The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority Board of Trustees has directed more than $750,000 in Trust grant funding to True North Recovery, Inc. to support two initiatives that will improve behavioral health and substance use disorder services in the Matanuska Susitna Valley region.
At a recent board meeting, trustees of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority approved grant funding for two True North Recovery, Inc. (TNR) projects:
Day One Center, Dylan’s Place Medical Providers ($255,000)
Trust funds will help support operational start-up, including for advanced nurse practitioners (ANPs), for a new withdrawal management program based in the Mat-Su. TNR’s withdrawal management program is called Dylan’s Place and will be housed in their Day One Center facility in Wasilla. The Day One Center intends to allow beneficiaries struggling with addiction and mental illness immediate access to care, and to provide coordination outlining next steps towards stabilization. Currently there are no withdrawal management programs operating in the Mat-Su, and Dylan’s Place will provide needed acute withdrawal
management services in the region, and a faster response to Trust beneficiaries requiring this level of care.
Dylan’s Place is named after Dylan Fuhs, a young Alaskan who died from an overdose in Karen Malcolm- Smith, Dylan’s mother, created The David Dylan Foundation, another project funder, as an advocacy program to recognize those lost to addiction and to help destigmatize addiction treatment. The David Dylan Foundation is funded through proceeds from the sale of Dylan’s home following his death. The Alaska Department of Health Division of Behavioral Health and the Mat-Su Health Foundation are also contributing funders of this project.
Wasilla Mobile Crisis Team ($499,591)
With funding support from the Trust, TNR will implement Mat-Su’s first mobile crisis team (MCT) to help respond to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. Following best practices, these MCTs will consist of a behavioral health clinician and a certified peer support specialist and will operate on a 24/7 schedule. The MCT will be housed within TNR’s Day One Center and will work to divert Trust beneficiaries in crisis from hospital emergency departments, correctional settings, and other higher levels of care by directly responding in the community and connecting individuals to appropriate services once stabilized.
Helping to start up a MCT in the Mat-Su is a significant step forward for the Trust’s priority initiative, in partnership with the State and others, to transform Alaska’s system of behavioral health crisis care using he Crisis Now model as a framework. The Trust has also successfully helped start mobile crisis responses in Fairbanks and Anchorage, and supported other crisis services in communities across the state.
“We are proud to be using Trust resources to help bring new and needed substance use treatment
and behavioral health crisis response services to the Mat-Su,” said Steve Williams, Trust CEO.
“We appreciate all the partners and other community funders that are supporting the Mat-Su
mobile crisis teams and the Day One Center’s withdrawal management program. Having access to
these services locally means that fewer Trust beneficiaries in the Valley will need to seek services
away from their home community or go without necessary treatment and supports.”
“The Day One Center’s same day access to services and functions, as well as the Mat-Su Mobile
Crisis Team are possible due to incredible partnerships with a multitude of community
providers across many sectors of health and social services,” said Karl Soderstrom, CEO of True
North Recovery. “We are truly grateful for the support and excited about the future of care here in
the heart of the Mat-Su.”
These grants are a part of the Trust’s approximately $20 million annual grants program. Grants
are awarded to organizations that represent one or more Trust beneficiary groups and whose
priorities are consistent with the Trust’s. To learn more about Trust grant programs, including
how organizations can apply, visit: https://alaskamentalhealthtrust.org/about/grants/.
For more information, contact Allison Biastock, Chief Communications Officer at 907334-2531, or allison.biastock@alaska.gov.