Saturday, December 21, 2024
12/21/2024
Fairbanks Native Association (FNA), a Tribal organization, proposes the Athabascan Behavioral Health Clinic (Clinic) in response to the CCBH-PDI Notice of Funding Opportunity for FY 2022. The purpose of this project is planning, development, and implementation of a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) serving individuals in the traditional Athabascan Indian territory of the Fairbanks North Star Borough of Alaska (FNSB). The FNSB population is 95,593. FNSB weather, which can reach 50 degrees below zero in winter, is a significant barrier to service provision and access to care, as many of our service population do not own personal vehicles. The disproportionate rates of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN)* behavioral health and other negative indicators of wellbeing spans decades but was not well documented until two seminal reports were published in the 1980’s: the Pulitzer Prize winning article “A People in Peril: A Culture in Crisis” (Anchorage Daily News, 1988) and the Alaska Federation of Natives' 1989 report “A Call for Action.” The situation was so dire Congress empaneled the Alaska Natives Commission to assess the health, behavioral health, social, and financial status of Alaska Natives. In all categories of the commission report, Alaska Natives were negatively and disproportionately represented. Since these reports there have been some decreases in substance abuse (NSDUH, 2019), but in mental health, suicide, and trauma, the situation remains dire. AI/AN people in Alaska experience psychological stress 1.7 times higher than White people. FNA provides the most extensive behavioral health continuum of care in Alaska, serving all ages from infancy through adulthood. However, mental health services continue to be the most significant service gap in the FNSB. The Clinic will address this service gap by significantly increasing mental health services. Proposed new mental health service units include: (1) Crisis Mental Health with a 24-hour mobile crisis intervention team, (2) Mental Health Outpatient, (3) Mental Health Outpatient for members of the armed forces, (4) Psychiatric rehabilitation, and (5) a Primary Care Clinic. All existing and new services will be provided and integrated into the service umbrella of the Clinic, primarily co-located in the same building to create a one-stop shop for the entire continuum of care. The Clinic will transform the community behavioral health system and provide comprehensive, coordinated behavioral health care. The following goals guide the Clinic: (1) increase access to and availability of high quality services that are responsive to the needs of the community, (2) support recovery from mental health and substance abuse disorder challenges via comprehensive community-based mental health and substance abuse disorder treatment and supports, (3) use evidence-based practices that address the needs of the individuals the CCBHC serves, (4) continually work to measure and improve quality of services, and (5) meaningly involve consumers and family members in their own care. The Clinic will serve 1,208 individuals over the four year life of the project. All FNA Behavioral Health services are developed, delivered, and evaluated in collaboration with the local Behavioral Health Community Coalition (BHCC). BHCC members represent the following service domains: Substance Abuse, Mental Health, Primary Care, Social Services, Education/Employment, Child Welfare and Foster Care, Early Childhood Development & Child Care, Justice, Housing, Veterans, and Cultural/Spiritual. The BHCC also includes five FNA Behavioral Health consumers. *FNA services both American Indian and Alaska Natives by mutual agreement.
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).