BILLINGS — Montana State University is working to expand access to mental health resources in rural parts of the state. The university received a recent $2.3 million grant for its Montana Family Support Program, which trains behavioral-health paraprofessionals in mental health-related courses.
MTN spoke with a trainee who is looking to support veterans with the resources she's gained in the program.
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"I need help," are three words often hard to say for many veterans and active duty service members, including Coffi Delgadillo-Miller of Billings.
"I'm a three combat tour vet and I actually have my own counselor... It still messes with my mind," Delgadillo-Miller said Tuesday.
Delgadillo-Miller spent 18 years in the Army and is now a mental health advocate and community health worker.
She works as a case manager for Montana veterans, who are often experiencing mental health crises.
"Being in the military, it's very difficult because you're taught to hide your emotions... because emotions are weak," she said.
Besides being a veteran herself, Delgadillo-Miller finds the work fulfilling for another reason.
"Every day, there's 22 veterans that commit suicide because of mental health. My brother was one of the 22 too many," she said.
After losing her brother to suicide, Delgadillo-Miller wants to provide support to all veterans. She told MTN had her brother received the proper treatment, he would still be alive.
She's spent the last two years working on certifications to expand her understanding on mental health. She now has dozens, including Addressing Health Equity by the Public Health Continuing Education program and Developing an Effective Peer Support Program by the Independent Living Research Utilization.
She now has one more class before she completes the Montana Family Support Program, provided by MSU's Montana Office for Rural Health and Area Education Center.
"(Delgadillo-Miller) is so passionate. You can tell that her passion really comes from that lived experience, which I think is such a valuable, and often overlooked, part of mental health," said Natalee Wheeler, the department's project and training coordinator.
The goal of the Montana Family Support Program is to increase the number of behavioral-health paraprofessionals (community health workers, behavioral health technicians, recovery doulas, etc.) throughout Montana to assist families impacted by trauma, opioid use disorder and substance use disorder.
In 2024, MSU's Office for Rural Health and Area Education Center was awarded a $2.3 million grant by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to help expand the program.
MSU's goal is to train an additional 108 paraprofessionals by 2028 to bring more mental health-care resources to rural Montana.
"So, we're trying to fill in those gaps by providing education and training to the paraprofessionals so that they can then go provide those services to their community," Wheeler said Tuesday.
Participants who are a part of the program, such as Delgadillo-Miller, receive training on administering Naloxone, preventing ACEs, trauma-informed care, how to work with adolescents and other skills.
"That's why I'm so excited for this grant. You know, because to get the awareness and to get the help out there is so incredible, so incredible," Delgadillo-Miller said.
After she completes the course on May 9, Delgadillo-Miller will have additional training in her mental-health toolbox to help the veterans she is so passionate about.
"Even for me, myself, it's hard to ask for help," she said.
