Building Resilience Together: How LiveWell49 is Transforming Mental Health in Park County

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Since its inception in 2017, LiveWell49 has been dedicated to driving community transformation and enhancing the health and wellness of Park County (Montana) residents. LiveWell49 started as a community coalition for school and community wellness and has since refined its programming to address the community’s mental health needs. 

The LiveWell49 Resilience Project aims to train community members to identify and assist those who may be at risk for suicide or who are experiencing a mental health crisis. It also works to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health care and increase awareness of mental health services in Park County. This includes partnering with other community organizations across the county to ensure youth have access to mental health services and that all agencies have a clear understanding of the services that exist.  

A recent conversation with Laurie Bishop, LiveWell49 community health specialist, provided more information on the organization and how LiveWell49 is actively developing strategies and gathering data to improve connection and belonging in the community.  

Q: How has LiveWell49 evolved to meet Park County residents’ mental health and well-being needs? 

A: Initially, LiveWell49 focused on a broad, coordinated approach to health and well-being, bringing together community organizations, businesses and schools. Within the first few years, community members reassessed priorities and identified mental health, specifically suicide prevention, as the most urgent need. For more than 40 years, Montana has had one of the highest suicide rates in the U.S., and Park County ranks third in the state, with a rate nearly three times the national average. In response, LiveWell49 launched the Resilience Project, and by 2022, further planning confirmed the need to double down on mental health efforts. Now, the organization’s work falls into two primary areas: Explicit Suicide Prevention and Connection and Belonging Initiatives that focus on upstream solutions to prevent mental health crises.  

Q: Can you share more about the training and services you provide? 

A: We structure our work into four main areas: 

1. Facilitate – Organizing community coalitions, convening stakeholders and assisting with disaster preparedness 

2. Communicate – Distributing a weekly newsletter, maintaining a community calendar and amplifying local efforts via social media 

3. Train – Securing funding that supports suicide prevention and mental health awareness training offered by LiveWell49 staff and partners 

4. Participate – Serving on boards, coalitions and commissions that help tie efforts together across the community 

Q: What role does community collaboration play in your approach to health? 

A: Collaboration helps drive impact. A great example of this took place during a LiveWell49 planning meeting in 2019. Community members identified the need for a drop-in center for those struggling with mental illness. That discussion led to the creation of a new center and the launching of mobile crisis services. By setting shared goals, we can realign existing resources to foster connection and well-being. 

Q: What challenges does the community face regarding mental healthcare access? 

A: Like many rural areas, we struggle with gaps in service delivery. Some residents must travel two to three hours for healthcare. Attracting and retaining healthcare providers can be difficult due to workforce burnout, state policies and a lack of affordable housing. Another major challenge is emergency mental health care. Our hospital lacks dedicated mental health staff in its Emergency Department, relying instead on telehealth services. This can lead to long wait times for evaluation. When higher-level care is needed, patients must travel long distances for stabilization. 

Q: Are there success stories that stand out for you? 

A: One small but powerful example involves a local pastor in our coalition that saw an opportunity within her congregation. After engaging with our conversations around belonging, she repurposed unused church space to house a preschool and created a community sitting room, a welcoming space where parents and parishioners could connect and find respite. 

Another big part of our impact is supporting the network of providers. We’re not delivering services directly, but when local mental health professionals tell us they feel seen, supported and resourced, we know we’re making a difference.  

Q: What community benefits are you expecting from the new Livingston Wellness Center? 

A: I truly believe it will be transformative for our community. Livingston’s climate can limit outdoor recreation and there are very few indoor spaces where people can move, connect and care for their mental and physical well-being. The Wellness Center will provide an indoor space where people can exercise, socialize and strengthen their sense of belonging, which is a need we’ve consistently identified. Knowing that need will be met within the next year and a half is absolutely thrilling. The Wellness Center presents a huge opportunity, and we need to start planning now for how we will sustain and integrate it into the broader community. 

Q: How does it feel to be a woman working in the mental health space, especially in a demographically male-dominated state like Montana? 

A: I first got into mental health-adjacent work in 2007 as the executive director of a youth-serving organization, and in that world, women were the ones making things happen. The people delivering services, building networks and driving change were overwhelmingly women. I’ve since worked at the state level, in politics, and across different sectors, and what hasn’t changed is that women are the doers. But the starkest realization for me came when I worked for the State Office of Public Instruction, coaching communities around high school graduation and early childhood education. Teaching is still a female-dominated profession, but as I moved up the chain, I had to accept the harsh reality that the majority of administrators I met with were men. So, we’re not there yet. But, instead of getting stuck on the imbalance, let’s just keep doing good work. Because, at the end of the day, we are the ones making things happen. 

In 2024, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation awarded a $10,000 Mental Health & Well-Being grant to LiveWell49, aligning with current grantmaking around prevention, community connection building, nonprofit staff mental health and well-being, and reducing isolation and loneliness.