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CommunitySupport Archives - Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies: the Montana Coalition

Enhancing Community Care: Vetted Guides for Effective Referrals in Perinatal Mental Health

By advocacy, Caregiving, Community, Community Support, Maternal Mental Health, Perinatal Mood & Anxiety Disorders

Montana has far reaching support systems for families during pregnancy and early childhood. Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB) works hand-in-hand with these networks and local groups, striving to gather and share the knowledge and skills necessary to serve families during these crucial stages of life. A frequent challenge we hear about is the difficulty in referring patients and clients to appropriate resources.

Communities can address this challenge by creating community specific vetted guides to help parents, caregivers, and providers find the assistance they need promptly. To support these efforts, HMHB and partners developed a toolkit to help community groups build an effective directory of perinatal mental health and support specialists.

vetted resource guideCollaborating for Comprehensive Support

HMHB collaborated with the Maternal Mental Health Taskforce of the Helena Early Childhood Coalition and the Flathead Perinatal Mental Health Coalition of the Flathead Valley Early Childhood Coalition to create this valuable resource. This toolkit is tailored to help community groups create, organize, and maintain an up-to-date list of local resources, ensuring that

families receive the best possible care.

The team at the Early Childhood Coalition of Flathead Valley recently went through the process of creating a new vetted guide.  You can see that work here.

What’s Inside the Vetted Guide Toolkit?

The toolkit contains resources and templates to simplify the process of building a community-specific referral list. Here’s what you’ll find inside:

  • Points of Consideration: Guidance on the language to use and categories to include in your resource list.
  • Criteria for Vetted Guides: Examples of criteria that can be adopted to create a reliable and vetted guide for your community.
  • Content for Outreach: Pre-made content to populate an online form for outreach and recruitment efforts.
  • Inspiration from Existing Resources: A compilation of other referral lists to inspire and guide your efforts.
  • Designed Templates: Ready-to-use templates to streamline the process of creating your resource list.

Empowering Communities Through Collaboration

By leveraging this toolkit, community groups can enhance their system of care and referrals, making it easier for families to access the support they need during pregnancy and early childhood. Our collaboration with local coalitions underscores the importance of working together to create robust, effective support networks.

If you’re in a community that hasn’t yet built a vetted resource guide, don’t forget to refer to the LIFTS Online Resource Guide for a comprehensive statewide list of service providers.

Let’s work together to build stronger, more supportive communities for all Montana families.

A parent and child sit amidst packed boxes, representing the struggles of eviction.

Facing Eviction: The Critical Impact on Children Under 5 in Montana and Across the Nation

By advocacy, Caregiving, Community, Eviction, Housing, Parenting, Perinatal Substance Use Disorders
Today on the HMHB blog, we’re sharing crucial new insights about eviction in Montana, graciously communicated by our colleagues at the Montana Legal Services Association. Michelle Potts, Director of Strategic Focus and Development, has provided us with invaluable information regarding the impact of eviction. Read more about this pressing issue and its implications.

 

From Michelle Potts, Director of Strategic Focus and Development at Montana Legal Services Association:

Howdy! I know you all work so very hard to make our communities a better place, and thought you might find local Montana data to be of help in your work. We recently published two new Montana reports: Beyond Housing Affordability assesses the data of 65 client households who faced eviction in both rural and urban areas of Montana, while A Sample of Personal Narratives allows the clients to tell about the impact in their lived experience.

Unfortunately, our Montana study confirms a new study from the Eviction Lab, which shows that children under age 5 make up the largest group facing eviction nationwide. Hopefully this data will help you make the case for the support you need for your work.

Key takeaways from our Montana report include:

  • 48% of households facing eviction had at least one child
  • Over half of the respondents spent more than 10% of their annual income on the cost of the eviction itself – a huge burden for families already struggling to meet basic expenses.
  • 100% experienced increased expenses before the eviction, including medical emergencies, added childcare expenses, domestic violence/divorce, or added elderly dependents.
  • Respondents reported additional up-stream social breakdowns: 17% had a death in the family; 18% had violence or abuse in the household; 12% had alcohol abuse in the household; 14% had a divorce or separation; and 69% had a mental illness in the household. For households with children, these events are considered Adverse Childhood Experiences, which are linked to chronic health problems and mental illness in adolescence and adulthood. At least 5 of the top 10 leading causes of death are associated with ACEs.
  • 31% of respondents were in unstable and at-risk housing after the eviction process, including 26% of households with children. 18% were homeless as a result of the eviction.

The report includes interviews and direct quotes from Montanans facing eviction, including:

  • When asked what factors led to the eviction, one respondent replied that the “landlord doubled the rent with 10 days’ notice from $1,200 to $2,400.”
  • Survey respondents described the impact of facing an eviction on their families: “One of my children dropped out of school afterwards and did not finish high school” and “I attempted suicide 6 months after I moved.”
  • “It took all the funds I had for the storage units I had to rent and the U-Haul, plus I lost my food stamps because I had no rent but had to pay cash if I stayed anywhere.”
  • “The only reason we had a child was because we thought our rental situation was going to be long-term, and now, the only “home” my child has known is a hotel room.”
Thank you to the team Montana Legal Services Association for allowing us to share this information.  To reiterate what Michelle eloquently stated, “Hopefully this data will help you make the case for the support you need for your work.”