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Agenda

Thank you for joining us for our third convening of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority’s Improving Lives Conference. Revisit your favorite presentations from the 2026 event via the conference app! To access presentations, click on any session from the Schedule and scroll to the PDF section at the bottom of the session details.

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Pre-Conference | Wednesday, September 16, 2026

8:30 – 12:00 PM

Improving Complex Care in Alaska: Where You Fit In

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Presented by the Alaska Dept. of Health and the Dept. of Family and Community Services

1:00 – 5:00 PM

RHTP Workshop: Transforming Beneficiary Health in Alaska

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Presented by the Alaska Dept. of Health RHTP Team
1:00 – 5:00 PM

‘Super Advocate’ Advocacy Training

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Presented by Teri Tibbett, Advocacy Coordinator

Conference Day 1 | Thursday, September 17, 2026

7:30 – 8:30 AM

Registration & Check-In

Registration & Check-In

8:30 – 9:00 AM

Welcome Remarks

Registration & Check-In

9:00 – 10:00 AM

Plenary Panel: Shifting the Glacier: Positively Impacting Trajectories through Prevention and Intervention Across the Lifespan

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Speakers:

  • Joshua Arvidson, LCSW (Alaska Behavioral Health)
  • Cassie Sheridan, MPH (State of Alaska Dept of Health)
  • Matthew Hirschfeld, MD/PhD (Southcentral Foundation)
10:00 – 10:15 AM

Break

Registration & Check-In

10:15 – 11:15 AM

Breakout Sessions

Registration & Check-In

Session 1

Hidden in Plain Sight: How Traumatic Brain Injury is an Invisible Driver of Poor Mental Health, Substance Use, & Suicide

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Speakers:

  • Audra Yewchin, OTD, OTR/L, CBIS (REAL Solutions AK)
  • Adam Grove, ND, CBIS (Alaska Brain Injury Consortium)
Session 2, Part 1

How Health Information Technologies can Improve Beneficiary Health Outcomes

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Speakers:

  • Chris Sturm, BCBA, LBA (healthEconnect Alaska)
  • Mary Eckart, PA-C (Physician Assistant, Certified) (healthEconnect Alaska)
Session 2, Part 2

Centering Participant Voice in Pay for Success: Lessons from Home for Good

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Speakers:

  • Sam Longacre, MPH (United Way of Anchorage)
  • Kathi Trawver, PhD, LMSW (UAA School of Social Work/ Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies)

Session 3

Transforming Alaska’s HCBS System Through Cross-Sector Collaboration

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Speakers:

  • Kim Champney, MSW (Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities)
  • Sandra Heffern, PhD (Effective Health Design)
  • Anthony Newman, MPA (Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services)
  • Kelda Barstad, LMSW (AMHTA)
11:15 – 11:30 AM
Break

Registration & Check-In

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Breakout Sessions

Registration & Check-In

Session 1

Beyond the Referral: Piecing Together Whole-Person Care in Rural Alaska

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Speaker:

  • Bre Andersen, Mental Health First Aid Certified, Trained Peer Support Specialist (Southeast Alaska Independent Living)

Session 2

The Meaning of Life and the End of Medicine

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Speaker:

  • Robert Lawrence, MD (State of Alaska Department of Health)

Session 3

Breaking the Myth of Independence – Making Invisible Support Visible

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Speaker:

  • Tami Eller, LPC (UAA Center for Human Development)
12:00 – 12:30 PM
Break

Registration & Check-In

12:30 – 1:30 PM

Keynote Presentation: Two Paths, One System: What Recovery and Medicine Taught Us About Change

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Speakers:

  • Anne Zink, MD (Yale School of Public Health / ZinkWise LLC)
  • Karl Soderstrom, CDCS (True North Recovery)
1:30 – 1:45 PM
Break

Registration & Check-In

1:45 – 2:45 PM
Breakout Sessions

Registration & Check-In

Session 1

Beyond the Clinic: How Community Health Workers Are Reshaping Mental Health Care in Alaska

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Speakers:

  • Colby Takeda, MBA, MPH, CHW (Pear Suite)
  • Tafilisaunoa Toleafoa (Pacific Community of Alaska)
  • Nyabony Gat (Alaska Literacy Program & AK CHW Network)
  • Jacqueline Summers, Master of Adult Education (Alaska Safety / Workforce Alliance)

Session 2

Telling Our Stories: Building capacity for crisis system data sharing

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Speakers:

  • Lauren Rocco (Agnew::Beck Consulting)
  • Becky Bitzer, LMSW (Agnew::Beck Consulting)
  • Megan Carlson (Agnew::Beck Consulting)

Session 3

People with Disabilities Training Healthcare Professionals in Simulation Labs

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Speakers:

  • Bridger Reed-Lewis (UAA Center for Human Development)
  • Jena Crafton, LEND Fellow (UAA Center for Human Development)
  • Karen Heath, MS (UAA Center for Human Development)
  • Sara Hannon, MSN, RN, CHSE (University of Alaska Anchorage)
2:45 – 3:00 PM
Break

Registration & Check-In

3:00 – 4:00 PM
Breakout Sessions

Registration & Check-In

Session 1

Small Stipends, Big Impact: What Alaska Learned from the UReCares Program

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Speakers:

  • Charity Carmody, DLP, MBA (Alaska Impact Alliance)
  • Holly Handler (Kin Support Program Haa Yatx’u Saani)
  • Haylee Donovan (VOA Alaska)
Session 2, Part 1

