Alaska Behavioral Health is pleased to be adding primary care services for our clients. Current clients who don't have a primary care provider will now be able to access basic health care through our clinic in Anchorage. People living with mental illness have an increased risk of developing chronic physical health conditions, are more likely to smoke, and generally have poorer health outcomes than the general population.

Three AKBH clinicians in our Little Tykes program recently completed a two year learning collaborative to increase their skills in Child Parent Psychotherapy. Congratulations to

Geri Hernandez, Mara Hill and Patty Quinn! (pictured above center, with Early Childhood Mental Health trainer and consultant Deb Harris on the left and AKBH manager Kristin Mortenson on the right.)

Our early childhood team has been working hard to expand their knowledge and skills in trauma-focused intervention, learning the components of CPP through training, reflective consultation/supervision and direct practice.

Director of Early Childhood and Outpatient Services Kristin Mortenson says, "The CPP learning collaborative and national rostering process is the most extensive I have been a part of. Each provider completes extensive fidelity worksheets for each phase of treatment, elaborate case presentation worksheets and regular supervisor fidelity forms."

Clinician Geri Hernandez reflected on the learning process.

Coming from a strengths-based perspective, I also find great value in caregiver’s completing an “Angels in the Nursery” questionnaire. It supports caregivers in evoking memories of love, support, protection, feeling understood, cared for, etc. and essentially leads them to explore what they would like their child to think, say, and remember about them. I’ve found this to be very powerful in a sense of always looping back around to what the caregiver’s goals are regarding strengthening and securing their attachments with their child. 

Congrats, Mara, Patty and Geri!

The experience of trauma has widespread impacts on the clients we serve. This lunch and learn will show how trauma may impact clients who struggle with patterns of disordered eating and negative body image. Surprisingly, the root cause is rarely about food or the need to be thin. Trauma treatment modalities will be explored to empower clinicians working with clients who demonstrate signs or patterns of negative body image and disordered eating. This presentation aims to provide awareness and tools for the clinician in better supporting their clients with body image and healthy patterns of eating.

Presenter Saraj Gottstein, LPC, is a lifelong Alaskan who graduated with a Master's in Counseling from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado in transpersonal counseling and wilderness therapy. She works with transition age youth at Alaska Behavioral Health, based at Alaska Seeds of Change and the Power Center youth drop-in program.

This free Lunch & Learn is aimed at clinicians and others working in a clinical setting. No CEU's. Register here.

Register here.