September 28, 2015
Lynn has clearly had a profound impact on the Montana Western campus, the Dillon community, and she has helped forge the positive direction and culture of the Montana College Counselors Association. No one was more deserving of the Mike Franklin Memorial Award than Lynn Weltzien, said Montana Western counselor and addiction specialist Jerry Girard.
The inaugural recipient of the award, Weltzien was recognized for her outstanding service to college mental health and suicide prevention.
Weltzien first arrived in Dillon in 1992 and shortly after, created the campus counseling program at Western Montana College, now the University of Montana Western.
In addition to developing the campus counseling program, Lynn has also been involved in health promotion on campus and designed much of the health promotion activities at UMW, until the hiring of a new wellness coordinator in 2012. Additionally, Lynn led the effort in Montana Western becoming a tobacco-free campus in 2011.
Weltzien was the first on the campus of Montana Western to create a staff-led peer education group that continues to educate peers about student health-related issues. Under Lynns guidance, Montana Western peer leaders have designed health and wellness related programming for which they have won numerous awards and received national recognition.
In addition to Weltzien’s campus accomplishments, she is a past member of the board of directors for the local Womens Resource Center. She is currently a member of the local Human Services Network and on the Beaverhead County Local Advisory Council on Mental Health.
MONTANA WESTERN
