Alaska Youth and Family Network - the organization

Mission statement:

Alaska Youth and Family Network advocates for families and children with social / emotional / behavioral challenges and related disabilities to be included as equal partners with professionals in developing policies, programs and ensuring adequate mental health and substance abuse services, prevention and information for Alaskan children and youth.
Goals:
  • Statewide organization of local community groups of adult family members and youth coordinating their voices on issues related to wellness, resiliency and behavioral health for all Alaskan children and families.
  • A system of care for Alaskan children and youth that is effective, family/youth driven, culturally competent, and provided in the least restrictive environment.
  • A national family and youth movement focused on children's mental health and valued for its knowlege, strength and engagement of individual family members and youth .
Services:
  1. Network information to and from parents, youth and providers to learn about and use "best practices" in the field of mental health and substance abuse treatment and special education services.
  2. Train and support Peer Navigators in communities throughout Alaska
    • Parents to advocate for their child and navigate the educational and behavioral health system and
    • Youth to advocate for other youth and navigate the educational and behavioral health system
  3. Assist each family member to access needed services related to education and behavioral health, such as, providing information, assisting with paperwork, preparing and going to meetings and just plain day to day support and encouragement 
  4. Facilitate support groups for family members and their children/youth
  5. Teach wellness and recovery management with and for youth (14-24)
  6. Teach specialized parenting classes for family member with children/youth experiencing neurobehavioral health issues
  7. Involve families and youth in policy and program development to ensure family/youth driven, accessible and culturally appropriate services.
  8. Provide trainers and consultants on family/youth engagement in service delivery and management of human services.


Alaska Youth and Family Network is the Alaska Chapter of the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health.
http://www.ffcmh.org

 

How we began:

Alaska Youth and Family Network began in the spring of 1997 when a group of parents and grandparents of youth and children involved with the mental health system met as a part of NAMI-Alaska and the Children’s Mental Health Conference sponsored by the State of Alaska. The initial group continued during that year to make connections with other family members in urban settings of the state as a loose coalition within NAMI chapters and other informal gatherings of parents and grandparents. Family members continued coordinating their conversations and hopes during each of the next three statewide conferences relating to children’s mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse issues.

 

 

A small SAMHSA Family Networking grant and funding from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Small Projects in 1998 and 1999 helped the group connect with other parents the state and in other states and with the Federal of Families for Children’s Mental Health. To fully concentrate on the needs of family members with children with severe emotional/behavioral disorders, the group sponsored a series of roundtable discussions about the needs of children in Alaska.

 

 

One of the original founders is still President of the Board of Directors, Sam Bush. Many of the original board members are still actively working on children’s mental health issues: Judy Rich is in Washington with another family network, Leilani Knight-McQueen is in Juneau, Bernadine Jenzen is a mental health practitioner in Matsu, Dick Wilson is in Southeast Alaska, Kathy Allely still works with the Governor’s Council on Special Education and Disabilities, Tracy Barbee still lives in Anchorage, Pat Kouris retired outside of Alaska.

 

The group of parent or family member founders struggled to overcome the isolation caused by great distances with no roads between most communities. Through the use of the internet, the groups in Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Anchorage and Homer began a web-site. AYFN helped form a Children’s Work Group to communicate by telephone monthly about events and issues related to children’s mental health in Alaska. The monthly discussions, sponsored by the State of Alaska Division of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, grew into a “must attend” teleconference because of its comprehensive agenda reviewing upcoming funding, regulation changes and planning of conferences and children’s mental health position papers. From that springboard, AYFN was able to have parent founders appointed to the statewide planning boards: The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, The Alaska Mental Health Board, the Advisory Board on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and the Governor’s Council of Disabilities and Special Education. This has placed AYFN as the Alaskan voice for families of children with behavioral health issues.

 

The Board of Directors has only consisted of parents and caretaking-grandparents of children with behavioral health issues. In 2001, with the addition of a youth component of $10,000 from SAMHSA, AYFN was able to piggyback on the Alaskan growing interest of the needs of youth-in-transition (16-24) who were leaving home or foster care but found little support in developing independence. AYFN assisted in drafting a planning document that led to funding of case management services and educational grants for youth-in-transition. Then in late 2002, at the Children’s Mental Health Conference, the loose groups of youth throughout the state connected to form the youth advisory board, now known as YouthMOVE-Alaska. One youth since 2002 serves as the liaison, sitting on both the youth advisory board and the youth board.

 

Since 2004, AYFN has been actively involved in and promoting the participation of parents and youth in the “Bring/Keep the Kids Home” initiative of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. This is an effort to provide behavioral health services as close to the family’s home, in the least restrictive environment and with an approach that has the parents and youth as equal participants with professionals in the decision-making process of treatment plans, educational plans and behavioral health policies. 

 

AYFN has trained and supports Peer Navigators throughout the state. To be eligible for training as a Peer Navigator, a person must either be a parent (or had all the parent responsibilities) who raised a child involved with the behavioral health system or be a young person who was/is involved in the behavioral health system. The personal experience and specialized 40+ hours training is then used to help other parents or youth engage in the behavioral health services. To be fully qualified, Peer Navigators must receive regular supervision and on-going training during the first year of their employment. AYFN hopes to have Peer Navigators available at each behavioral health site in Alaska. 

 

As an agency, we have provide the basic components of Peer Navigation-listening and support, finding and using resources, organizing paperwork, practicing being an advocate for yourself or your family and being an advocate for others.  In addition we have added classes and one to one coaching on:  parenting, Wellness Recovery Management, Mood management, independent living skills, educational planning (IEP/504/transition).  And, we'll add more when family members want more or different assistance.

 

 

 AYFN’s funding has increased every year. We began in 2003 with $70,000 and now have an annual budget of $850,000.

 

Our financial story, as told by the independent auditors:


2009 Financial Information

2008 Financial Information

2007 Financial Information

2006 Financial Information

2005 Financial Information

2004 Financial Information