Family & Consumer Programming in Custer County

Published: 2019
By Tara Andrews

Family and Consumer Science programming in Custer County continues to evolve as the needs in the community change, new county and statewide issues are identified and clientele request information in particular areas. In collaboration with the Retired Seniors Volunteer Program we offered a Senior Resource Fair that featured presentations from the Alzheimer’s Association, Extension and Stockman Bank. We also had 18 different organizations represented, each with their own resources. Forty-seven people attended and most stayed for the entire day. Feedback was extremely positive, and attendees offered suggestions for next year’s event. Pine Hills Correctional Facility, located in Miles City has been a youth facility since its inception, but it now also houses young men. Many of the men incarcerated there are parents. We know that a father’s interaction with his children promotes healthy physical, emotional, social and spiritual development. Most of the men in Pine Hills have not grown up with a healthy role model for parenting. Tara Andrews taught a 12- week parenting class to 8 inmates at Pine Hills Correctional Facility. The curriculum, “Inside Out Dad” is design especially for incarcerated men. All 8 men were released shortly after the class was completed. Montana currently has the highest suicide rate in the country, nearly twice the average rate. As part of a statewide effort to reduce the incidence of suicide and increase mental health education, Custer County MSU Extension facilitated the Youth Aware of Mental program for a second year. All 124 freshman at Custer County District High School participated in the five-week class. Results of the program Montana- wide indicate that knowledge about mental health increased, students experienced a decrease in anxiety symptoms, there was a 49% improvement in students reporting that they would seek help with feelings of suicide, and 79% improvement in students reporting that they seek help for assistance with depression.