‘A completely different life’: Mental Health Council uplifts Kootenai County residents

As people across the country prepare for Thanksgiving, a group in Kootenai County has recently come together to share in a special celebration of their own.

Each year, the Mental Health Council hosts a Thanksgiving dinner where judges and staff sit down with graduates of the program, as well as current participants and their families. Some of the guests have never had a normal Thanksgiving.

Mary Wolfinger, program coordinator for the Mental Health Council said: “It creates that atmosphere in the family that they will hopefully stay with. “This is the right way to get involved in the community, free of drugs and alcohol.”

The Mental Health Council is a voluntary referral program for people living with severe and persistent mental illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Clients in the program are subject to supervised probation.

The program lasts a minimum of 18 months and emphasizes responsibility. In the early stages, clients spend 20 hours a week in therapeutic activities, including individual and group therapy for mental health and addiction, as well as group classes and peer support.

They go to court every week and report their progress to the judge. For 20 years, First District Judge John Mitchell presided over the program. Since retiring from the Mental Health Court in October, Judge Mayli Walsh has stepped into the role.

Wolfinger said most of the Mental Health Council’s clients have a history of substance abuse problems and major trauma. Court officials work to build relationships and gain the trust of clients who are reluctant to put their faith in anyone else. But when it happens, the results change.

“If you’re willing to trust the process, it’s a whole different life,” Wolfinger said.

Specialized treatment courts like the Mental Health Court reduce crime by lowering re-arrest and conviction rates, improving drug abuse treatment outcomes, reuniting families and producing measurable benefits, according to the Court. and Upper Idaho. The Kootenai County Mental Health Council is always working to improve outcomes, Wolfinger said.

Accountability is at the heart of the program and means more than locking someone in a prison cell after a conviction. In Mental Health, responsibility can be someone who cares about expressing those feelings while setting healthy boundaries.

“It’s a shock to them, but they need to hear it,” Wolfinger said.

Change is hard and painful. For many Mental Health Council clients, it can be easier to slip back into old ways, to continue to self-destruct in the way they are used to, than to stick with an intensive program.

“It’s easy to choose prison,” Wolfinger said. But those in our program have chosen to work hard to heal.

When clients are successful in Mental Health Court, their loved ones are encouraged as well. Last week, Wolfinger met with a program student whose son had been in foster care for a long time.

As the single father progressed through the Mental Health Court and became stable, he was once again granted custody of his son. The two are preparing to move into a duplex soon.

“We’re reuniting families,” Wolfinger said.

Many users have needs that the program cannot meet. For example, when two recent customers needed eyeglasses but couldn’t afford them, there was only one local resource that could help.

Click Christmas for All paid for glasses.

Seemingly small gifts, made possible by community donations, helped clients continue to work, learn and participate in the Mental Health Council.

“Christmas For All really provides resources to the community that no one else does,” Wolfinger said. “I would like them (charities) to pay less because they have skin in the game. It’s not just about giving.”

No community can buy its way out of crime caused by mental illness or substance abuse, Wolfinger said.

The Mental Health Council and other special treatment councils provide the support needed to help some of the most vulnerable people to become stable, sober and rebuild family relationships. When that happens, communities become better places.

“These are complex people with a lot of suffering and untreated mental illness,” Wolfinger said. “Giving them a chance to succeed is great. It’s amazing to watch that transformation.”

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This story is part of a series highlighting the heroes of Kootenai County, Press Christmas for All’s referring partners.

They accompany customers in need and refer them to Charity Reimagined for a special Christmas for All donation, the Coeur d’Alene Press’s holiday campaign that, through the generosity of readers of we, who help the hosts throughout the year. It is an honor to work with these exceptional men, women and organizations.