Project Grant H79TI088975

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded Aware Inc. $525,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.490) to establish and operate a residential treatment program for pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorder in rural western Montana.

Aware Inc., a CARF-accredited, Medicaid-enrolled Montana nonprofit, is creating a family-centered residential facility at 3335 LT Moss Road, Fort Missoula, Montana, where pregnant and postpartum women (aged 18–44) with substance use disorders and their minor children (birth–5) can receive treatment together. The program will serve as a regional hub for rural western Montana and the Flathead Reservation, addressing a gap in residential options that keep mothers and children together in a region where half of Montana's counties lack maternity care. The facility will serve 8 women in year one, increasing to 10 annually in the residential program (48 total over five years), and expand to 80 women across a community-based continuum in years 4 and 5, serving approximately 333 unduplicated women and their children over the five-year project period (September 30, 2026 through September 29, 2031). Treatment targets opioid, alcohol, methamphetamine, and polysubstance use disorders with co-occurring mental health and trauma symptoms. Measurable objectives include ensuring at least 60 percent of participants are drawn from rural or frontier counties or Flathead Reservation communities, achieving reduced or abstinent substance use for 60 percent of active women at six-month reassessment, and engaging 90 percent of pregnant enrollees in prenatal care.