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ChristieCare awarded grant for
Alaska natives July 5,
2007
By the West Linn Tidings
The Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority awarded a $25,000 grant to ChristieCare, a leading
provider of mental health services for children and families, to
provide residential treatment to Alaska Native children who require
out-of-state placements.
ChristieCare (formerly the Christie
School) will collaborate with Alaska’s Southcentral Foundation, a
non-profit health corporation that serves Alaska Natives and
American Indians, to launch the program this month. The goal is to
provide seamless services for these children.
The agency will use a “culturally
responsive treatment approach for Native youth and families that
will focus on addressing emotional, spiritual, cultural, educational
and physical needs in partnership with the child, family and
community,” said Lynne Hume Saxton, executive director.
They will support this
collaboration with Telehealth technology, which is a video
conferencing system that will allow children to: Meet ChristieCare
staff face-to-face prior to their admission; meet with their
families face-to-face for therapy and visits; meet with community
providers prior to discharge; and follow up with therapists,
psychiatrists and other treatment professionals after they are
discharged and living in Alaska again. Oregon Health & Science
University, leaders in this technology, will offer its support and
expertise to ChristieCare in this endeavor.
The agency is establishing this new
program on 35 acres located on the Clackamas River. The natural
setting offers access to many acres of forested land for traditional
activities and practices. The residential program has the capacity
to serve 24 youth with culturally based healing methods in
conjunction with traditional western mental health approaches.
“We have provided intensive mental
health services for more than a decade for Alaskan children, 31
percent of whom are Alaska natives,” said Saxton. “We are excited
about this additional funding to help launch a more culturally
specific program for children that will ensure positive, timely
results and a sustainable return to their families and communities
in Alaska.”
An advisory council of Native
American and Alaska Native professionals, elders and other
individuals will be established to work with ChristieCare to guide
the program. The local program has developed partnerships with
National Indian Child Welfare Association, Native American
Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest, Native American Youth
Association, Northwest Indian Training Associates, the State of
Oregon and multiple Oregon tribes.
Each year, hundreds of Alaska youth
are sent out of state for psychiatric residential treatment due to
their individual needs and lack of in-state resources.
According to Saxton, ChristieCare
and SCF’s collective vision will help improve the treatment
experience for many of these vulnerable youth, one that is
consistent with the values of Alaska’s Bring the Kids Home
initiative. This initiative outlines the values that children need
to remain with families and in communities whenever possible; that
communities need to be intimately involved with the child while they
are out of the community; and that services need to be developed and
in place to keep kids in their communities.
ChristieCare is located on Highway
43 between Lake Oswego and West Linn.
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