Last month, about 80 people gathered for two days to discuss ways to make Beaverhead County healthier with a focus to reduce the stigma of mental illness and our high suicide rate. The Montana Healthcare Foundation funded the event.
Attendees represented a cross-section from law enforcement to healthcare providers to schools to interested citizens. The collective synergy and concern to create resilient children and families was powerful.
Despite deficits such as distance to providers and scant resources, participants identified strong, positive community strengths such as a spirit of independence and ingenuity, which we want to harness to make a healthier, happier population.
After the summit, an implementation committee selected four areas to develop:
1) integrate a community-based ACE (adverse childhood experiences) program in Beaverhead County to reduce trauma, build resiliency and improve whole-person health. ACE studies indicate that children who experience traumatic events can suffer life-long consequences that negatively affect them as individuals and also their communities.
[For more of this letter, written by Jeanette Prodgers, go to http://mtstandard.com/news/opi...56-84774f32e225.html]
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