From Community Experience to System Response Strengthening Suicide Postvention in Remote Aboriginal Communities of Central Australia

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Speakers:

  • Alice Campbell-Jones, Master of Suicidology
Session 2, Part 2

Geriatric Data to Drive Upstream Suicide Prevention and Social Well-Being

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Speakers:

  • Monique Andrews, PsyD, LPC (Alaska Pacific University)

Session 3

Bringing Us Together: How the interRAI Home Care fosters whole person care

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Speakers:

  • Carrie Goodman, MPH (HCBS Strategies)
  • Erik Peterson (Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services)
4:00 – 4:30 PM
Poster Presentations

Registration & Check-In

4:30 – 6:00 PM
Networking Reception

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Conference Day 2 | Friday, September 18, 2026

7:30 – 8:30 AM

Registration & Check-In

Registration & Check-In

8:30 – 9:00 AM
Welcome Remarks, Update from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority

Registration & Check-In

9:00 – 9:15 AM
Break

Registration & Check-In

9:15 – 10:15 AM

Breakout Sessions

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Session 1

Invisible Barriers: Addressing Mental Health Access for Uninsured Alaskans

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Speakers:

  • Melinda Freemon, MS, LPC, CCS (Anchorage Project Access)
  • Lia Abraham, BSOE (Anchorage Project Access)

Session 2

Connecting the Dots: Turning Dementia Risk Reduction into Action Across Services

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Speaker:

  • Jane Thomas, FMCA Certified Health and Wellness Coach, ReCODE 2.0 Certified Health Coach (Alzheimer’s Resource Alaska)

Session 3

The Road Home: Current and Historical Perspectives of Complex Care in Alaska

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Speakers:

  • Phillip Tafs, MSW, BCBA, LBA (MethodWorks AK, LLC)
  • Kim Champney, MSW (Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities)
10:15 – 10:30 AM
Break

Registration & Check-In

10:30 – 11:30 AM
Breakout Sessions

Registration & Check-In

Session 1, Part 1

Fairbanks Mobile Crisis Team: The 4th Branch of First Responders

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Speakers:

  • Courtney Evans, LPC (Mobile Crisis Team – AKBH)
  • Liz Sewell, M.Ed., LPC-S (Alaska Behavioral Health)
Session 1, Part 2

Beyond the Crisis: Building Sustainable Behavioral Health Support Through Mobile Co-Response

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Speakers:

  • William Hutchings, LPC (Anchorage Police Department)
  • Michael Montgomery, CIT Officer (Anchorage Police Department)

Session 2

Bridging Systems for Whole-Person Reentry: Integrated Behavioral Health, Housing

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Speakers:

  • Jackie Yates (Ketchikan Wellness Coalition)
  • Drew Herby (Ketchikan Wellness Coalition)
  • Bailey Singstad (Ketchikan Wellness Coalition)
  • Jonathan Pistotnik, MPH (Alaska Department of Corrections)

Session 3

Nothing About Us Without Us: Lived Experience and Employment in Action

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Speakers:

  • Nikki Marcano, CESP (Frontier Community Services)
  • Bexx Geleide, CESP (Frontier Community Services)
  • Michael Washington (Frontier Community Services)
  • Alicia Clements (Frontier Community Services)
  • Brenda Elizalde (Frontier Community Services)
11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Break

Registration & Check-In

12:00 – 1:00 PM

Keynote Presentation: Under the Hood and Over the Horizon: What AI Actually Changes in Behavioral Health

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Speaker:

  • Dr. Eric Arzubi, MD (Frontier Psychiatry)
1:00 – 1:15 PM
Break

Registration & Check-In

1:15 – 2:15 PM
Breakout Sessions

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Session 1

From Crisis to Stability: Managing High Utilization in Medicaid

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Speaker:

  • Sarah McCutcheon, MD, FAPA (Comagine Health)

Session 2

Leveraging Alaska’s No Wrong Door Infrastructure to Create Sustainable Solutions

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Speakers:

  • Steven Lutzky, Ph.D. (HCBS Strategies, Inc.)
  • Erik Peterson (Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services)
  • Ariel Berg (Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services)
  • Chris Sturm, BCBA, LBA (healthEconnect Alaska)
  • Andrew Cieslinski (HCBS Strategies, Inc.)

Session 3

Intensive Home Based Treatment

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Speakers:

  • Roberto Perea (Southcentral Foundation)
  • Sara Risi, LCSW, BAS (Southcentral Foundation)
2:15 – 2:30 PM
Break

Registration & Check-In

2:30 – 3:00 PM
Breakout Sessions

Registration & Check-In

Session 1

Strengthening Protective Factors through Classroom Story Telling

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Speakers:

  • Eiden Pospisil (Alaska Humanities Forum)
  • Chuck Seaca (Alaska Humanities Forum)

Session 2

Connection Before Crisis: Building Belonging Through Behavioral Health Aide–Led Prevention

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Speaker:

  • Elizabeth Diviney, LPC-S, CDC-S, NCC (Maniilaq Association)

Session 3

Cultivating Authentic Youth Leadership

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Speakers:

  • Isaac Smoldon, Bachelor’s in Journalism and Public Communication (MY House)
  • Odessa Jackson, PSP 1, CT (True North Recovery)
  • Michelle Parker (MY House)
  • Raven Evan, PSP 1 (MY House)
3:00 – 3:15 PM
Break

Registration & Check-In

3:15 – 4:30 PM

Plenary Panel: Rural Health Transformation Spotlight: Awardees in Action

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Speakers:

