A shuttered mental health crisis stabilization center in North Kalispell may reopen after receiving an infusion of state funding.  

Glacier House is now owned by AWARE Inc., a Montana-based nonprofit in the process of acquiring Western Montana Mental Health Center’s assets. Allyssa Gapinksi, director of development and marketing, said in a statement that the organization is working on throwing open the doors at the Windward Way facility.  

“We are doing everything possible to reopen Glacier House because we recognize the community's need for crisis stabilization. Unfortunately, funding and staffing remain significant issues, so we don't have a reopening date scheduled at this time,” Gapinski said in an email.  

Facilities like Glacier House are designed to stabilize individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use disorder crisis — often within 72 hours — and refer that individual to longer-term care.  

Flathead County commissioners amended a subcontract with Western Montana Mental Health Center on June 9, which allotted $100,000 of state funding for start-up operational costs to reopen and reestablish the facility. 

The funding is part of $300 million allocated to the Montana Department for Public Health and Human Services to bolster mental health care by the Montana Legislature in 2023, according to James Pyke, behavioral health coordinator for the Flathead City County Health Department.  

Before closing in 2021, Glacier House was operated by Western Montana Mental Health Center through an agreement with Flathead County and funded by alcohol tax revenue.   

The five-bed facility faced staffing challenges when it was open. The stressful workplace and insufficient pay weighed down by low Medicaid reimbursement rates meant Western struggled to hire or retain enough employees to keep the crisis center open, according to former CEO Levi Anderson, who spoke to the Inter Lake about the facility’s closure in 2023.  

Anderson at the time said the mental health organization had attempted to reopen the center for over a year but gave up hope that they would find the required staff. 

Low Medicaid reimbursements remain a challenge to facilities like Glacier House, according to Pyke, who spoke about the county’s crisis intervention team at a June 1 Kalispell City Council meeting. He told councilors that while a 24-hour crisis facility in Flathead County is needed, there isn’t enough funding to operate one.   

State grants could support a facility for 18 months, but after that Medicaid reimbursements would be unable to cover the operational costs, according to Pyke. 

Western Montana Mental Health Center CEO Bob Lopp said he is concerned with a lack of a long-term funding solution to keep the doors of Glacier House open. 

“I know that everybody's working diligently at the state level and at the local level to figure out a business model that's sustainable,” he said. 

AWARE Inc. worked closely with Western for several years before a decision was made last summer to take over assets from the organization as it went through a dissolution process overseen by the Montana Attorney General’s Office.  

Lopp said their dissolution process with the Montana Attorney General’s Office is nearly finished. As the organization settles its remaining debts, what’s leftover in terms of assets gets transferred to AWARE, so the organization can continue to deliver behavioral health services. 

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4440 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.