Behavioral health care in Montana’s schools: ‘Not a luxury, it’s a necessity’

Missoulian/Independent Record by Carly Graf, May 28, 2025

Erica Parrish never thought she would leave her job as a school counselor, so her decision to quit the role at Belgrade School District was not one she made lightly.

After nearly a decade in the field, Parrish had become “constantly drained” and “completely depleted” in the face of soaring mental health needs and dwindling resources to address them.

Preventative work such as classroom guidance and lessons on how to identify emotions had been continually pushed aside. There was no time to address root causes because Parrish and her fellow educators were constantly in crisis mode.

“I was putting out fires every day,” she said.

Parrish said she and her fellow counselors were managing suicidal students on a near-weekly basis while still juggling other responsibilities, but without added support. Counselors would catch kids in acute need but were unable to get them connected to resources. The stress was suffocating.

“I am a school counselor at heart,” said Parrish, who is still on the board of the Montana School Counselors Association. “I never had any intention of leaving. But the burnout is serious.”

Montana teenagers are nearly three times more likely to die by suicide than their peers nationwide. In 2022, suicide was the leading cause of preventable death in the state for children ages 10 to 14. Native and LGBTQ youth are at even higher risk.

Yet most communities across the state are devoid of adequate behavioral health resources, leaving schools to fill the gap. Educators act as a backstop against mental health crises, even as their schools face crippling budget deficits and staff shortages.

More than two dozen counselors, teachers and administrators across urban, rural and tribal school districts in interviews with the Montana State News Bureau described the changing reality as one that’s unsustainable for schools and falling short for kids and communities.

Read more from the Missoulian/Independent Record here.