Jodi is a true Montanan.  She grew up in Poulson and after high school she attended the University of Montana and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology.  Jodi went to work for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation serving with the Foundation for 13 years. She then moved to the Boone and Crockett Club where she is now the Development Program Manager and has been a part of the Club for over 17 years. 

 

Maria is back & will be entertaining us this week! We look forward to another great performance f

 

The Club joined together in song, to wish Bill Jones a Happy 90th Birthday. 

Theresa Williams is the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program Manager for Missoula. Theresa discussed how we often have gaps in our society for those a experiencing mental health crisis.  She stated that 1 in 5 adults in our society have a mental health crisis at some point during the year.  There are often barriers to their seeking help, due to the stigma in our society - where people are expected to not ask for help & pull themselves up from their bootstraps.  Cost is another factor in people struggling to get help with mental health.  Mental Health First Aid - is helping someone in crisis by recognizing someone in crisis & helping them get to where they can get help.  Theresa's CIT team works with first responders - Fire, EMS & Police officers to learn Mental Health First Aid.    Theresa explained a lot of myths behind mental illness- one myth: People with mental illness are violent, actually more often people with mental illness are victims of violence.  There was a huge push in the 1950s-60s to move people out of institutions, to treat people in the community instead of in institutions. While there are really good efforts made for folks leaving the hospital - they did not have the resources - so many of those people went into the streets or into jail.  Due to the 2018 Case management cuts in Montana - this system became even more strained.  Crisis Intervention Team has been around for 30 years, started in Memphis, TN when a mother called the police to help with her son that was having a mental health issue & the police arrived & shot her son, who had a knife.  Thus, CIT was started to help assess this situations & train first responders - to improve safety of the person in crisis & also make sure the community and first responders are safe in these interactions.  One of the goals of CIT is to improve client outcomes - going through the Emergency Department can be triggering to people with mental health concerns - you cannot see their trauma on an x-ray, so their goal is to ensure they are seen by the correct healthcare professionals vs. just being dropped in the Emergency Department by first responders.  In Missoula - the CIT Academy only accepts officers/first responders that have the compassion and empathy for CIT and want to be a part of the program.  Theresa talked about 9-8-8: the new statewide suicide and crisis help line.  Theresa also mentioned that they offer a 2 hour Mental Health in the Workplace training.  Thank you for the great talk Theresa! 

With her extensive experience as our Club Treasurer. Kathy contributed to the knowledge base at the district assembly, teaching about Zero Base Budgeting for Rotary club budgets and fundraising events.