Mental Health welcomes new therapist

Crook County Mental Health welcomes a new therapist to the team: Kim Kaper, who hails from Lander and has followed a career in counseling that began with 18 years in Nebraska with her then-husband and two daughters.

"I worked in the prison systems there as a counselor and did a little bit of private practice afterwards in the community. Then we moved back to Gillette in 2015," Kaper says.

In Gillette, Kaper worked within the hospital system, with both in- and out-patients. A few weeks ago, she made the transition to Crook County.

"I was ready for a change. I loved my job and the people I worked with, wonderful people, but it was pretty high-stress and crisis-constant, which is the nature of that role," she explains.

"I was ready for something different and I really enjoy the pace here. It's fast-paced, but a different type of pace – not always crisis. You can focus a little more on some actual counseling, which I like."

Kaper hopes eventually to move to this community, though she has chosen not to uproot her younger daughter in her sophomore year and will remain in Gillette for the time being.

"Here we provide therapy on an individual basis or family therapy, so mental health counseling from young ages all the way through, as well as addiction counseling, an intensive outpatient program and also outpatient, which is the next level down and in groups," she says of her new role.

"We treat an array of disorders, whether it be depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder or some of your more major mental health disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar."

Crook County Mental Health is also available for difficult moments in a person's life, she continues.

"If something is going on in your life that you're trying to adjust to and it's difficult," Kaper says.

"A lot of times, people just need to come maybe for a short period just to work through things and figure out what they want to do, get a little bit of support."

A client can spend time with a therapist for as long as they need, she says, and then go about their business. Clients do not need to be referred; the first step is simply calling to schedule an intake assessment.

"We have to do an intake assessment that just would get to know [the client], get to know their background and figure out what their counseling needs are. Maybe they're dealing with some grief, or perhaps they got a DUI and need an assessment to tell them what level of treatment they need at that point," she explains.

"Come in and we can do that first session and if you feel that help is not for [you], no harm no foul. Of course, it's all very confidential."

Kaper spends Wednesdays in Moorcroft and the remaining days of the week in Sundance. Over in Moorcroft, she says, clients come from as far as Gillette to take advantage of her services, partly due to an advantage a community-based mental health service in Wyoming is able to offer: a sliding fee scale.

"The sliding fee scale is important to a lot of people. We're not just state-funded, but we get grant money to provide the sliding fee scales, which is huge for a lot of people if they don't have insurance – and even with insurance, sometimes. They may only cover it for so long," she says.

"People just have to bring in verification of their income and they sit down with them and figure out a plan. Not very many people can do that unless they have some type of grant funding."

At this point, Kaper will not be spending time in Hulett, but down the road she intends to start more groups and schedule time in that town.

"Eventually, it's one of our goals to encompass all of these areas," she nods.

Kaper looks forward to getting to know her Crook County neighbors and is happy to be a part of the community.

"So far I've felt very welcomed in this community," she smiles. "I'm used to being in a small community, I'm from a small community, so I like being able to get back to that. These are my kind of people and it's a beautiful town, I love it here."