Helena provider uses grant to open more youth psychiatric beds

Helena, Mont. — State leaders awarded two-year grants of $618,000 each to Montana’s only providers of intensive psychiatric residential treatment for youth as they worked to keep more children in the state for care.

Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena said it used its grant funding to open a unit, bring in and retain staff and make 82 beds available for Montana children who need that level of treatment.

Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services awarded $1.2 million in grants to expand in-state psychiatric residential care for youth.

Before the grant, Shodair faced staffing problems that limited how many beds it could open, CEO Craig Aasved explained.

“We’ve been in this building for three years and trying to get all the beds open has been a challenge because of the staffing issues. So, this money definitely helps offsetting the cost of opening the remainder of our beds,” said Craig Aasved.

The state saw a 41% increase last year in the number of children receiving treatment in Montana.

Even with that increase, 194 Montana youth sought psychiatric residential treatment out of state in 2025, showing the need for more in-state capacity.

Aasved said the hospital built its new facility with the goal of keeping children in Montana and said more open beds should help raise admissions.

“Our whole goal in building this new hospital was to keep kids in Montana. Obviously, when you don’t have all your beds open, kids had to leave the state. This last year we admitted a thousand kids to this facility. Now opening the remainder of our 14 beds, we’ll see that number climb more and more,” said Craig Aasved.

The funding was part of the $123 million behavioral health package approved by the 2025 Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gianforte.

The expansion also supported the $300 million investment from House Bill 872, signed in May 2023, which aimed to reform and sustain Montana’s behavioral health and developmental disabilities systems.