  • Commissioner Heidi Hedberg (Alaska Department of Health)
  • Larenda Coy (City of Nenana Volunteer Fire & EMS Department)
  • Kim Champney, MSW (Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities)
  • Jacoline Bergstrom, MD, MBA (Tanana Chiefs Conference)
4:30 – 4:45 PM
Closing Remarks & Door Prizes

Registration & Check-In

Description:

The joint DFCS/DOH Complex Care Team is excited to host a pre-conference session, sharing the complex care work that is taking place at the state level. This interactive session will be an opportunity for community partners to learn more about and partner with us on this work. Participants can expect to gain insight into how cross-system coordination improves care planning, reduces barriers, strengthens partnerships across multiple agencies, and influences larger systematic changes. The intent of this session is to engage in conversations to build a more connected statewide complex care partnership and explore future collaboration opportunities. We look forward to learning how to walk alongside our partners and stakeholders in this work that is so important to Alaskans.

Description:

Building on the 2026 Improving Lives Conference theme of transforming beneficiary health in Alaska, this informative and impactful workshop will highlight Alaska’s progress to date in advancing the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). The session will share key insights from RHTP Regional Convenings and provide a forward-looking view of what’s ahead for the program in our state.

Participants will also be invited to join a collaborative discussion on how RHTP investments can help transform Alaska’s behavioral health and disability systems of care to better meet the needs of Trust beneficiaries.

Description:

This free half-day in-person training will offer tools and hands-on practice in engaging with lawmakers about their policy and budget decisions that impact Trust beneficiaries (people with mental illness, substance use disorders, intellectual/developmental disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease/dementia, traumatic brain injuries), families and caregivers, providers of services, administrators, and others interested in educating policymakers about Trust beneficiaries and the systems that serve them.

Description:

This plenary session highlights data‑driven, Alaska‑based programs that are improving behavioral health outcomes for Trust beneficiaries across the lifespan. Using a glacier‑movement analogy, the panel will explore how early action, timely intervention, and sustained support can shift long‑term trajectories for children, families, and communities. Perspectives include lived experience, clinical practice, trauma‑informed systems development, and statewide data analysis. The session emphasizes intergenerational change, resilience, and opportunities to act where interventions can make the greatest impact.

Joshua Arvidson

Chief Operating Officer
Alaska Behavioral Health
Joshua is the COO at Alaska Behavioral Health, where he also co-founded the Alaska Child Trauma Center and serves as Director of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network's Rural Child Trauma Center. Joshua is interested in how two often-siloed components of behavioral healthcare, namely the implementation of evidence-based treatments coupled with improved, timely access to care, can dramatically improve outcomes for persons seeking help. Joshua is an LCSW with 25 years of clinical experience and has served as a clinical therapist, clinical supervisor, and UAA adjunct instructor. Over the past several years, he has been working to help develop one of Alaska's first CCBHCs, where he is examining the impact of timely access to a continuum of care on outcomes.

Cassie Sheridan

Epidemiology Specialist II
State of Alaska Department of Health
Cassie Sheridan is an Epidemiology Specialist II in the Maternal Child Health Epi Unit. Cassie was born and raised in Soldotna and enjoys skiing, biking, hiking, paddling, and fishing. Cassie is thrilled to be back working to improve the experiences of other 'Alaska Kids' like herself.

Matthew Hirschfeld

Executive Vice President--Specialty Group
Southcentral Foundation
Throughout his career, Dr. Matt Hirschfeld has been committed to improving healthcare across Alaska. He has been instrumental in expanding access to healthcare services for Alaska Native women and children across the state through his work at the Alaska Native Medical Center and on various nonprofit boards, including the All Alaska Pediatric Partnership. In his current role, he oversees a broad range of services, including dental, pharmacy, obstetrics and gynecology, radiology, detox, specialty pediatrics, and other specialty care. Dr. Hirschfeld serves on the leadership team at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska, which is jointly owned and managed by the Southcentral Foundation and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. He is also a practicing pediatrician, and he has been providing care to children and adolescents at the Alaska Native Medical Center and the Norton Sound Health Corporation since 2005.

Description:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and functional vision impairments are frequently overlooked contributors to mental health instability, substance use, suicide risk, unemployment, homelessness, and long-term disability. Many individuals experience persistent cognitive, sensory, behavioral, and visual symptoms that remain unidentified for years, resulting in fragmented care and poor outcomes despite repeated interaction with healthcare, behavioral health, and justice systems.

This presentation explores the connection between brain injury and downstream mental health, behavioral health, and social outcomes across the lifespan. Presenters will discuss how hidden cognitive and visual deficits can interfere with treatment engagement, emotional regulation, employment, education, relationships, and daily functioning, particularly when rehabilitation services are unavailable or difficult to access. The session will also highlight emerging community-based approaches focused on improving awareness, strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration, expanding rehabilitation capacity, and creating more accessible pathways to recovery, participation, and long-term stability for Alaskans and their families.

Audra Yewchin

Doctor of Occupational Therapy
REAL Solutions AK
Audra Yewchin is an occupational therapist and lifelong Alaskan whose work bridges clinical care, education, and community outreach. She served as Director of Rehabilitation at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute before establishing her own Anchorage practice, where she works with children and adults and specializes in brain injury, psychosocial rehabilitation, and neurovision remediation.

