Thursday, January 2, 2025
1/2/2025
The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) aims to decrease mental health and substance use disorders in Alaska Native communities by providing culturally relevant prevention, treatment and recovery services through this project. To do so, project staff will focus on three key objectives: 1) increase public awareness and education about culturally appropriate and family centered opioid prevention, treatment and recovery practices and programs in AN/AI communities; 2) build a support system for strengthening Native families in addressing the opioid crisis in Tribal communities by implementing culturally appropriate approaches; and 3) reduce unmet treatment needs and opioid overdose related deaths through the expansion of medication assisted treatment services that include tribal values, culture and treatments. ANTHC will leverage many different established prevention programs and activities in order to increase awareness and understanding as to why a substance misuse problem exists in the Alaska Native population, increase the understanding of warning signs and symptoms and to ultimately decrease the amount of substance use disorders in rural communities. Likewise, this project will also expand the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) intervention model within the Alaska Tribal Health System. This model teaches family members and friends how to use effective communication and problem solving when interacting with their loved one suffering from substance misuse, how to take care of themselves while they have a loved one struggling with substance use and how to increase effective behaviors to motivate their loved one to enter substance use treatment. The expansion of this model will help create comprehensive support teams for Alaska Native people suffering from substance misuse and strengthen Native communities. Finally, ANTHC has begun implementing a statewide tele-behavioral health model to shrink the gaps in access to care and the lack of rural providers. The Treatment Recovery Enhancements across Telehealth (TREAT) is an emerging clinical service at ANTHC that will offer statewide, on-demand behavioral health treatment. It is a unique model that blends contemporary behavioral health services with Elder facilitators and culture bearers in a way that allows for on-demand behavioral health services statewide. This model will be incorporated into this project to expand services to rural communities that currently do not have access to specialty providers or medication assisted treatment services. This will reduce wait time for both assessment and treatment, provide a safety net for regional tribal health organizations who do not have the capacity to provide these services. Overall, this project will increase the family-centered support for clients struggling with substance misuse and increase the education and resources available to decrease mental health and substance use disorder in Alaska Native communities.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).