Providence Mental Health (PMH) is a new and much needed resource for the Gallatin Valley. Clinical Director and founder, Kevin Maxwell, sees the venture as an extension of his family’s 30-year commitment to improving the lives of children, adolescents, and families. PMH is designed to fill a gap in local mental health resources by providing trauma-informed care and important whole-family care that was previously unavailable.
What makes Providence Mental Health unique? Its mission, “Improving current family systems to transform future generations.” Changing the trajectory of entire families and stopping generational patterns that wreak havoc on relationships. PMH uses a strengths-based and family-systems approach to help create stronger, more resilient individuals and provide a foundation for healthy families that will benefit generations to come.
Providence employs Internal Family Systems therapy, which promises permanent, generational change through discovering and addressing core issues, rather than focusing on superficial symptoms. Maxwell explains, “It’s about working through the personal history and generational patterns that each of us carry around with us—that have been hardwired into you—so that you can better relate to your family and regain intimacy with the people in your life.” He says that some keep things that are never discussed and, as a result, form barriers to intimacy with others. “We all have an internal dialogue going on that’s based on the past and we would never let someone else talk to us the way we talk to ourselves. If we have challenges and have difficulty being at peace with ourselves, how well are we able to relate to others?”
PMH has three teams of clinicians possessing specialized training that makes them uniquely qualified to work with each individual, as well as to bring together and reconnect members of the whole family. With guidance, clients identify and understand and overcome past patterns and trauma, whether from family or outside situations, and begin to change their internal dynamics. “This work is about reducing trauma by understanding the thought and action patterns that get embedded in us,” says Maxwell, “It’s a chance to collaborate with ourselves without the cluttered detrimental patterns.” Healing these areas restores balance and opens up intimacy and communication with the self and our other valued relationships.
As Montanans, we pride ourselves on our independence and personal fortitude, as well as our strong families and communities, yet the downside can be a reluctance to ask for help or communicate our unique difficulties to others. The treatment team members at Providence believe that we enhance our best qualities by engaging that fierce determination in the process of maintaining our mental health. “No one is 100% consistent and everyone needs help working through things at various times. It’s no different or less important than maintaining our physical health,” asserts Maxwell, who is determined to change and elevate the understanding of treatment. “Having mental health issues isn’t about illness. It’s about normal issues. It’s about life.”
Maxwell is dedicated to de-stigmatizing mental health and mental illness, differentiating between the two, and changing perceptions about seeking help. He explains that mental health is fluid, shifting with the ebbs and flows of life, causing issues to arise for everyone, while true mental illness exists in a relatively small number of people. The Providence team understands that asking for guidance is a step toward strengthening ourselves and our relationships, not the opposite, and that the more we understand and accept the ways in which we can support one another, the less isolated we feel by our struggles and help each other.
If you’d like to learn more about PMH and how their services can benefit you and your family, please visit: www.providencemh.com or call 406-579-4984.