Much of Dr. Yewchin's career has centered on expanding access to brain injury care in Alaska's rural communities. Through her work with the Alaska Brain Injury Network, she helped bring outreach clinics to communities from Utqiaġvik to Ketchikan. Today she also serves as the executive director of REAL Solutions AK, a non-profit created to address gaps in care, where she partners with the Alaska Brain Injury Consortium's Brain Bus project to provide consultation and early treatment as the organization's programs continue to grow.

Alongside her clinical work, Dr. Yewchin has been a dedicated educator. As adjunct faculty in the University of Alaska Anchorage doctoral occupational therapy program, she taught psychosocial rehabilitation and mentored graduate students through clinical fieldwork - work for which she was named Fieldwork Educator of the Year. Her approach to therapy is collaborative and creative, grounded in the belief that Alaskans deserve care tailored to their strengths, goals, and communities.

Adam Grove

Executive Director
Alaska Brain Injury Consortium
Dr. Adam Grove is a Naturopathic doctor based in Anchorage specializing in children and adults with traumatic brain injury. Dr. Grove received his doctorate from Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington in 2002. He also holds a Masters of Arts degree in Soviet Area Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering. He is a member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, member of the Alaska Brain Injury Council, founder of the Alaska Brain Injury Consortium and Alaska Brain Bus project as well as a Certified Brain Injury Specialist.

Description:

Health records. In all our roles, we invest significant time managing them – be it our own records, those of clients we serve, or agencies managing client records. Health Information Technology (HIT) encompasses how we securely process, store, and share health data electronically. This could be an app, a web-based portal, a doctor's electronic health record (EHR), or the Health Information Exchange (HIE). – Overall, the vision of HIT remains partially unfulfilled. Yes, clients have more access to their health records. Yes, doctors and clinicians can get a client’s health records quicker than ever. Yet, that health data hasn't fully transformed the way we collaborate to provide integrated healthcare and better serve the whole person. This presentation will provide case studies of how HIT can do that.

Chris Sturm

Healthcare Engagement Specialist
healthEconnect Alaska
Chris recently transitioned from UAA's Center for Human Development to the health information field at healthEconnect Alaska. His desire to make such a shift was to work at a systems level to fill gaps in care that he experienced while working across Alaska as a Complex Behavior Specialist.

For more than 15 years, Chris worked around the State with teams consisting of agencies, families, community organizations, and schools. These teams supported our most complex and vulnerable individuals who were at risk of being hospitalized and/or sent out of state. Teams were doing the most they could with what they had. However, for many individuals who had complex needs, there were a variety of issues that contributed to their complex behaviors. Some were untreated conditions, like seizures, while others had medication-related issues. Some even had unknown medical issues that impacted their behavior and quality of life.

It was through the sharing of records and close review of these that helped resolve some behavioral challenges with limited interventions required. It is this experience and learning that Chris brings to his work now at healthEconnect.

Mary Eckart

Clinical Engagement & Outreach
healthEconnect Alaska

Mary Eckart, PA-C, focuses on clinical and community outreach in her clinical engagement role with healthEconnect. Her work is motivated by firsthand experience as a practicing physician assistant in the Mat-Su Valley since 2013.

Mary has practiced in a variety of settings, from urgent care and primary care to private practice. She completed her physician assistant studies through the University of Washington MEDEX program. Prior to becoming a PA, Mary was a paramedic in the Fairbanks area.

As a child, Mary’s family followed a seasonal lifestyle, alternating between Bristol Bay and the small communities of McCarthy and Salcha. Mary truly appreciates the unique challenges of delivering integrated health and behavioral care to Alaska’s vast network of remote communities.

Description:

Home for Good is an outcomes-based supportive housing project serving individuals experiencing persistent homelessness and cycling through emergency services. The project included quantitative evaluations as part of the Pay for Success financing model, measuring housing stability for project outcome payments. With additional funding from the Trust, Home for Good partnered with UAA to conduct a quantitative evaluation to identify themes around participant experience, to add insights into which elements of program delivery and service design had the greatest impacts on participant housing stability and well-being.

Sam Longacre

Housing Director

United Way of Anchorage

Sam Longacre (she/they) is the Housing Director at United Way of Anchorage. She is grateful to work with a compassionate, experienced team that inspires her to think creatively about partnerships and problem solving. Sam has a background in public health and previously led patient supportive services at the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center.

Kathi Trawver

Professor/Director
UAA School of Social Work/ Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies
Dr. Kathi Trawver is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Alaska Anchorage and directs the UAA Center for Alcohol and Addictions Studies. Her community-driven research, evaluation, and technical assistance focuses on finding improved responses for individuals, families, and communities facing legal system involvement, homelessness, serious mental illness, substance use, interpersonal violence challenges, health inequities, and basic needs insecurity.
Description:

Alaska's home and community-based services system is mission-driven, community-rooted, and under significant strain. Workforce shortages, thin financial margins, growing administrative burdens, and overlapping reforms are testing the resilience of providers across the state. Yet within that pressure, a funder, a state program director, a provider association, and a healthcare consultant are working together to build a stronger system. Meaningful system change does not happen through one organization, one initiative, or one perspective alone. It takes a village. None can carry the work alone, but together they can help shape a system that is more coordinated, sustainable, and responsive to the people it serves. Panelists will share findings from a recent statewide evaluation of Alaska's IDD provider network, explore what the data reveals about structural risk, and discuss how cross-sector collaboration is shaping reform strategy. The session is grounded in Alaska's Shared Vision.

