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Southcentral Foundation aims to open a two-story, 44,178-square-foot intensive case management center called Quyana Qenq\u2019a, or “thank you house” in the Yup’ik and Dena\u2019ina Athabascan languages, in summer 2028 near East Third Avenue and Eagle Street. (Rendering provided by Southcentral Foundation) <\/p>\n
Anchorage leaders, mental health experts and homeless advocates say they\u2019re encouraged by new projects in the works to address Alaska\u2019s severe shortage of psychiatric and behavioral health services, particularly for chronically homeless people. <\/p>\n
Two crisis stabilization centers are set to open in the next few months, both in Anchorage\u2019s University-Medical District. Crisis stabilization centers are places where police or clinicians can take someone voluntarily or involuntarily to get emergency psychiatric treatment during acute mental health episodes. <\/p>\n
At the same time, Southcentral Foundation is planning to vastly expand its downtown Quyana Clubhouse<\/a> on Eagle Street and East Third Avenue, which provides primary care, behavioral health services and wellness programs to people with severe mental illness. <\/p>\n Thea Agnew Bemben, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance\u2019s special assistant on homelessness and community safety, spoke about the projects during a recent Downtown Community Council meeting and again the next day at a meeting of the Third Avenue Radicals, a grassroots group that seeks to curb homelessness, particularly on the eastern edge of downtown. <\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t wait for it to happen,\u201d Agnew Bemben said at the Third Avenue Radicals meeting on Sept. 3. \u201cBoth Providence and Southcentral Foundation will be opening crisis stabilization centers this winter.\u201d<\/p>\n She was referring to Providence Alaska, the state\u2019s largest hospital, and Southcentral Foundation, the regional health care organization that serves about 73,000 Alaska Natives in Anchorage, Mat-Su and 55 rural villages.<\/p>\n [Amid new efforts on homelessness and mental health, several in downtown Anchorage say issues are on the rise<\/a>]<\/p>\n Alaska enhanced its mental health infrastructure in 2022 with passage of HB 172<\/a> and its companion bill, SB 124, to allow for the creation and licensing of crisis stabilization centers, Agnew Bemben said. <\/p>\n Sponsored by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the legislation was intended to improve mental health services and take some of the burden off first responders, according to the sponsor statement<\/a>. In essence, it allowed Alaska to move forward with the Crisis Now<\/a> model of mental health care.<\/p>\n This story has been made free to access as a public service.<\/p>\n This story was reported, and made available without a subscription, with support from the Alaska Community Foundation. If you\u2019d like to help us continue expanding local news coverage and access to essential information, you can subscribe<\/a> or make a tax-deductible donation<\/a> to ADN.<\/p>\n Providence Alaska is building a crisis stabilization center<\/a> scheduled to open before year\u2019s end, spokeswoman Laura Mullican said by email on Friday. <\/p>\n Located in the Providence Region Building on Piper Street, the facility will include a behavioral health walk-in clinic for adults and adolescents who need same-day but not emergency-level treatment. It will also house a 23-hour crisis stabilization program for up to 14 patients intended to divert them from hospital emergency rooms.<\/p>\n The Providence facility will also provide a 12-bed residential space for longer-term stabilization for patients in crisis. The intended length of stay is four to seven days, Mullican said.<\/p>\n She said the construction cost for the center and walk-in clinic is $17.3 million, and Providence anticipates about 9,000 visits each year across the various programs offered.<\/p>\n Southcentral Foundation is also building a crisis stabilization center at the corner of Tudor and Elmore roads. <\/p>\n Once completed, the 100,000-square-foot facility will offer crisis stabilization, expanded withdrawal management, and outpatient behavioral health services to all members of the community, not only Alaska Native residents. The facility is expected to open in the first quarter of 2027, according to foundation spokesperson Sharon Leighow.<\/p>\n In addition to the two new crisis stabilization centers, the $60 million Quyana Clubhouse expansion project<\/a> involves constructing a new two-story building adjacent to the clubhouse where intensive case management and an array of multidisciplinary medical, mental health and social services to tribal members will be provided.<\/p>\n Construction of the 44,178-square-foot building is scheduled to begin once Congress passes a bill to transfer a little over three acres of federal land at Eagle Street to Southcentral Foundation. The Southcentral Foundation Land Transfer Act of 2025 passed the House of Representatives last December and is awaiting Senate approval. The Alaska congressional delegation sponsored the legislation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Southcentral Foundation hopes to finish construction of the new facility in summer 2028. It will be called Quyana Qenq\u2019a, or \u201cthank you house,\u201d in the Yup\u2019ik and Dena\u2019ina Athabascan languages.<\/p>\n The building\u2019s architecture, the design and delivery of services and many other components of the programming and intensive case management will be rooted in Alaska Native and American Indian culture, said Brian McCutcheon, vice president of behavioral services at Southcentral Foundation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole building is designed around teaching and independence and because we serve Alaska Native and American Indian people primarily, it\u2019s meant to incorporate the culture,\u201d McCutcheon said.<\/p>\n