Psychologist works to raise awareness about mental health

Psychologist Sara Boilen wants to get people talking about mental health, regardless of how uncomfortable the topic may seem.

And it’s especially important to get that conversation going here in northwest Montana, she said.

Boilen is the founder and chief psychologist at Sweetgrass Psychological Services in Whitefish. Started in 2013, Sweetgrass offers a range of services for people suffering from trauma, grief, relationships, addiction and other issues related to mental health.

“As a rule, in rural communities and the rural west maybe more so, there’s a lot more of a sort of bootstraps mentality that really goes against asking for help,” Boilen told the Pilot in a recent interview. “You’re allowed to ask your neighbor to help you lift up that hay bale, but you’re not really allowed to talk about your feelings.”

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. An estimated 50 percent of all Americans will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Boilen says when people do seek help, there’s still obstacles to overcome. She often sees people come in reluctantly after several months of suffering or grieving, leaving her wondering what kept them from coming sooner. Even when they book an appointment, she says about 20 percent don’t make the first scheduled appointment.

Making conversations about mental health difficulties more commonplace is a good start to taking away the fear of sitting on a couch across from a therapist.

“I think there’s a huge hurdle for people to get over just to get in the door. Again, let’s bring this out into the community. Let’s have these conversations out there,” she says. “Let’s just make this a thing that people know how to talk about so they don’t have to worry as much about getting in the door here.”

Whitefish is good about some practices for maintaining mental wellness, Boilen said.

Boilen pointed to research demonstrating that 30 minutes of walking per day can have the same efficacy as taking Prozac for depression, then noted how many people she sees out on the Whitefish Trail or the bike path on any given day.

The difficulty picks up when these escapes — the lakes and mountains people turn to — cause their own damages.

“Our strategy is to cope by going to the mountains, I’m not always sure that we do a good job of talking about things when we’re in the mountains. Our community has been hit by several deaths, some of which were caused by the mountains, that reverberated pretty hard, and I think those incidents have forced our hands in talking about things. And I still think we have a ways to go,” she said.

Part of the issue with getting help with mental health issues is getting the care.

Sweetgrass offers a wide range of psychological testing services to diagnose children and adults and help find better-tailored ways to address the issues they may have.

Boilen likens the testing to an MRI machine, and the psychologist to a physical therapist. The MRI machine specifically determines the ailment, while the physical therapist oversees treatment with the patient.

The problem is, of the several doctoral level psychological service providers in the Flathead Valley, Boilen says only a small few provide that testing, with maybe one provider offering the breadth of testing that Sweetgrass does.

Boilen says the lack of services have her feeling immense pressure to help more people than she realistically can.

“I feel it like unbelievably. I’ve been advertising internationally for a year to hire another psychologist,” she said. “I have 60-person waiting list. Just to put that into context, realistically I get two done a month.”

Boilen says fortunately she does have new psychologists coming to Sweetgrass to lighten the load, which will hopefully lead to a bigger chunk of the Valley getting the care they need.

In the meantime, Boilen says she wants to turn the conversation to mental wellness — a happier, more balanced state of mind that can be achieved in everyday life.

Conversations about mental wellness as opposed to mental illness might be able to take away some of the intimidation factor that comes with a therapist as well.

“I think that shift from ‘mental illness’ to ‘mental wellness’ is kind of mandatory. Because I still hear from people, like ‘I don’t deserve your time, I’m not sick enough to warrant therapy, sometimes I wonder why I’m even here,’” Boilen said.

Boilen goes back to the 30 minutes of walking — meaning as exercise, not a casual stroll — as a good way to improve one’s mental wellness. Having hobbies and other interests help too, as does volunteering and joining groups that get people out and engaging with one another. Meditation in any form helps too.

“Giving yourself a reason to leave the office is really important,” she said. “The research shows that meditation is really helpful for attention deficit disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, all those things, and what we don’t realize often is that meditation includes all contemplative practice. Prayer is included in that, walking in the forest could be included in that, and so finding space in your day for whatever suits you.”

Sweetgrass is teaming up with Fleur Bake Shop to present a Depressed Cake Shop pop up on Wednesday, May 30 at Fleur. The Depressed Cake Shop is a worldwide movement to use baked goods to spread awareness for mental health issues.

Gray macarons and cookies will be available for purchase, with proceeds going to the Nate Chute Foundation.