Kim Champney

Executive Director
Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities
Kim Champney is the Executive Director of the Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities (AADD). She first came to Alaska as a VISTA volunteer living and working on Prince of Wales Island in 1992. Kim spent nearly 20 years working for a Juneau-based DD services provider in a variety of roles before leaving to start a consulting business. As a consultant she facilitated several systems change projects including the DD Shared Vision and the launch of the Dementia Action Collaborative. Kim joined AADD in 2022. She has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Sandra Heffern

CEO
Effective Health Design
Sandra Heffern, PhD is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Effective Health Design, a healthcare consulting firm specializing in health system transformation, Medicaid policy, home and community-based services (HCBS), long-term services and supports (LTSS), reimbursement design, and strategic planning.

With more than 30 years of executive leadership and consulting experience, Dr. Heffern is recognized for bringing diverse stakeholders together to solve complex policy and operational challenges. She has built trusted relationships with state administrations, legislators, healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, and business leaders, enabling successful collaboration across competing interests and priorities.

Dr. Heffern has led statewide initiatives focused on healthcare reform, Medicaid redesign, payment methodology, workforce strategy, and the development of sustainable systems of care. She has facilitated multi-organization strategic planning efforts, guided policy development and implementation, and helped organizations translate complex regulatory and financing changes into practical, measurable solutions. Her work combines policy expertise with operational experience, allowing her to develop recommendations that are both innovative and implementable.

Before founding Effective Health Design, Dr. Heffern successfully built, led, and ultimately sold a senior and disability services organization that was one of Alaska's largest employers. Under her leadership, the organization expanded access to high-quality community-based services while maintaining strong financial performance and operational excellence. This entrepreneurial experience provides her with a unique perspective on balancing public policy objectives with the realities of service delivery, workforce management, and organizational sustainability.

Anthony Newman

Director
Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services
Mr. Newman has served as director of the Division of Senior and Disabilities Services since 2022. He has worked in various roles at the Alaska Department of Health since September 2001. Currently, he resides in Juneau.

Kelda Barstad

Program Officer
Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
Kelda is a social worker who began her career over thirty years ago providing home-based services. She has served people across the lifespan, building stronger families and communities. Over time, her experiences led her to program management and policy work that ignited her passion for systems change. She currently engages in this work at the Alaska Mental Health Trust as a program officer, grateful for the continued opportunity to make a positive impact.

Description:

In Southeast Alaska, accessing care is rarely a single-system experience. It requires navigating physical health, behavioral health, disability services, and social supports—systems often treated as separate despite being deeply interconnected. These challenges are intensified by geography, where many rural communities have limited local services and require travel for specialty care, disrupting continuity and increasing burden.

In rural Alaska, ADRCs and Independent Living Centers function as critical access and coordination hubs, connecting individuals to care coordination and navigating complex systems when formal supports are limited.

This presentation uses two case studies—a household navigating stroke recovery and a young adult with complex mental health conditions and mobility instability—to examine what it actually takes to access and sustain support. It explores upstream barriers, downstream consequences, and coordination labor.

Grounded in a whole-person care framework, participants will leave with practical tools like community resource mapping and strengthening local awareness networks.

Bre Andersen

Aging & Disability Resource Center Specialist
Southeast Alaska Independent Living
Bre Andersen is the Juneau ADRC Specialist at SAIL, the only Independent Living Center serving communities across Southeast Alaska. As a human-centered advocate with a physical disability and lived experience navigating mental health challenges, their work is grounded in empathy, accessibility, dignity, and community-centered support.

Their commitment to peer support and advocacy began long before entering the professional social services field, rooted in the belief that no one should have to navigate disability, chronic illness, or mental health challenges alone. Having called Juneau their adopted hometown for much of their life, Bre Andersen brings both personal and professional insight into the realities of navigating services in rural Alaska, where geography, infrastructure, and cost can create significant barriers to care and connection.

Passionate about “boots on the ground” community work, Bre Andersen believes meaningful systems change begins with listening to lived experience and creating spaces where people feel genuinely seen, heard, and valued. Outside of their advocacy work, they are a mixed media artist and community volunteer dedicated to fostering creativity, connection, and belonging within their local community.

Description:

What does it mean to save a life? In this presentation, Dr. Lawrence will explain how health care providers save lives by acting on a commitment to promote life and health objectively defined along an upstream and downstream continuum of care. He will provide practical ways individual providers and organizations can align their work with the fundamental purpose of health care to promote health and well-being of all our communities.

For participants, this presentation will be informational, inspirational, aspirational, and practically focused on giving each participant the ability to confidently answer the question: "Given the various resources and perspectives among diverse private, state, tribal, and local health organizations how do I center my work with Trust beneficiaries and the work of my organization around a unified concept of what it means to be well?"

Robert Lawrence

Chief Medical Officer
State of Alaska Department of Health
Robert Lawrence, MD is the Chief Medical Officer for the State of Alaska Department of Health. He is a Family Practice physician, trained in the Alaska WWAMI program at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who began his work as a community physician in Nome, Alaska in 2006. From 2013-2024, he served as the Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Corrections and has served in the Department of Health since April of 2024. Dr. Lawrence is board certified in Family Medicine and has advanced degrees in Education and Medical Ethics. He earned his medical degree from the University of Washington School of Medicine, a master’s degree in Bioethics from Trinity International University, and a master’s degree in social science education from Harding University. He is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine. His major contributions have been in supporting health care professionals and organizations who address the health needs of vulnerable populations.

