ACMHS Update
February - March 2020
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Medication, Therapy, Groups: One client's path to a healthier life
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Jierum is an artist: leather-tooling, abstract painting, graphic arts design. Even his shaved head is a canvas, covered in intricate tattoos, which he now often covers with a hat. For much of his life, Jierum has experienced paranoia, racing thoughts, anxiety, suicidal thoughts – and for years, he self-medicated with illegal drugs, leading to gang involvement and jail time. “Media teaches to be scared of people with mental illness. But I was more scared than anything. I got the tattoos to look scary, so people wouldn’t mess with me.”
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We're worried about our future workforce.
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We're proud to host interns and hire many bachelor's and master's level graduates of the UA system. We can't do the work we do without qualified staff. That's why we're worried about a proposed program closure.
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Kandy is famous for not liking to be photographed, so here is a lovely picture of our adult clinic in Fairbanks.
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Farewell, Kandy Alley. (
Plus, Clinic Director Needed!)
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Kandy Alley has served as Clinic Manager and then Clinical Director ever since FCMHS was founded in 2013. Eight years into her five year plan to relocate to Idaho, she is taking the leap: she'll wrap up her tenure at FCMHS in mid-April. Kandy says,
"It has been a terrific journey working in community mental health over the last 18 years." Kandy enjoys "all of the challenges and rewards associated with helping individuals who are impacted by mental illness reach their goals". She'll continue work in the field in Idaho.
And we'll be searching for a
Clinic Director to fill some pretty big shoes.
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Save the Date: Trauma Conference
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Save the Date! The 2020 Advanced Trauma Training Institute will be
June 3-4
in Anchorage.
Our two keynote speakers are Dr. Hilary Hodgdon and Dr. Margaret Blaustein. Dr. Hodgdon is the Director of Research Operations at the Trauma Center at JRI, and specializes in the response to sexual trauma. Dr. Balustein co-developed the ARC (Attachment, Regulation and Competency) framework, the primary model used treating children who have experienced trauma.
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Julie is on her third or fourth career, depending on how you count – she worked as a hairdresser, at a bank, and in IT for 25 years before deciding to become a therapist. She says she realized over her time in IT that her favorite part of the job was working with people one on one, hearing their stories and getting to know them. Now she's completing her internship requirements at ACMHS.
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It's official: Alaska Youth Advocates is now POWER Center
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Back in 2014, the boards of Alaska Youth Advocates and ACMHS voted to merge, creating AYA and its POWER Teen Center as programs of ACMHS. Ever since, the multiple names have caused confusion. We are simplifying to
POWER Center at ACMHS
. This decision was made after lots of discussion with the program staff and participants.
The POWER Center will continue to carry out the work that AYA started and has become known for: educational presentations, street outreach and running the drop-in center. We continue to offer food, clothing and hygiene products, and our peer outreach workers still study and pass a rigorous test to insure they can provide youth with accurate and helpful connections to community resources.
We at ACMHS are so proud of the POWER Center and are excited that this change will make it easier to associate the program with our company.
Learn more
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Enhancing Services for Victims of Crime at ACMHS
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ACMHS was pleased to be awarded one of 17 grants in Alaska to enhance services for children and families who have been victims or witnesses of physical abuse, sexual abuse and other violent crimes. The federal funding comes through Alaska's Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. With this funding, ACMHS intends to increase the use of the evidence-based practice Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) in individual, family and group therapy. We will develop expedited access to services for victims of crimes, and develop specific groups in Anchorage and Fairbanks for child survivors of sexual abuse. We also plan to offer services statewide through tele-health.
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Thank you to everyone who came out to support our transition age youth programs at our
New Growth fundraiser! With your help, we raised $10,000! That's about one month of wages for all of our youth greenhouse grower staff combined.
This event would not have been possible without all of the generous support from businesses and individuals in our community!
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Forgive our Construction Mess!
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Work is just about done at our Parkway Building and in full swing at the Folker Clinic! In the long term, this will contribute to improved workflows and a more pleasant experience at ACMHS. But in the meantime, it's a little messy. We appreciate your patience with location changes and other construction side effects.
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NeighborWorks Alaska is looking for nominations for this summer's Paint The Town project! Paint the Town brings volunteers and sponsors together to help paint and provide minor repairs for neighbor sin our community who lack the resources to do it themselves.
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It's time to Pick.Click.Give.
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Donations to ACMHS through Pick.Click.Give, United Way and direct contributions help ACMHS pay for the services insurance doesn't cover. That might be a few "extras" for a client moving into their own housing for the first time, or filling the gap between what Medicaid pays for a medical appointment and what it actually costs to provide that care.
P
lease consider a contribution to ACMHS when you file for your Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend! And don't forget to file by March 31!
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We're looking for food! Youth at our Arctic Building are ALWAYS hungry, and our pantry is looking bare. Drop off shelf-stable foods at the POWER Center Monday-Thursday, 1- 5 pm (704 W 26th Ave).
Another idea: come share your cooking skills and help our POW's (peer outreach workers) prepare a meal! Or drop off a favorite simple recipe and ingredients for our staff to prepare themselves.
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Arctic Entries & Alaska Seeds of Change!
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We are excited to announce that we have been chosen as the non-profit partner for the spring season of
Arctic Entries!
Alaska Seeds of Change Greenhouse Manager Ryan Witten took the stage in January to fill the audience in on how we support youth at Seeds. Ticket sales from that show and the March, April and May shows will all benefit the program. We'll be there for each show, recruiting volunteers and sharing info in the lobby. Hope to see you!
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