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Montana (multiple locations)

Project Name

Harvesting Hope

Partners

The Montana Center on Disabilities (MCD)
(http://www.msubillings.edu/mtcd/)

The Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence(MCADSV)
(http://www.mcadsv.com/)

The Montana Mental Health Association (MMHA)
(http://www.montanamentalhealth.org/)

Overview

The Montana collaboration  – formally named Harvesting Hope - represents a partnership between statewide experts in the field of domestic and sexual violence, mental health and disabilities. Together they aim to improve services, develop more inclusive policies and create systems change for women with disabilities who are survivors of violence in the state of Montana. While they are working to improve services for all women with disabilities, they are concentrating their efforts on improving services for women with psychiatric disabilities who have experienced domestic and/or sexual violence.
 
Harvesting Hope is comprised of dedicated organizations including the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (MCADSV), the Montana Center on Disabilities (MCD), and the Montana Mental Health Association (MMHA). MCADSV is the only statewide organization that provides training and technical assistance to the array of service providers that address domestic violence and sexual violence in the state. MCD is a public service unit of Montana State University-Billings and collaborates with campus, regional, state and national programs in an effort to create a fully inclusive society. And finally, MMHA educates and advocates for the mental health of children and adults in Montana, and provides training, education and technical assistance to consumer-based groups around the state.
 
The collaboration originally formed under a 2004 Office of Violence Against Women Educational and Technical Assistance Grant to End Violence Against Women with Disabilities. Through that project, they provided trainings to disability, sexual assault and domestic violence providers in many of the counties throughout Montana.  Their experiences through that grant program helped them to identify a specific need in Montana to focus on mental health and cognitive disabilities.  The original collaboration invited MMHA to join them in this endeavor.
 
Building on the knowledge and foundation gained through the 2004 grant, Harvesting Hope seeks to create meaningful and sustainable systemic change in targeted organizations that provide services to women with psychiatric disabilities and/or women who have experienced domestic/sexual violence.  Having completed their planning phase, they are now prepared to implement their plans in Miles City and Great Falls, Montana. They plan to work with organizations in these communities to enhance their polices and practices which they can then use as models for communities across the state.  Their ultimate goal is that women with disabilities who are survivors of violence have full access to appropriate services at the time of crisis and in the months and years that follow.

Contact Information 

Montana Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence

Kelsen Young, Executive Director
Montana Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence
PO Box 818, Helena, MT 59624-0818
406 443-7794(v)
kyoung@mcadsv.com