Description:

Dominant societal culture promotes transitioning to adulthood at 18, with full independence as a sign of success. This independence is often marked by leaving home for secondary education, getting a job, or joining the military. Individuals needing support are deemed a “failure to launch”, thus increasing stigma for themselves and their families. Many individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as FASD, frequently benefit from additional time and support in the transitioning years, yet may not qualify for formal programs. A “safety net” is needed for these young adults to minimize challenges to adaptive, social-emotional, and occupational well-being. By considering the components of interdependent growth evident in common systems of scaffolding for adulthood, we can break down the myth of independence as a normative goal. Through a series of interactive experiences, participants will examine society’s built-in “safety net”, identify its components, and receive a tool to support those unable to access it.

Tami Eller

Lead Behavioral Health Training Coordinator
UAA Center for Human Development
Tami Eller, M.S., LPC, was born and raised in Anchorage. She is a licensed professional counselor who received her Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from Alaska Pacific University. Tami has been working as a Lead Behavioral Health Training Coordinator at the Family Services Training Center since November 2021. She has over 25 years of experience providing services to children and families through community-based social services, child protective services, and behavioral health. Tami is a certified facilitator of the FASCETS Neurobehavioral Model and a TBRI® Practitioner. She spearheaded the development of the AK TBRI Collaborative in 2022, leading to the certification of 77 Alaskan TBRI practitioners. Tami’s passion is educating providers and advocating for individuals impacted by FASD and their families. She co-chaired the workgroup that developed the "9 Core Messages: What Everyone Should Know about Prenatal Alcohol Exposure." For the past two years, Tami has worked with the University of Rochester to develop Thrive – Person-Centered Planning: A Scalable FASD-Informed Intervention to support transitional-age young adults. This year, she has taken on the challenge of teaching an undergraduate and graduate course on FASD for the School of Education at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Tami has presented and provided training in Alaska, nationally, and internationally.
Description:

Dr. Anne Zink and Karl Soderstrom did not start in the same room. Anne’s early years were marked by medical training and by watching the opioid epidemic from inside the system—first as a student, then as a physician learning how much suffering arrived after care had already failed. Karl is a person in long-term recovery from a substance misuse disorder. His early years were marked by addiction and by searching for help that would finally hold.

Those two paths did not stay separate. Anne stayed in medicine and grew into a teacher and policy leader, carrying what she saw in patients into the work of changing how systems understand addiction, crisis, and care. Karl found recovery and built True North Recovery from that experience: an organization rooted in lived experience, same-day access, and the belief that people heal when treatment is joined to housing, work, community, and hope.

Their keynote is the story of what those paths taught them about change. Lasting change requires both lived experience and clinical and policy power. Systems move when the person who was once the doctor and the person who was once the client stop working in parallel and start building the next version of care together.

Anne Zink

Senior Fellow / Founder
Yale School of Public Health / ZinkWise LLC
Dr. Anne Zink is an emergency physician, public health leader, educator, and communicator with deep experience in health policy, emergency preparedness, data modernization, and health systems change. As Alaska's former Chief Medical Officer, she led statewide public health strategy through COVID-19 and advanced practical, trust-based approaches to complex health challenges. She also served as President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, representing state and territorial health leaders nationally.

She is now a Senior Fellow and Lecturer at the Yale School of Public Health, co-founder of PopHIVE, and founder of ZinkWise Consulting. Her work focuses on democratizing health data through collaborative, distributed models of population health information, and on rural health transformation in Alaska and beyond.

A Denver native, she earned her bachelor's degree from Bryn Mawr College and her medical degree from Stanford, and completed her emergency medicine residency at the University of Utah. She continues to see patients in Alaska emergency departments and serves on the board of the National Outdoor Leadership School.

Karl Soderstrom

Chief Executive Officer
True North Recovery
Karl Soderstrom is the founder and CEO of True North Recovery. On a fundamental level, he is a person in long term recovery, an advocate, and a peer.
Description:

Mental health outcomes are shaped by far more than clinical care alone. Housing instability, food insecurity, transportation barriers, language access, and cultural disconnects often determine whether individuals can successfully access and sustain behavioral health services.

Across Alaska, community health workers (CHWs), community-based organizations, and trusted community leaders are helping bridge these gaps. Yet many individuals continue to face fragmented systems, multiple referrals, duplicated assessments, and disconnected providers.

This session explores how Alaska is building the infrastructure needed to support whole-person care through community health workers, community care hubs, shared referral systems, and stronger partnerships between healthcare providers, behavioral health organizations, and community-based organizations.

Presenters will share lessons from emerging statewide efforts to create culturally responsive, coordinated systems that improve access to care, strengthen continuity of services, reduce duplication, and better address the social drivers of mental health.

Colby Takeda

CEO
Pear Suite
Colby Takeda is the co-founder and CEO of Pear Suite, where he oversees operations, workforce development, and strategic partnerships. Colby brings his diverse background in public health, aging, and community-based care to support Pear Suite’s focus on addressing the social and environmental drivers of health, especially for older adults and underserved communities. Colby is a former senior care executive who helped open numerous care facilities. Colby also previously taught CHW courses and continues to enjoy providing direct client care as a CHW.

Colby serves on the board of directors for the CTA Foundation, Better Business Bureau of the Great West and Pacific, and the National Association of Community Health Workers.

