Intermountain, located in Kalispell, will provide day treatment services at Muldown Elementary in the fall.

Set to begin in September, the day treatment program will serve children in grades kindergarten through fourth, who have a high level of emotional needs in combination with behavioral disorders.

The day treatment program combines both therapeutic and educational services for youth in need of higher levels of care.

Through the program, children are placed in an inclusive classroom supported by specially trained mental health and education staff.

“Children will receive the additional care, support, and treatment in a therapeutic classroom setting while still building critical social skills throughout the day with their friends,” said Jim FitzGerald, Intermountain CEO.

The program will be staffed by a psychotherapist, mental-health support staff and a special-education teacher allowing up to 12 students to be served at a time.

“We are seeing an increasing need to support students with social and emotional learning opportunities,” said Dave Means, Whitefish School District special services director.

“The key to this partnership is ease of accessing services on site and early intervention,” he said. “This level of support will help students work through challenges they are experiencing in a therapeutic environment so they are able to be successful.”

Bigfork School District also offers Intermountain’s services, implementing the day treatment program in 2017.

“There is a growing need in the Flathead and across the state,” said FitzGerald. “Increasingly, our children are not doing well and early identification and intervention is critical for those struggling with various forms of emotional distress.”