The Alaska Department of Family and Community Services is asking Alaskans to join in on Wednesday, November 8th at 6:00 p.m. to discuss Behavioral Health Services for Children and Youth.
This event is designed to anyone living in Southcentral Alaska who would like to share their experiences when it comes to getting access to behavior health services for the youth, as well as offer recommendations in how others can gain easier access for care and help.
According to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink, the Alaska Youth Behavioral Health Road Map is meant to be series of conversations around communities to learn what some of the struggles children in other areas may be suffering from.
“We’re only as well and we’re only as happy as our most unhappy child and so really our future is really dependent on our children and their happiness and their well-being,” said Zink.
While on this journey, Dr. Zink has heard so many stories about the struggles people have had in their lives, and she wants to learn more to help better solve these problems in the future. With Alaska unfortunately having such a high suicide rate, it’s important to get as much help from the community as possible to find a solution for all the children of Alaska.
“It’s not just going to be the local hospital, it’s not just going to be the school, but when we all kind of take our different perspectives and expertise to improve the health and well-being of our communities, we can do a lot more together,” said Zink.
Dr. Zink also wanted to remind everyone that this event is not limited to medical professionals, teachers, or survivors. This learning experience is for everyone to get together to share their ideas and their stories.
“This is open to anyone in the community who wants to listen, who wants to share their vision, who wants to share their perspective and their story. We wanted to make this broad and open because we don’t know what we don’t know and we want to make sure that we’re making it widely available and can listen to lots of different people,” said Zink.
You can participate in person at Mat-Su Health Foundation in Wasilla or online.
Registration and information is available at bhroadmap.alaska.gov.