Tafilisaunoa Toleafoa

Executive Director
Pacific Community of Alaska
Tafilisaunoa "Tafi" Toleafoa is the Executive Director of the Pacific Community of Alaska (PCA), an Anchorage-based nonprofit dedicated to serving Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities across the great state of Alaska. At the heart of Pacific Community of Alaska’s work is a powerful truth: for many underserved communities, the path to health and well-being doesn't begin in a clinic or a hospital. It begins with a trusted neighbor, a familiar voice, someone who shows up where people already are. Community Health Workers are that bridge! They meet people in their homes, their churches, their communities, providing culturally grounded support, resource navigation, and connection to care in spaces far beyond the walls of the formal healthcare system. For Pacific Islander communities in Alaska, who are navigating barriers of language, culture, geography, and systemic inequity, this kind of person-centered, community-rooted care is not just beneficial. It is absolutely essential.

Originally from the beautiful islands of Samoa and a proud Alaskan for over two decades, Tafi’s career is built at the intersection of housing, civil rights, domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy, mental health, substance abuse, and human trafficking, always centering the dignity and wholeness of the people she serves. Tafi is a mother of a 17-year-old daughter, Mealii, and a 9-year-old son, Ropeti.

Nyabony Gat

Director of Community & Social Programs
Alaska Literacy Program & AK CHW Network
Nyabony Gat is a health equity leader, educator, and community advocate dedicated to strengthening community health worker programs and advancing immigrant and refugee inclusion. As Program Director of the Peer Leader Navigators Program at the Alaska Literacy Program and an advisor to the Alaska CHW Network, she develops workforce pathways, health literacy initiatives, and community-driven solutions that improve access to care and opportunity. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®), holds a B.S. in Health Sciences, and was named one of Alaska's Top 40 Under 40.

Jacqueline Summers

AHWC Program Director
Alaska Safety / Workforce Alliance
Jacqueline Summers has a background in entrepreneurship and project development and management. Currently, she leads the Alaska Health Workforce Coalition as part of the Alaska Safety Workforce Alliance, focusing on coordinating efforts to improve Alaska’s health workforce development.

From 2020 to 2025, Jacqueline was the Executive Director of Health TIE, an Alaskan healthcare innovation hub that she co-founded. As Executive Director, Summers improved Alaskan healthcare by partnering with healthcare startup companies and innovators, elevating their work, making connections, and launching Alaska-based pilot projects that directly addressed Alaska healthcare challenges. This work continues to inform and inspire her current projects.

In addition to being a University of Alaska Anchorage’s Alaska AI Solutions Consortium Board Member, Jacqueline serves as a Commissioner on the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, is a member of the Comagine Alaska Advisory Board, and also serves on the Alaska HOSA and Alaska AHEC Advisory Steering Committees.

Jacqueline Summers has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master of Adult Education from the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Description:

SAMHSA's National Guidelines for a Behavioral Health Coordinated System of Crisis Care identifies crisis service quality and effectiveness as an essential priority for crisis system design. Agnew::Beck will share their approach to working with communities, providers and state entities to develop shared key performance indicators for crisis services. Agnew::Beck will also share their approach to community partner data collection and review via the Anchorage Crisis Collaborative and how the team regularly uses data to inform community and system needs. The team will share challenges as well as tips for developing provider and community-level key performance indicators.

Lauren Rocco

Senior Manager
Agnew::Beck Consulting
Lauren specializes in research projects that target improvement of long-term health and social outcomes for Alaskans through systems change. She has a knack for synthesizing complex data into accessible information, prioritizes engaging stakeholders with lived experience, and cares about developing real and authentic relationships with clients. Her approach is practical, grounded in hands-on experience in the social services sector as an operations director, program director, and educator. Lauren grew up living in the U.S., Europe and Asia; she is proud to claim Alaska as home. Lauren lives in Anchorage with her husband and sons. She loves to spend time cross-country skiing, trying not to kill plants in her garden, and hiking with her family.

Becky Bitzer

Senior Manager
Agnew::Beck Consulting
Becky holds a Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. She strives to bring the social work values of service, social justice, dignity, and worth of the individual, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence to her personal and professional life. Becky joined Agnew::Beck in 2017. Since 2019, she has worked with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, the State of Alaska, and partners statewide to transform Alaska's behavioral health crisis continuum of care.

Megan Carlson

Senior Associate
Agnew::Beck Consulting
Megan is passionate about facilitating collaborative environments for upstream solutions to complex issues. Her work approach emphasizes collaboration and flexibility to meet the diverse needs, resources and self-determined priorities of children, families and communities. In her time at Agnew::Beck, Megan has used her skills in organization, research, communication, writing and facilitation to engage partners and interpret data to increase the capacity of organizations working to improve the health and wellness of their communities.
Description:

Our group will be discussing our experience of providing disability-focused simulations that helped students across many disciplines understand how to work with patients with disabilities. It will highlight how lived experience can improve understanding, communication, and quality of care in healthcare settings. The session will include a short demonstration of one of our simulations, thus allowing the audience to gain first-hand experience of how these simulations work. Finally, we will discuss how inclusion in training environments can lead to stronger healthcare systems and better outcomes for patients with disabilities.

Bridger Reed-Lewis

Disability Advisor
UAA Center for Human Development
Bridger is a disability advisor, as well as an all-star advocate, who goes above and beyond for his community by trying to find solutions to the biggest or smallest issues his community faces every day. At work, Bridger enjoys writing, giving trainings, and advocating for change.

Jena Crafton

Disability Advisor
UAA Center for Human Development
Jena Crafton has been a lifelong advocate for people with disabilities. She served as a council member for the Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education for a number of years, serving her last terms as Vice Chair, and later Chair to the Council. As someone with intellectual and developmental disabilities herself, Jena understands the obstacles her community faces and has dedicated her life to challenging norms and elevating the voices of those who have not yet found their own.

