Chief Behavioral Health Officer Bradley Grigg stepped down on Friday; neither the city or the hospital board acknowledged publicly that he’d left until Monday.
Mental Health
Watching COVID patients die takes toll on Alaska’s hospital workers
Health care workers in the state’s emergency rooms and ICUs say watching patients die is becoming routine, and it’s harming their mental health.
Juneau nonprofit hands out yard signs with positive messages to comfort the community
September is also Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and one Juneau nonprofit wants people to know they’re not alone.
Construction begins at Juneau’s Bartlett Hospital, $14 million behavioral health building to come by next winter
Right now, the behavioral health department has only one inpatient bed for youth. The new facility will have 8 beds that can be used for adults or children. Currently, behavioral health patients who need to stay in a hospital must travel to Anchorage.
Alaska Medicaid must cover gender-affirming care following Homer woman’s lawsuit
Starting this month, Alaska Medicaid can no longer deny coverage to transgender Alaskans undergoing gender-affirming treatment.
‘I thought my name was my number’: Survivors recount Alaska boarding school experiences
Cultural expert Paul Ongtooguk and two boarding school survivors, Jim Aqpayuk LaBelle and Fred John Jr., shared their perspectives with Talk of Alaska on the legacy of boarding schools in Alaska.
‘We need to be doing this work’: Tlingit and Haida takes on mental health and wellness with new division
The new division will offer programs aimed at prevention, treatment and recovery, as well as providing regular mental health care to tribal citizens.
‘This is creating havoc’: Juneau regional hospital’s mental health surge continues
Behavioral health staff say social restrictions are causing spikes in anxiety, depression, substance use, and self-harm — for students, parents and just about everyone experiencing the disruption of the pandemic.
A tiny home community could be a new start for Sitka’s chronically homeless
Despite decades of efforts by various organizations, Sitka has no homeless shelter.
Feds investigating whether Alaska needlessly locks up kids with behavioral health issues
The investigation resulted in part from the Disability Law Center’s 2020 complaint that the state has relied too heavily on locking up children with behavioral health disorders — often at out-of-state, for-profit psychiatric institutions.