Alaska's mental and behavioral health providers: promoting wellness for consumers of all ages.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: HEALTH & WELLNESS

Mental illnesses have a major impact on individuals and society as a whole. The annual direct and indirect economic cost of mental illness in the United States is estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Mental illness lowers individuals' productivity and income; raises healthcare costs for other illnesses; and increases addiction, homelessness, and disability rates.

Fortunately, many forms of mental illness are treatable, and Alaskans can find help through any of the mental health and behavioral health (relating to substance abuse and other addictions) providers and facilitators covered in this article.

Providence Health & Services Alaska

Providence Health & Services Alaska, Behavioral Health offers numerous outpatient and inpatient mental health services for children, adolescents, and adults. "That continuum allows patients to feel very cared for because they know there is something for them on either side [inpatient as well as outpatient]," says Renee Rafferty, MS, LPC, director of behavioral health services.

Providence's vast service lines use a trauma-informed approach that focuses on how emotional forces impact behavior. Providence specializes in treating trauma through its adolescent inpatient and residential programs. The Providence Adolescent Residential Treatment Program, for instance, provides long-term psychiatric treatment for twelve to eighteen year old girls in Anchorage and Palmer.

Program participants receive group and individual care as well as treatment for their entire family. "The program allows them to heal from complex trauma," Rafferty says. "It's pretty amazing."

There are also mental health services available through inpatient programs within Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. For example, the Discovery Unit-Adolescent Inpatient Mental Health program is an acute program for thirteen- to eighteen-year-olds who need intensive crisis intervention, stabilization, and behavioral health treatment. The unit provides a safe and therapeutic environment for adolescents experiencing a crisis.

Providence also has a crisis intervention program that provides twenty-four-hour care, along with the Providence Recovery Center in Anchorage on the Providence campus. The center--for individuals age twelve and older--is a sub-acute voluntary behavioral health facility that focuses on helping individuals effectively manage psychiatric symptoms to prevent unnecessary tragedy or frequent hospitalization.

Additionally, Providence offers a range of outpatient mental health services, including diagnostic interviews, medication management, neuropsychological and psychological testing, and individual and group therapy. It also provides substance abuse assistance for adults at the Breakthrough program, which endorses the medical model of addiction and supports the 12 Step process of recovery. Using a team-based, client-centered approach, Breakthrough gives adults in Anchorage access to substance abuse treatment, partial hospitalization, and relapse prevention programs.

Adults who need critical care in Anchorage can utilize the psychiatric emergency department within Providence Alaska Medical Center. And unlike most outpatient mental health providers, Providence treats Medicaid patients. The demand for these services is tremendous, Rafferty says. "We have expanded our services and still have not been able to meet the community need," she adds.

Southcentral Foundation

Southcentral Foundation is an Alaska Native-owned, nonprofit healthcare organization that offers a wide range of health and wellness services for about sixty-five thousand Alaska Natives and American Indians living in Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, and regionally. It...