novel trajectory that carries those who are fighting mental illnesses towards the desperate care they need by establishing The Behavioral Health for Future Generations Commission (BHFC) through House Bill 872. BHFC is mobilizing ingenuity throughout Montana as they set up panels composed of Montana’s brightest psychologists, psychiatrists, judges, attorneys, police, and counselors who meet in each city to develop ideas on how the $300 million, specifically allocated to improve mental health and human services for people with developmental disabilities, will be utilized.