In this newsletter:

Anchorage 50th Anniversary Picnic - June 27th!
Sharing our History
Anchorage Peer Lounge updates
Info sessions: Residential Program and Peer Support
Common Sense Parenting Classes
THANK YOU to our clients and communities!
Upcoming Trauma 101 and Mental Health First Aid trainings

Anchorage Anniversary Picnic: June 27th!

Community Picnic in Anchorage

June 27, 3:00 - 6:00 pm at 4020 Folker Street

Come join us to celebrate our 50th Anniversary at an outdoor picnic! Community members will have a chance to meet providers and learn about programs and resources.

Food trucks (free!), outdoor activities for children and adults! We'd love to see current and former staff and clients and welcome the whole community. (Children must be accompanied by a caregiver.)

We have a couple of spots left for vendors who would like to sell art at the event. Please submit this form to apply!

Learn about our history!

Our AKBH history timeline includes some significant events in our company's history! You can contribute photos, videos, text and documents at the link. We'll check them out and add them to the site! Check it out here !

Share your AKBH story!

We invite former staff and clients to contribute to our memory wall! Share the dates you worked here, a message of hope or thanks, or a memory from your time. Contributions will be reviewed before being posted.

Contribute a memory

Anchorage Peer Lounge Updates

Our Peer Lounge in Anchorage is up and running! The lounge is open Monday through Friday, 9 am to 3 pm at 1231 Gambell Street (2nd Floor) and is staffed by peer support specialists.

The lounge offer showers and laundry, a warm meal at lunchtime, and regular skill development and recovery groups to help clients practice life skills, coping skills, and address substance use. Peer support specialists are available to help with case management needs, and clinicians are available for scheduled or crisis appointments. Psychiatry and primary care are available on-site by appointment. The lounge is open to current Alaska Behavioral Health clients, and those who are interested in engaging in services and becoming clients.

Learn more!

Program Info Sessions

Our Adult Mental Health Residential Treatment Program holds an info session each month to answer questions about our program and referrals.

Next session is June 19 @ 12 noon.

Join us on Zoom here!

We offer Peer Support training and apprenticeships.

Info sessions are held each Monday evening at 7:00 via Zoom.

Common Sense Parenting Classes

Alaska Behavioral Health is pleased to announce a new series of parenting classes being offered to Anchorage families free of charge through a Municipality of Anchorage Alcohol Tax Prevention Grant in partnership with the Alaska Children’s Trust.

Common Sense Parenting® (CSP) provides parents and caregivers with logical strategies and easy-to-learn techniques to address communication, discipline, decision-making, relationships, self-control and school success through six 2-hour long sessions. The next round of classes begins June 24th!

Mondays, 5:30 - 7:30
Tuesdays, 10 am - 12 pm
Tuesdays, 3 pm - 5pm

CSP teaches caregivers valuable skills, such as how to:

• Communicate effectively

• Avoid power struggles

• Praise their children’s good behavior

• Reduce their children’s problem behavior

• Control their emotions

• Balance discipline with affection

Spin for a Cause: June 21

June 21: 5:30PM - 9:00PM

Make a donation

Spin for a Cause for our Cohen Clinic!

Once again this y

Once again this year, the Steven A Cohen Military Family Clinic has been chosen as a recipient for Spin for a Cause!

This event is hosted by F&H Fitness Fairbanks, and will take place in their parking lot under the midnight sun!

Energy will be high - come out and join us!

Thank you to our clients and community!

A big thank you to everyone who has helped us celebrate our 50th anniversary so far -- from our May 9 reception at following the Alaska Advanced Trauma Training Institute to our May 23 picnic in Fairbanks!

We'd also like to thank all of the clients who attended our Client Dinner & Dish feedback session on May 30 in Anchorage! We loved hearing your ideas for improving services. We'll hold a Fairbanks Dinner & Dish event on August 28!

Free community trainings!

Mental Health First Aid

Mental Health First Aid® (MHFA) is a full day course that teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The training gives you the skills you need to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem or experiencing a crisis. MHFA is an introductory training, meant for community members without clinical mental health training.

Trauma 101

Trauma 101 training focuses on understanding how trauma impacts the body and the brain, how people adapt to trauma, and what we can do as providers, caregivers and community members to support recovery and resiliency.

The Trauma 101 training is not a training on a specific type of intervention but is focused on how we can gain a better understanding of trauma, and become trauma informed.