The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

The Big Sandy Medical Center has introduced a new mental health provider, Cheyenne Feltz, DNP PMHNP-BC, who is a Board Certified (BC) Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) with a Doctor of Nursing (DNP). Cheyenne said, "I know Ron (Wiens) is really passionate about mental health as well. He’s investing a lot into making sure there's some mental health access here.”

Cheyenne was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a big city that is very different from here. “But my family's all from Montana. I think it was three days after I graduated with my nursing degree. I moved out here with three generations of my family, a donkey, some pigs, and the whole family.” Her family had bought a big plot out in Charlo because they had all moved back to Montana. I started working in Kalispell. They hired me as their first pediatric psychiatric nurse. Pediatrics with just kiddos was so wonderful. So, I began with kiddos and eventually moved up to working with kiddos and adults. I also worked in Missoula. I worked with kids and adults at an ICU psychiatric unit, which is people who are really sick and can't be around other people right now.”

Cheyenne has enough education to teach at college and enough experience to have the knowledge to help. She understands rural culture and the difficulties present in rural areas. Cheyenne lives in Fort Benton with her husband, a state trooper for the area. He has a canine patrolman partner. She is a Belgian Malinois Shepherd from Hungary. Her name's Baroka (I have no idea how to spell it.) I have two daughters, a two-year-old and a five-month-old. We also have a Newfoundland and a little mutt I've had since I was 15. I've got a whole bunch of puppies at home, too.”

“I'm just hoping that people in Big Sandy and Fort Benton are comfortable coming to seek help before it becomes a crisis. You know, Montana has very limited mental health resources in general. I come from an acute psychiatric setting. I know it's a lot harder to reel things back in than it is to get help before it gets to that point. I don't want anybody to have the trauma experienced of going through a mental health crisis. Yes, that compounds with everything else. I hope to be someone that's approachable—a good place to talk. I don't force meds. People could come and talk to me even if they don't want to take medications.”

Cheyenne sessions are normally about half an hour or an hour. "The first meeting is 90 minutes, which is a long time, but we have to go over everything, and that's the one where I try to reel in a diagnosis. Okay, so that's the starting part for medication if people want to go that route and choosing the right therapy if they want to go that route. After that, most of my meetings are 30 minutes. Okay, I can do our long therapy sessions if needed in her room at the medical center, and she'll have one at the new medical center. I also have a contract through Zoom for telehealth. I like meeting people in person for the first time to ensure I'm not missing anything. When we're coming up with diagnoses, but after that, if people aren't comfortable coming into my office, it's good to be honest. I am doing telehealth for that reason. So people can use Zoom. They can do it on your phone, and we can check in with you at home. I do work really closely with Krystal and Keith, though, because a lot of the mental health community is tied to our physical health."

“We do genetic testing and pharmacogenetic testing, as well. If that's a concern, if people aren't responding to medications before, there are worries about processing things. It isn’t just a mental health issue. It's a whole-body issue. We want to make sure people are living healthy lives as much as they can.

Cheyenne continued “I would say that I am also a member of the community, that I understand what it's like to have family members experience mental health issues. I know what it's like to be nervous to tell somebody about a mental health concern. And then I also know when there’s a loss in my family as well. You can go back to my great-great grandfather, who committed suicide, and I know the impacts that can have down the road, too.”

“I initially wanted to go into acute pediatric care in nursing school but was in the acute unit. While at the teaching hospital, I noticed the stigma. Other kids were introduced in the huddle by name, and this girl was trying to kill herself. And I'm the kind of person when I see something wrong. I try to do something about it. I got really into Psych. I loved the patients and found out once I got into it that this was where I was meant to be. This is what I was meant to do. It all fell into place pretty quickly after that.”