Pablo-based Journey To Wellness Initiative awarded $750,000 investment

The community-driven crisis intervention initiative Journey To Wellness (JTW) recently announced a $750,000 financial investment from the Headwaters Foundation.

The investment will be distributed over the course of three years, with the intention of further developing the crisis intervention model of Journey To Wellness for the Flathead Reservation community.

"Journey to Wellness is doing critical work around mental health education, prevention, and treatment on the Flathead Indian Reservation and in Lake County. In the process, they are creating a model for both preventative and mental health crisis response care,” Headwaters Foundation CEO Brenda Solorzano said. “Headwaters is honored to invest in this effort. We know that Journey to Wellness will continue to be a great partner to Headwaters and to the community as we work together to prioritize health and wellbeing, and to reduce the social and economic barriers to health and wellbeing.”

Ashlynn Fish, JTW Project Director said that with this significant investment the project can now move in earnest toward the next phase of development.

“We are taking a comprehensive look at the current services that are provided across the Flathead Reservation, then initiating conversations with other providers regarding collaborative partnership opportunities that will enhance our model, and better serve community members when they find themselves in a crisis situation," Fish said.

The funding provides financial stability for the new initiative and allows for additional staff including an Outreach Specialist, expected to be on board within the first quarter of 2022. Additionally, JTW has brought on a Salish Kootenai College student intern and continues to broaden other collaborative partnerships to enhance services in the community.

Journey To Wellness is a new initiative, vetted from a Voices & Visions community gathering, held in 2019. As part of this local event, a collective decision was made to prioritize preventative and mental health crisis response as a way to improve health outcomes of the entire community.

As part of the community event, nearly 200 participants from various entities within the Flathead Reservation and Lake County, both tribal and non-tribal, engaged to identify solutions to the community’s most pressing health challenges.

This conversation resulted in the community voting on one initiative to fund moving forward, now called Journey To Wellness. This project focuses on mental health crisis intervention and prevention.

For more information about JTW, visit www.JourneyToMentalWellness.org.