BILLINGS — Montana ranks 45th among all states in access to psychiatrists and as the need for mental health services rises in Montana, Billings Clinic is implementing the first psychiatry residency program in the state to meet that growing need.
Fourth-year psychiatry resident Dr. Russell Ollerton always knew he’d end up in a rural area.
“I like wide open quiet places, so I’ve always wanted to be a rural doctor,” said Ollerton at Billings Clinic on Wednesday.
In states like Montana and Wyoming, where suicide rates are among the highest in the nation, he’s certainly needed.
“We just, in general, we lack doctors in the state of Montana and that’s especially true for psychiatrists and mental health providers in general,” said Dr. Jared Bozeman.
Bozeman is the program director for Billings Clinic’s newly independent psychiatry residency program. The hospital hopes it will be a new pipeline for doctors to counter a growing psychiatrist shortage and enormous demand for mental health care providers.
Ollerton spent 12 years training to become a psychiatrist. He spent the first two years of his residency in Seattle and completed the last two in Billings, made possible through a partnership with the University of Washington.
“The residency is already doing its job. I’m staying here, one of the first,” Ollerton said.
Ollerton’s story is one Billings Clinic hopes to emulate. The hospital was just granted accreditation for the program.
Nationwide, the need for mental health care is rising. According to the federal government, the country will be short as many as 31,000 mental health care workers within just a few years, and Montana is expected to be down 80 psychiatrists by 2030.
“We’re hoping by training more psychiatrists within the state of Montana, they’ll stay in Billings and in Montana,” said Bozeman.
“Even in residency, having all four years of the program here is going to substantially increase the amount of mental health professionals in the state just by itself,” Ollerton said.
The statewide effort to implement the program began in 2014 when the Montana Healthcare Foundation awarded Billings Clinic a $50,000 planning grant. The residency came to fruition through a $3 million grant awarded by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust as well as an additional $2.8 million donated through the Billings Clinic Foundation.
Once Ollerton graduates this summer, he’ll continue to treat patients through Billings Clinic as a permanent fixture of their team.
“I’m just pleased that we get to be part of improving access to care here,” said Ollerton.
