Background

Given the need for graduate behavioral health professionals to assist medically underserved groups in Alaska, the University of Alaska Anchorage proposes the interprofessional preparation of 23 trainees annually selected from the disciplines of clinical and counseling psychology, social work, nursing and occupational therapy. These graduate professional students will complete their final experiential learning in one of four core sites that incorporate interprofessional, team based, integrated, culturally responsive, and technology infused behavioral health practices. Additional practicums will be completed at rotation sites depending on individual learning goals and program requirements. Total practicum time over the course of two semesters will range from 20-40 hours or as specified by discipline specific requirements. Stipends will be provided monthly for a total of: $10,000 for masters students and $25,000 for doctoral students.  

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Project Goals

1. Increase interorganizational training capacities for integrated care in high need communities.
2. Prepare four cohorts of graduate professional behavioral health care students for interprofessional, team based, and technology enhanced care in integrated settings.
3. Increase diversity of trainees over current baseline to 70%
4. Increase employment in Alaska Behavioral Health
5. Advance knowledge building re workforce

Working collaboratively with academic programs, the project team will place graduate professional students in core treatment settings so they can learn experientially from the delivery of best practices in behavioral health to high need populations including principally Alaskan Natives, people living in poverty, youth, and those residing in rural and remote areas. Students will receive supplemental rotation experiences in specialized practice areas including children’s behavioral health, and behavioral health care of violence exposed youth, and recipients who are LGBTQ. Students will complete a 15-20 hour online core curriculum experience in the Fall and Spring semesters covering preparatory and introductory concepts and the opportunity to reflect on clinical experiences.

Core Training Sites:

Southcentral Foundation
4501 Diplomacy Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508

Trainees will form a clinical team and have time for grand rounds in integrated care. They will invest significant time in patient and recipient interactions through telehealth and face-to-face.  Considerable involvement in culturally-based care, especially through programs that incorporate holistic health care, innovations in staffing to implement cultural practices, and unique configurations of service provision within tribal contexts.   Students will rotate through programs that address the needs of victims of violence.  They will work with children, youth and families, transition age youth, and elders.

Mat-Su Health Services
1363 West Spruce Avenue, Wasilla, Alaska 99654 

Trainees will form a clinical team and have time for grand rounds in integrated care.  All trainees will rotate between behavioral health care in physical care, and in addressing health disparities.  Trainees will participate in continuum of behavioral health care moving across emergency, continuous, and episodic care of patients. Students will rotate through programs that address the needs of youth, people with developmental or acquired disabilities, and people with neurological illness. 

Alaska Family Medicine Center and Residency
1201 E. 36^th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99508

Trainees will form a clinical team and have time for grand rounds in integrated care in the context of healthcare delivery that combines health psychology and family practice.  They will interact with patients who experience infectious, long term, and environmentally induced health issues compounded by poverty.  Trainees will have substantial involvement in the delivery of care through telemedicine platforms, and will learn about the integration of care through the use of electronic medical records, interprofessional team conferences, and use of transdisciplinary practices, especially in assessment and treatment planning.  Trainees will interact with victims of violence. 

Alaska Behavioral Health
4020 Folker Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99508

Trainees will form a clinical team and have time for grand rounds linking provision of primary and specialty physical health care with behavioral health support of recipients experiencing mental health concerns.  Trainees will receive substantial experience in working with recipients across the continuum of integrated behavioral health care.  They will have substantial involvement in the use of telebehavioral health platforms including the use of technology in case level assessments, interprofessional treatment planning, and counseling process.  Trainees will interact with paraprofessionals, peer support specialists, and graduate behavioral health professionals.   Trainees will interact with victims and perpetrators of violence, and with specialty courts in community-based justice programs. All trainees will obtain experience in pharmacologic management.

Rotational Sites:

Nugen’s Ranch: Long-term residential substance use disorder treatment; treatment planning; individual & group therapy; community involvement; life skills & employment skill development

Daybreak: Case management and comprehensive community support for individuals with chronic mental illness; independent living support

Denali Family Services: Clinical services specializing in services for youth experiencing SED and their families; Therapeutic foster care; Case management; School-based services

Cordova Community Medical Center/Sound Alternatives: Integrated behavioral Health; Individual and group outpatient psychotherapy for children, youth and adults; individual and group treatment for substance abuse; telepsychiatry