Are you looking for a meaningful and rewarding career that allows you to make a real difference in your community? Behavioral health is the connection between behavior and well-being, encompassing a wide range of emotional, psychological and social issues that affect a person's mental and physical health and well-being.
By pursuing a career in behavioral health, you have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of those in your community. Whether you choose to become a therapist, counselor, social worker, psychiatrist or psychologist, you will be providing critical support and guidance to individuals and families who need it most. By helping to address the root causes of mental health disorders and substance abuse, you can also help to build stronger, healthier communities. You can help to break the cycle of addiction and trauma, and promote a brighter future for all, as we build a better Alaska.
Discover the demand for behavioral health professionals in Alaska through this series of videos sponsored by Premera, featuring the inspiring stories of our UAA alumni who are actively contributing to our communities.
UAA would like to thank Premera Blue Cross for their generous support to inspire students to consider careers in behavioral health.
"A very simple explanation of human services is people that want to help people. What I learned in the human services program corresponds directly to what I do now...
I don't think I ever had a kid who didn't have some kind of trauma in their lives. So to work in probation and have an opportunity to help a kid or to help their family process some of that, it really does help the rest of the community."
Vicha Puwasurintra
Probation Officer
UAA Human Services Alumni
"What I do is find the essence of a person. My message and my mantra is, 'never take away a person's hope because it might be all they have.'
UAA prepared me for working in the behavior health field by offering a variety of classes that basically teach you the fundamentals."
Holly Scott
Care Coordinator
UAA Human Services Alumni
The prevalence of domestic violence, economic instability, unemployment, and substance abuse in households across Alaska underscores the critical need for behavioral health services.
Over 100,000 adults in Alaska have a mental health condition, and 28,000 adults have a serious mental illness. Over 40% of incarcerated Alaskans experience a serious mental illness.
Nearly 25% of Alaskans face serious challenges from substance use and there are not enough treatment options to respond to this need.
The demand for behavioral health care professionals is on the rise in Alaska, with an anticipated workforce growth of over 10% over the next 10 years.
Here are just a few of the ever-growing behavioral health jobs available in Alaska and across the country:
Kimberly Russell was raised in Anchorage and is a 2008 UAA Justice graduate who currently works at McLaughlin Youth Center as a Social Services Associate II.
Back in the early 1990s, newspaper headlines were fixated on Rodney King and O.J. Simpson-two of the most renowned court cases of David Campbell's generation. In his early 20s at the time, David remembers how current events and an Introduction to Justice course finally piqued his interest enough to settle on a major.
J.R. Dull has his dream job-working with kids in the Bristol Bay Region and helping them stay out of trouble, and if they don't, helping them get the services they need to get back on track. J.R. is the supervising juvenile probation officer in Dillingham, Alaska, and is responsible for all the juvenile cases in the 32 villages in the Bristol Bay Region, an area of about 40,000 square miles. Born in Dillingham and raised in the village of New Stuyahok on the Nushagak River, J.R. moved back to Dillingham for high school, then on to Anchorage to pursue a major in justice at UAA.
