BeHEARD: A Behavioral Health Initiative with Sanford Health

To help meet a growing demand for behavioral health services and intervention across the country – and perhaps especially in the more rural communities we serve – our organization has partnered with Sanford Health to establish the BeHEARD program.

“Part of launching BeHEARD is not only giving tools and resources for the students, but also to give those tools and resources to parents so they can help address these concerns,” explained First International Bank & Trust President Peter Stenehjem.

BeHEARD, or Behavioral Health Education and Response Development, is an exclusive partnership with FIBT that enables Sanford Health to create a curriculum for rural and urban middle and high school students in North Dakota and Sioux Falls regions. The program aims to increase awareness of behavioral health concerns and teaches educators and students how to respond to those concerns with knowledge and confidence.

“We may not always know what’s going on in people’s lives,” said FIBT Marketing Director Gretchen Stenehjem. “There have been many instances where people said, ‘I didn’t see the warning signs. I didn’t know.’ We can hopefully get to them with the BeHEARD program.”

Click here to watch a video that dives deeper into the purpose of BeHEARD.