Jill Buck joined AWARE in December 2022 and serves as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, providing care to group home and outpatient clients in communities across Montana. She brings 32 years of experience as a Registered Nurse, with nearly her entire career focused in the mental health field, and four years of experience as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

Jill’s career includes extensive clinical and leadership work at Montana State Hospital, where she served as a Psychiatric Registered Nurse, Forensic Unit Manager, and Geriatric Unit Manager. She also helped oversee the development and opening of the Forensic Mental Health Facility in Galen, Montana. In addition, Jill served as the Mental Health Director at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge and later as Interim Administrator at the Montana Developmental Center and the Intensive Behavior Center in Boulder.

As a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Jill has supported individuals receiving substance use disorder and mental health treatment through the Reiter Foundation. Her years working in inpatient psychiatric hospitals and correctional settings shaped her philosophy of care: a person is not a series of parts, but a whole. Jill brings this approach into her practice today by blending evidence based psychiatry with deep respect for each patient’s unique life story, creating a stigma free space where patients feel empowered and not judged.

Originally from a small town in Pennsylvania, Jill has called Montana home since 1994. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and fur babies, riding her Harley, and enjoying Montana’s outdoors.