Matt Kuntz

It can be hard to get people in a severe mental health crisis the treatment they need. Many times, the only option is the state psychiatric hospital. A bill moving through the Legislature could give communities a faster option closer to home.

Legislation that would allow the state psychiatric hospital to deny court-ordered commitments is on hold. State health officials and advocates disagree about whether more patients can be served in the community.

The state has announced its first plans for spending a $300 million pool of money created to boost Montana's ailing mental health and disability care systems.

Health department officials are asking legislators to change criminal commitment laws amid a bottleneck at the Montana State Hospital.

A state commission will spend the next year working to overhaul Montana’s behavioral health and disability services system.

Montana health officials have released a report outlining ways the state could improve its mental health crisis system. The state is following through on some of the larger recommendations.

Montana lawmakers are considering changes to how the state spends millions of dollars generated by marijuana sales on mental health and addiction treatments.

A bipartisan U.S. Senate agreement negotiated after high-profile mass shootings in Texas, New York, and Oklahoma lacks gun access restrictions that advocates say are needed to prevent such attacks. But the deal’s focus on mental health has raised hopes — and doubts — that it will help reduce gun suicides, particularly in rural Western states with wide-open gun laws.

The Senate veterans' affairs committee got an early progress report this week on a newly established program. Created by a new law, the program aims to…

First-time drug offenders in Montana are currently not given the option to enter residential treatment facilities in the state. House Bill 278 would give…