Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Matt Vincent is accepting applications for the Mental Health Local Advisory Council (MHLAC). A resolution recently authorized by the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners created the 23-member MHLAC; half of whose members must be individuals with lived experience of mental illness, or family members of individuals with mental illness. This ensures that individuals with lived experience, or their family members, have a voice in how local, regional and state mental health systems are designed and delivered.
Agencies and organizations represented on the committee include: the Council of Commissioners, two adult/child mental health service organizations; St. James Healthcare; Butte-Silver Bow Law Enforcement; Butte-Silver Bow County Attorney’s Office; Southwest Montana Community Health Center; Butte School District No. 1 or Montana Tech; the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department; Montana Adult Protective Services; and the Southwest Montana Addiction Recovery Treatment (SMART) program of Community, Counseling, and Correctional Services.
MHLAC members will serve staggered four-year terms, except for elected officials, whose appointments will be reviewed annually by the Chief Executive. Board terms will begin July 1 annually.
The MHLAC will serve as a local voice for mental health system improvements and will collaborate with a similarly structured regional entity, the Service Area Authority, which covers Western Montana. Input from both will then forwarded to the Montana Mental Health Oversight Advisory Council, which advises the Addictive and Mental Disorders Division of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
Applications are available at on the left hand side of the Butte-Silver Bow website’s (http://www.co.silverbow.mt.us/) homepage, in the Chief Executive’s Office on the first floor of the county Courthouse, 155 W. Granite, and in the administrative offices of Western Montana Mental Health Center, 81 W. Park. Complete applications should be submitted to the Chief Executive’s office or emailed to mvincent@bsb.mt.gov.
For questions, please contact Butte-Silver Bow Health Department Director, Karen Sullivan at (406) 497-5020.