GREAT FALLS — A Great Falls behavioral health center is working to address critical gaps in mental health and addiction services by expanding its offerings and operating seven days a week.
Green Apple Behavioral Health recently moved into a 9,000-square-foot space at 1219 Central Avenue, significantly expanding the services it can provide to the community. The center, which opened in 2020, now offers mental health counseling, addiction treatment, family therapy, peer support, case management, and marriage counseling all under one roof.
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"We want to be able to provide services the city of Great Falls needs. We want to, we don't want to be competitive. We just want to fill the gaps," said Shauna Green, owner of Green Apple Behavioral Health.
The new facility features amenities designed to create a welcoming environment, including concession stands and table areas where clients can do homework, receive peer support, or participate in games and activities.
"With our concession stands and the table set up, they can come do their homework. Peer supports. They can come play games. We want we have weekly activities where they can just learn how to have fun without having the stress of addiction," Green said.
Seven-day operation supports working clients
Green Apple's partnership with the adult drug treatment court prompted the organization to extend its hours to include weekends, recognizing that many clients struggle to balance full-time employment with required treatment hours.
"We want our clients to be successful, which includes having a job. And sometimes it's really difficult to have a full time job and still meet the required 9 to 10 hours of treatment. So we have opened up seven days a week," Green said.
The center employs a staff psychiatrist, Dr. Kris Poliakiski, who provides medication management and psychotherapy services.
"He is a medical doctor with a specialist in psychiatry, so he can do the med management. He does a psychotherapy, and he's just a great asset to our team," Green said.
Supporting the justice system
Green Apple staff work closely with the Cascade County jail to provide evaluations and support services. Dr. Poliakiski conducts fitness-to-proceed evaluations and civil commitments when necessary.
"We also work, with warm handoffs. So one of our employees goes up to the jail, and if they need a ride to Green Apple to engage in services, we do offer that, we do chemical dependency evaluations, domestic violence evaluations and mental health evaluations by our staff going up and up to the jail to maybe help those clients go through the court process is a little quicker," Green said.
Youth programming addresses multiple challenges
The center has launched a weekend program specifically for young people, offering a hybrid approach that addresses various behavioral health issues without requiring formal addiction diagnoses.
"We're going to be including anger management, a criminal thinking type program, mental health processing, addiction groups, all kind of things that the youth are struggling with in Great Falls," Green said.
Personal experience drives compassionate care
Green Apple's 19-person staff includes individuals who have personal experience with behavioral health challenges, including Green herself, who is a domestic violence survivor. This shared experience helps create connections with clients and demonstrates that recovery is possible.
"The clients get excited to come, they'll come early and kind of just hang out. With the staff. One thing that's really cool about the staff is we all have some sort of a past that allows us to connect with our clients, that empowers them to be able to recognize that change is possible," Green said.
Green has developed specialized expertise in domestic violence intervention, serving as an expert witness in court cases and creating a hybrid curriculum for offenders that meets Montana's requirements.
"There is no program that fits everything that Montana requires. So I have created a curriculum that's a hybrid. There's supposed to be 40 hours, which is 40 weeks. So it's a long time commitment for these offenders. Not nobody really voluntarily starts my program, but nobody has regretted it when they finish it," Green said.
The organization's approach emphasizes compassion and understanding rather than judgment.
"We're all one decision away from a bad choice. And so we don't think we're better than anybody. We just want to make a difference and help other people succeed," Green said.
