NETT LAKE - May is Mental Health Awareness month, and workers with Bois Forte Behavioral Health are working to lessen negative associations with seeking treatment.

“We want people to change their perceptions,” said Behavioral Health Supervisor Melissa Wright. “Taking care of your mental health shouldn’t be any different than a normal doctor’s visit.”

The team of mental health workers has devised several strategies to implement their plan, including a kickoff community event as the Timberjay went to press on Wednesday, May 1, in Nett Lake to bring to light community concerns over combatting negative stigmas.

The event will be followed on May 16 at Nett Lake at the Tribal Government Center with a class on suicide awareness training from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

The Behavioral Health Unit has previously offered classes on mental health first aid and plans to do another in the future. That class trains people in helping others during a crisis.

“People may have relatives or friends who may need help,” Wright said. “People are afraid of coming in for help. There is a negative attitude of feeling or being labeled as ‘crazy.’”

In addition to the community events, all Bois Forte and Fortune Bay Resort Casino employees will begin to receive pamphlets and other educational material with their pay stubs.

Wright said the Bois Forte community faces both similar and unique challenges when compared to the wider northern St. Louis County community.

She said, much like the rest of the region, the tribe faces a shortage of mental health workers to serve the community. She said the tribe could easily add at least one more counselor to their staff to help with the number of clients the behavioral health office visits with on a regular basis.

During the St. Louis County District 4 Commissioner race in 2018, candidates frequently cited the need for more mental health workers in the region. Just one full-service inpatient center is currently in operation on the Iron Range and only a handful of outpatient options are available, such as Scenic Rivers Clinics and Bois Forte Behavioral Health.

Wright said the tribe is working with other area health providers, such as the Cook Hospital, to bring more services to the region.

In addition, different cultural challenges need to be overcome when serving the tribal community. Mental health practitioners who work with Native American communities need to be “culturally competent” in knowing about generational and historical traumas faced by indigenous communities.

“Many people have parents and grandparents who were forced into boarding schools,” Wright said. As a result of these life events, many in Native American communities have a high “ACE Score”, a mental health exam which rates adverse childhood experiences. The higher the score, the more likely someone will suffer from mental health issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Wright said that counsellors need to change their focus from their own expectations to better understand what clients expect when they meet with them. Wright said often counselors will set their own benchmarks of where they feel a patient should be after certain time periods. She noted, however, that counselors should be asking their patients about their own goals rather than following one-size-fits-all formulas.

In addition to the community workshops this month, Bois Forte will host this year’s annual meeting of the American Indian Mental Health Council for Minnesota Tribes, in September. The meeting is an annual summit that addresses mental health concerns on reservations across the state.

“We need to come together as a community, not just as Bois Forte, but all around,” Wright said. “How can we help our neighbors, friends and family?”

More information on mental health services at Bois Forte can be found at http://www.boisforte.com/divisions/human_services.htm or by calling 218-757-3295.