Billings Clinic and Logan Health partner with Rocky Mountain College to promote mental health awareness at upcoming men’s basketball game
“Let’s Talk About It” campaign underscores critical importance of recognizing and openly discussing mental health issues among friends, families and communities.
BILLINGS, MT - Billings Clinic and Logan Health have partnered with three Montana universities to promote mental health awareness in January and February through the ongoing “Let’s Talk About It” campaign, an effort to underscore the critical importance of recognizing and openly discussing mental health issues, including suicidality, among friends, families and communities. On Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, at 4:00 PM in partnership with the Frontier Conference, Billings Clinic and Logan Health representatives will be in attendance as the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears host the Montana Tech Orediggers at Fortin Education Center, on the campus of Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana.
"Rocky Mountain College and Battlin' Bears Athletics are proud to partner with Billings Clinic and Logan Health in support of mental health and wellness” said Rocky Mountain College Athletic Director Jim Klemann. “The Let's Talk About It program champions the need to address these challenges head on, and to take the first step to help and serve ourselves and others. We look forward to engaging with our student athletes, coaches and the community to destigmatize mental health concerns, and to encourage an atmosphere of hope and healing.”
Montana has the third highest suicide rate in the United States and has been in the top five for highest rate every year for the past forty years. As a state, Montana saw more than double the
national average of youth suicide (ages 11-17) between 2011-2020, and suicide is the number one cause of preventable death in Montana for children ages 10-14. Overall, there are approximately 300 suicides in Montana every year, and a 2021 Risk Behavior Survey indicated that 10.2% of all Montanan students in grades 9 through 12 had made a suicide attempt.
During the 2020-2021 school year, 41% of students reported feeling so sad or hopeless for two weeks or more in a row that they stopped usual activities, a 16% jump from 1999. In 2021, more than a third of Montana adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression and today an estimated 44,000 adults have a serious mental illness. Billings Clinic and Logan Health are leaders in clinical care and health care policy design for mental health services in the state of Montana. Together, their hospitals account for 27% of Montana hospital inpatient discharges, while taking care of 42% of Montana hospital inpatient psychiatric patients.
Montana athletes Dani Bartsch (University of Montana Grizzlies women’s basketball), Tommy Mellott (Montana State University Bobcats football) and Isaac Fisher (Arlee Warriors basketball) have partnered with the campaign. The showdown in Billings on Saturday, Jan. 27 between the two Frontier Conference teams is one of three scheduled, “Let’s Talk About It” themed games in 2024, Montana Tech vs MSU Northern Thursday, Jan. 25 and Carroll College vs. MSU Northern Saturday, Feb. 24.
Staff from Billings Clinic and Logan Health will be in attendance and available to answer questions and partake in open discussion. “Let’s Talk About It” T-shirts and wrist bands will be given to attendees, as well. Billings Clinic and Logan Health, in partnership with community donors, are donating 150 new pairs of athletic shoes to children in need at schools in Helena, Butte, and Billings. Empowering kids with the proper tools and opportunities encourages a commitment to healthy living and enables them to pursue activities they love, fostering lifelong habits that support physical, mental and emotional well-being and enhance self-esteem.
Billings Clinic and Logan Health’s “Let’s Talk About It” campaign, in partnership with the Montana High School Association and the Frontier Conference, aims to destigmatize mental health concerns by encouraging, opening and promoting an open dialogue, with hopes of normalizing asking for help. To learn more, visit https://www.logan.org/logan-health-and-billings-clinic-launch-statewide-suicide-prevention-campaign/.
About Billings Clinic/Logan Health system
Billings Clinic and Logan Health are united as a not-for-profit, Montana-based, independent health care system focused on keeping people close to home and connecting care in communities throughout the region. The unified health system serves an area that includes most of Montana and northern Wyoming. It includes nine hospitals with 1,000 patient beds and more than 20 regional partnerships with critical access hospitals and clinics. Led by a physician CEO, the system is governed by a board of community members and medical professionals. More than 9,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians and advanced practice providers practicing in 80 specialties. Working together, they provide patients and their families with a positive, proactive, patient-centered experience through innovative and effective approaches to high quality, safe health care. The health care system has deep commitments to pediatrics, trauma, mental health, complex care, and health care education. By uniting the two organizations, each of which have served Montana and the surrounding region for more than 100 years, Billings Clinic and Logan Health are better together and better positioned to adapt to the rapidly changing health care environment, with a commitment to sustaining and growing services to meet the needs of Montana and Wyoming families.
