Investing in Behavioral Health

To support its vision of a Native Community that enjoys physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness, Southcentral Foundation is investing in an expansion of behavioral health services. Behavioral health is a key component of SCF’s Nuka System of Care, and SCF considers behavioral services to be just as important as other medical services.

To support the provision of high-quality behavioral health care, SCF has begun construction of Yeshjesh T’uh (which means ‘I am safe place’ in Dena’ina Athabascan), a state-of-the-art facility that will provide compassionate, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive services to individuals who need them. The facility will open in 2026 and will include:

• The Adult Crisis Stabilization Center. This is a short-term clinical service, providing 24/7 same day walk-in access and first responder drop offs for individuals experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis.
• Expanded Withdrawal Management. The SCF Detox program will relocate to Yeshjesh T’uh, increasing its capacity and enhancing services with 24-hour medical supervision and medication-assisted treatment to support people withdrawing from substances safely. Services are offered to all members of the community, statewide.
• Outpatient Behavioral Health Services. These include specialty mental health services for customer-owners who need medication management, increased community case management, and same-day access to additional support.
• The Adult Crisis Residential Program. Individuals who need more support to stabilize can transition to this residential program for further observation, assessment, and treatment. This program builds upon the work started in crisis stabilization and care teams refine the treatment plan to support individuals transitioning back to the community as quickly as possible.

Due to SCF’s commitment to providing high-quality behavioral health services, SCF has received the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE) accreditation for its Child and Family Services’ Applied Behavior Analysis Program. This is part of one of SCF’s other behavioral service lines and is the first Indian Health Service applied behavior analysis program to achieve this level of service. Most of SCF’s Behavioral Service locations are accredited by CARF International (which is an independent, non-profit accreditor of health and human services).

For more information about SCF’s integrated behavioral services, or any other aspect of SCF’s Nuka System of Care, feel free to contact the SCF Learning Institute. Also, SCF’s Behavioral Integration Playbook is available for download here.