Bozeman youth psychiatric program

A new youth psychiatric program on a 30-acre ranch outside Bozeman is moving to keep Montana kids in state for crisis care instead of sending them across the country. (mtpr.org) The project is called Lighthouse Ranch, and Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch will staff it with services ranging from outpatient therapy to long-term residential treatment for children from around Montana. Gallatin County Behavioral Health Coalition official Kirsten Smith said the property sits outside Bozeman with views of the Bridger Mountains. (mtpr.org) Chief executive Mike Chavers of Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch said his team now gets about 150 referrals a month, more than double the level before 2020, but can serve only 15 to 20 of those children. Lighthouse Ranch says its campus plan adds therapeutic and recreational facilities, housing for 60 teens and staff, and a school between 2026 and 2029. (mtpr.org) (lighthouseranch.org) Montana has struggled for years to provide enough residential psychiatric beds for children, and the state Medicaid program still lists a roster of out-of-state psychiatric residential treatment facilities for Montana patients. That shortage has pushed families to place children far from home after suicide attempts or other acute mental health crises. (dphhs.mt.gov) (mtpr.org) State health data underscore the pressure on that system. Montana’s youth suicide rate has been more than double the national rate, according to a Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services report published in November 2025, and suicide was the leading preventable cause of death for Montana children ages 10 to 14 in that report. (dphhs.mt.gov) Lighthouse Ranch is being developed by a local partnership that includes Human Resource Development Council, Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, the Gallatin Behavioral Health Coalition and community volunteers. The group said in 2025 that it had raised more than $2.5 million toward a $6.5 million goal to buy and renovate the property and launch crisis services. (gallatinmt.gov) (kbzk.com) The ranch is designed as a continuum of care, meaning families could use less intensive help like case management or home support before a child needs residential treatment. Lighthouse Ranch says those first services are scheduled to start in 2026. (lighthouseranch.org 1) (lighthouseranch.org 2) Montana lawmakers also approved a broad behavioral health package in 2025, including $124 million for system changes and facility upgrades, after years of complaints that the state’s mental health network was too fragmented and too small. Lighthouse Ranch fits into that wider push to add in-state capacity instead of relying on distant placements. (montanafreepress.org) (mtpr.org) For families in Gallatin County and beyond, the immediate change is geographic as much as clinical: a child who needs intensive psychiatric care could stay in Montana, closer to parents, school and follow-up providers. That is the gap Lighthouse Ranch says it is trying to close. (mtpr.org) (lighthouseranch.org)