PATH Program offers mental health services, a route away from homelessness in Great Falls
In 2023 William ‘Chico’ Henderson fell to the lowest point in his life. The stocky, talkative man had spent 30 years working as a ranch hand in and around Ulm, building a life and raising a family in the process. With each passing year the long days and frequent sleepless nights needed to keep a ranch operating became harder.
Then personal tragedy struck. His oldest son was murdered and, overwhelmed with grief, Chico’s life quickly spun out of control. He lost his job, lost his home, his relationships with the rest of his family were becoming more and more frayed and he struggled with mental illness. Chico ended up moving into Great Falls, living in his van on the streets throughout a cold Montana winter.
He was hungry much of the time, sharing food if he had it with other homeless people. Chico started getting into trouble with the law, mostly over traffic violations for driving without insurance.
“I got busted three, four times just for driving my van to the gas station to put fuel in it,” he said. “I just needed to be warm.”
In 2023 he hit bottom. Chico pushed his pride aside and went through the doors of Alluvion Health’s offices in downtown Great Falls to see if the people at the PATH Program could help him rebuild a better life for himself.
“I’m 62-years-old and I got taken down a path you don’t want to hear,” Chico said. “When you get this old and you’re not used to asking for help - it’s hard. I’d rather do it myself than ask for it. I could have stayed in my van, but for some reason after my oldest son got shot –.”
Chico’s voice trailed off.
“These guys made me focus - one more time. I figured out that I better quit focusing on the past and all the bad things that happened,” he added. “Everybody has been working in here to help me since I started. It saved me big time.”
The PATH Program is relatively new to Alluvion Health and Great Falls. At the end of March 2024 Alluvion announced the program to was being reinvigorated after a complete staffing change. Today, PATH is helping to provide primary health care, job training, housing, and mental health services for more than 60 people in central Montana who are working toward improved mental health, food security and a stable place to live.
“PATH in general is a program that helps people who are homeless or who are in danger of being without housing, particularly those who have SDMI which is a Serious Disabling Mental Illness, which is one of our most vulnerable populations,” explained Program Manager Kevin Purinton.
Working jointly with multiple social service organizations in central Montana such as Opportunities, Inc, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, veterans associations, Family Promise, and the Cameron Center, the small staff at PATH help clients schedule medical appointments with Alluvion, offer one-time rental assistance payments, provide funding for minor home renovations, help find a birth certificate, and help with applications, fees and deposits.
“All of these organizations come together to perform a duty,” said Purinton. “They each have their own function and when we’re able to connect with each other it really creates a comprehensive network that allows us to function at a full capacity. Without that we would be very limited in what we are able to do. The network of organizations within Great Falls is crucial to being able to deliver the care we provide to our patients like Chico. Without that level of connectivity, we would not be able to provide comprehensive care to our clients.”
A primary emphasis of PATH is to develop long-term relationships with their clients. Purinton said achieving holistic wellness and putting an end to the cycle of homelessness is as dependent upon fostering trust as it is any immediate financial assistance. It can’t be done in a single visit or at a social distance.
“Most importantly we’re here be a friend to those who are most vulnerable,” Purinton said. “It can be very hard to come out, open up and really express your internal feelings about how vulnerable you are to someone who’s foreign to you and that you just aren’t really comfortable with. Being able to provide a sense of camaraderie to our clients and help them to empower themselves to get out of a difficult situation. What our clients really need most is a hand up, and that’s really what we’re here to provide.”
The PATH Program is nationwide and funded by grants from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Each year Montana receives a federal award of $300,000 which is supplemented by a matching grant from the state’s Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities Division of at least $100,000. The program maintains offices In Billings, Butte Missoula, Kalispell, Bozeman, and Great Falls.
“There’s no income limitation,” Purinton noted. “We need a diagnosis of a mental illness to be eligible for the program and they need to be either without housing or in danger of being homeless to qualify for our assistance.”
“PATH really is a patient led program,” he added. “It doesn’t follow a strict, ridged schedule. We let our patients choose how fast they want to progress through the program. During our intake we list goals, needs, and their requirements to live a fulfilling life and how we can help to get them to that point. They can choose whatever services they need, and we help them get those services.”
“The end goal is not only to provide care, but to also provide hope for our clients,” said Purinton. “Working as closely as possible to ensure that anyone in Montana who is experiencing a state of transience, homelessness, a mental health crisis who is at risk of losing a place to live has hope. That’s really the lasting goal of PATH.”
“Alluvion has always prided itself on taking a different approach to healthcare by focusing upon all the things that make a person healthy,” Maia LaSalle, Communication and Marketing Director for PATH. “We focus on the whole person, on their whole life. We’re not just a medical facility, were not just a dental facility, were not just a behavior health facility. We’re whole person, whole life care. Alluvion is at the forefront of that seismic shift in really thinking about healthcare in a different way.”
“We really try to make involvement in the program as streamlined and simple as possible,” Purinton said. “We have open hours on Tuesdays 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., and then Thursdays 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Or people can call and schedule an appointment where we do an intake process to get to know our client on a close.
For more information, call Alluvion at 406-454-6973, or send an email to Info@AlluvionHealth.org. For more information on the PATH program, you can contact Alluvion Health here.
Today, following a year of consistent hard work, Chico has his own apartment with a kitchen, shower, and bathroom. PATH recently bought Chico a bed so he no longer has to sleep on the floor.
“I think the first step you needed to take is to admit you want off the street and that you’re hungry,” he said of his journey toward wellness. “It’s not a handout it’s a hand up. That’s what these guys did for me, they gave me a hand up.”
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: PATH program from Alluvion health outreach to homeless in Great Falls
