By Rhudi and Wayne Miller, Kalispell
As members of the Intermountain President’s Council, we are aware of the services that Intermountain provides for children with moderate to severe emotional distress, in Montana and across the nation. We hear of life experiences, some almost unbelievable. However, it really hits home when you are told actual stories by the children, foster parents, adoptive parents or biological parents who are receiving these numerous services. At the Leadership Summit in April Wayne and I had that privilege.
We heard from Nick, a seventh grader and bi-polar, living in one of the residential cottages on the Helena campus, who is aspiring to be a writer; from Sara, an outstanding high school student, now living with a loving and compassionate adoptive family provided by Intermountain; from Shannon, the foster mother of twin teenage sisters, who relies on the assistance of Intermountain’s school based program and parental counseling services; and from Jennifer, a mother with a history of drug and alcohol addiction whose 5 year old daughter was removed from her home and placed at Providence Home and who underwent intensive counseling and parent’s training and is now drug-free and successfully parenting her daughter.
These successes have only confirmed our commitment to continue supporting Intermountain’s mission to reach its goal in providing loving, compassionate and therapeutic care for children in need.