Members of the Behavioral Health Alliance of Montana (BHAM) are comprised of providers for adult, children, substance abuse, and Tribal behavioral health in Montana. The mission of BHAM is Better Behavioral Health Through Education, Prevention, Treatment and Advocacy.

It is the policy of BHAM to establish and maintain a code of ethics to strengthen public confidence in the organization. The code of ethics will annually be sent to each member agency and upon signature of the CEO/Executive Director attests to have read and will comply with the BHAM Code of Ethics as part of their agency’s annual membership renewal process. All new member agency applications must return a signed copy attesting they have read and will comply with the Code of Ethics. Signature not required t be on an actual copy of the Code of Ethics, though it shall be clearly marked as part of the membership documents.

Violations of the code of ethics will be handled in accordance with the BHAM by-laws.

The code of ethics has been established by the board of directors, and any additions, changes, or deletions of elements of the code of ethics can only be made by the board of directors.

Members of the Behavioral Health Alliance of Montana shall abide by the following Code of Ethics:

1. Affirm and support the Mission, Vision and Goals of BHAM.
2. Maintain the highest standards of personal and professional conduct in dealings with each other, with other public policy and funding bodies, with other health and educational systems, with clients and families, and with the general public.
3. Except as the board of directors may otherwise require or as otherwise required by law, no member shall share, copy, reproduce, transmit, divulge or otherwise disclose any confidential information related to the affairs of the association and each member uphold the strict confidentiality of all meetings and other deliberations and communications of the board of directors.
4. Respect the organizational plans, strategies, data, reports, and other proprietary material of each member as confidential to the member.
5. Respect the right of each member to support, oppose, or abstain from voting on any action before BHAM.
6. Refrain from representing individual positions on issues as those of BHAM except where such positions are consistent with votes taken by a majority of the members in formal BHAM meetings.
7. Conduct the business affairs of the association in good faith and with honesty, integrity, due diligence, and reasonable competence.
8. Members will exercise proper authority and good judgement in their dealings with association staff, suppliers, and the general public and will respond to the needs of the association’s members in a reasonable, respectful, and professional manner.
9. No member will use any information provided by the association or acquired because of the member’s
   service to the association in any manner other than in furtherance of his or her duties. Further, no member
   will misuse association property or resources and will always keep the association’s property secure and
   not allow any person not authorized by the board of directors to have or use such property.
10. Each member will use his or her best efforts to regularly participate in professional development activities and will perform his or her assigned duties in a professional and timely manner pursuant to the board’s direction and oversight.
11. Members must always act in the best interests of the association and not for personal or third-party gain or financial enrichment. When encountering potential conflicts of interest, members will identify the conflict and, as required, remove themselves from all discussion and voting on the matter. Specifically, members shall follow these guidelines:
    • Avoid placing (and avoid the appearance of placing) one’s own self-interest or any third party interest above that of the association; while the receipt of incidental personal or third-party benefit may necessarily flow from certain association activities, such benefit must be merely incidental to the primary benefit to the association and its purposes;
    • Do not abuse membership by improperly using membership or the association’s staff, services, equipment, resources, or property for personal or third-party gain; members shall not represent to third parties that their authority as a member extends any further than that which it actually extends;
    • Do not engage in any outside business, professional or other activities that would directly or indirectly, materially adversely affect the association;
    • Do not engage in or facilitate any discriminatory or harassing behavior directed toward association staff, members, officers, directors, meeting attendees, exhibitors, advertisers, sponsors, suppliers, contractors, or others in the context of activities relating to the association;
    • Do not solicit or accept gifts, gratuities, free trips, honoraria, personal property, or any other item of value from any person or entity as a direct or indirect inducement to provide special treatment to such donor with respect to matters pertaining to the association without fully disclosing such items to the board of directors; and
    • Provide goods or services to the association as a paid vendor to the association only after full disclosure to, and advance approval by, the board, and pursuant to any related procedures adopted by the board.