In an effort to connect women with responsive mental health care in the weeks before and after pregnancy, the state health department and a collaborative virtual psychiatry practice are partnering up to provide consultation with clinicians statewide.
In an effort to connect women in the weeks before and after pregnancy with responsive mental health care, the state health department and a collaborative virtual psychiatry practice are partnering up to provide consultation with clinicians statewide.
For the last three months, the groups have been piloting a project called PRISM, which stands for Psychiatric Referrals, Intervention, and Support in Montana. The program is made up of a free consultation phone line or website where clinicians treating a woman in the perinatal period can call to get psychiatric teleconsultation services from Frontier Psychiatry, a virtual practice based in Billings.
Montana has a lack of mental and behavioral health providers. All but one of the stateâs counties are designed as not having sufficient mental health professionals, said Mary LeMieux, who works in the Member Health Services Bureau of the state health department.