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Local task force credits collaboration for new crisis and treatment resources, warns children’s services will need more work
Summary
The county’s behavioral health task force reviewed past investments — including the Prime West Center, EMPATH, ACT and youth wraparound programs — and said children’s mental-health changes and federal/state funding uncertainty mean the task force must seek new, lower‑cost solutions and partners.
Jeff (identified as a task‑force participant) told the Beltrami County Board that the behavioral health task force has been meeting in various forms since 2016 and that collaborative work among law enforcement, Sanford Health, county agencies and community partners led to several locally delivered programs. “We were ahead of the game. We got these dollars, the facility was built,” he said, referring to the Prime West Center at the Sanford complex and other local initiatives.
Jeff described a sequence of projects developed through the task force: an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team that surrounds high‑need individuals with wraparound services; a reset program; the EMPATH crisis center and a youth-focused wraparound program later incorporated into the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) structure. He said Sanford Health played a major role because it could marshal funding and project planning when state legislative dollars were available.
Looking ahead, the task force emphasized children’s mental health as a rising priority. Jeff said a state change lowering the age for delinquency filings will take effect next year and that “children under the age of 13 are not gonna be able to be charged with delinquency,” which will require new local options because usual juvenile placements may not be available. He said Northwest Juvenile Center staff are part of planning discussions to propose alternatives for younger children who exhibit assaultive behavior.
The task force is also monitoring the 11 15 waiver, a state‑level Medicaid waiver pilot that could permit medical‑assistance‑funded services in county jails and would be rolled out as pilots if sites are selected. “They’ll look at what the costs are. They’ll see what the outcomes are and see whether or not something can be pushed out statewide,” Jeff said of federal‑state pilot planning.
Commissioners asked whether commitments and child protection investigations are rising; Jeff replied that commitment numbers and child-protection investigations are up and that recent monthly counts have tied or exceeded records. He attributed increases to financial stress, broader societal instability and long‑term substance‑use disorder impacts that are surfacing as young adults.
The task force described ongoing work to seek grant funds, pilot new services and coordinate across health care, corrections and schools. Jeff summed up the group’s approach as iterative and collaborative: “We identify the issues, we identify possible solutions, we look at financial viability, then do create a plan, try and execute the plan.”
