Youth Dynamics is a new nonprofit agency in the Flathead Valley social services network with 30 years of experience providing behavioral health services on Montana’s east side.

Area Manager Cori Malloy, one of the founding staffers in Kalispell, described Youth Dynamics’ mission as supporting families with a wide spectrum of services from family support assistants to therapeutic foster care.

“We serve youth who have been identified with emotional and behavioral challenges,” she said. “We’re primarily funded through Medicaid.”

The mental health agency started three decades ago in Billings. It has since expanded to 17 offices in 15 cities in Montana with 150 regular staffers and 125 part-time employees.

According to Malloy, hiring has been brisk as Youth Dynamics worked to serve a wave of need coming into the Kalispell office. Referrals come from the state Child and Family Services Division, schools, probation and parole as well as parents themselves.

“We were anticipating a response,” Malloy said. “We were not prepared for the enormity of the response.”

She points to the recession as worsening the normal stresses of dealing with children with emotional and behavior disorders. She added that the decline in the stigma attached to these problems also has encouraged more parents to seek out help.

Malloy said school personnel have become knowledgeable about identifying these children and seeking resources. She said teachers have become very savvy and “serve as tireless advocates for these kids.”

With the decline in school funding, demand has skyrocketed for Youth Dynamics family support assistants who work one-on-one in classrooms with youth with behavior disturbances. They serve as mentors, modeling appropriate behaviors and helping tamp down aggression.

“We work hand-in-hand with school personnel,” she said. “It’s a win-win for schools, teachers and the youth.”

Under one roof in Kalispell, Youth Dynamics now employs case managers, counselors, therapist and a license coordinator along with the family support assistants working out in the community. 

“We’ve been working in tandem on cases with United Way, Aware and Intermountain,” she said. “We’re very much into a teamwork approach. It’s all about flexibility. There’s no one model that fits all.”

Although Youth Dynamics has only recently initiated therapeutic foster care training here, it represents the agency’s oldest service and an essential element in its continuum of care. Malloy said people who work under their direction will receive good preparation and assistance.

“People can take on these youths and have a whole network of support-it’s all about individual training for the family and youths,” she said. “There are a lot of good people out there who know what the challenges are and what the rewards are.”