In 2021, she received the April Dunn Start Your Journey Award from the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) for promoting the values of self-determination, independence, productivity, and inclusion. She is also a member of NACDD’s Leadership Circle, former board member of Peer Power Alaska, a member of the Key Coalition, and continues to participate in advocacy activities.

Jena Crafton made history in 2023 when she was named to the Alaska Journal of Commerce Top Forty Under 40 list as the first person with an intellectual disability to receive the award.

Karen Heath

Director
UAA Center for Human Development

Karen Heath, a lifelong Alaskan, is the Director of the University of Alaska Anchorage Center for Human Development (CHD). She has been at CHD for 20 years now, in various roles. Karen started her career in developmental disability residential and vocational services and served as one of the first job coaches in Alaska. Her favorite projects have been those that

a) champion employment of individuals with disabilities,
b) ensure individuals with disabilities are supported in the justice system, and
c) support the mental health needs of Alaskans.

She is passionate about ensuring individuals with disabilities have opportunities and support that allow them to live their best lives.

Sara Hannon

Director, Interprofessional Health Sciences Simulation Center
University of Alaska Anchorage
I am a registered nurse, nursing educator, and simulationist based in Anchorage, Alaska, with a strong interest in healthcare quality and population health. I enjoy co-creating relevant and effective simulation-based learning experiences for academic and clinical needs. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to present and collaborate with the UAA Center for Human Development team.
Description:

Unlicensed relative caregivers are a critical, often overlooked protective factor keeping children out of foster care, especially in families impacted by behavioral health challenges, substance misuse, disability, and trauma. This panel shares two years of outcomes and implementation insights from Alaska’s UReCares Stipend and Respite Program, funded by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority. Serving approximately 100 families annually in 2024 and 2025, UReCares provided a modest annual stipend, respite, and navigation support to stabilize kinship placements and strengthen caregiver well-being.

Presenters will share what we are learning about how financial support can impact caregiver longevity, mental health, and the ability to continue raising children safely within their families. The panel will also highlight the family navigation and support services currently available in Alaska for relative caregivers, and how these services work alongside stipends and respite to strengthen family stability.

Charity Carmody

Executive Director
Alaska Impact Alliance

Dr. Charity Carmody is an Alaska-based entrepreneur and social services innovator with more than 30 years of experience building organizations that strengthen families and communities. She is the founder of Carmody Insurance Agency and leads strategic work through Beautiful Step Consulting, where she currently serves as acting Executive Director of the Alaska Impact Alliance.

She co-founded Beacon Hill, a nonprofit focused on foster care prevention and family reunification, and helped develop and scale programs that support families, improve child well-being, and expand community-based services across Alaska. Charity is also the author of Go Ahead Girl and a speaker on leadership, entrepreneurship, and social impact. She holds a Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University and earned her bachelor’s in business and MBA from Alaska Pacific University, where she teaches as an adjunct business professor.

Holly Handler

Co-Director/Kin Attorney
Kin Support Program Haa Yatx'u Saani
Holly Handler co-founded the non-profit Kin Support Program Haa Yatx’u Saani (ha yut koo saw knee – “Our Precious Children”) in 2023 to support grandparents and other relatives raising children outside the state foster care system. This culturally based kinship navigator program aims to ease everyday life for kinship families by improving access to financial, therapeutic, cultural, educational, and legal resources, and to reduce avoidable entry into the system. Holly previously worked at the Alaska Public Defender Agency, Alaska Legal Services Corporation, and Tlingit and Haida Tribal Family and Youth Services. She’s a mom of twin teenage boys and loves the outdoors.

Haylee Donovan

Director of Community Based Services
VOA Alaska
Haylee Donovan was born and raised in Alaska and is proud to be raising her three children in her home state. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Alaska Anchorage and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Alaska Southeast. Through her work with the Anchorage School District, Haylee was introduced to VOA Alaska, where her passion for supporting youth with mental health and behavioral needs led her to her current role as Director of Community-Based Services.

Description:

In remote Aboriginal communities in Central Australia, responses following a suicide are often fragmented, delayed, and poorly coordinated. Families and communities frequently experience confusion about who is responsible for support, while multiple agencies respond without clear communication or defined roles.

Drawing on frontline leadership within a remote Aboriginal community-controlled health context, this presentation outlines what occurs in the immediate aftermath of a suicide and the impacts of uncoordinated responses. In response, a cross-sector communication protocol was developed to support a more structured and coordinated approach. The protocol establishes clear communication pathways, defines service roles, and enables timely, culturally responsive engagement across police, health, and community services.

Early implementation demonstrated improved coordination and more consistent support. These insights are reinforced by Master's-level research grounded in lived experience perspectives and further informed by a Churchill Fellowship exploring international approaches.

Alice Campbell-Jones

Alice is an Australian suicide prevention leader with experience across frontline practice, program design, and system-level reform. She has worked closely with Aboriginal communities in remote Central Australia, leading culturally grounded suicide prevention and postvention initiatives in geographically isolated settings.

Alice holds a Master of Suicidology from Griffith University, where her research explored the postvention needs of Aboriginal communities following a suicide from lived experience perspectives. Her work is informed by frameworks such as Social and Emotional Wellbeing and centres community leadership, cultural governance, and relational approaches to care.

She is a 2025 Churchill Fellow, undertaking an international research program involving site visits across the United States and Canada to examine Indigenous-led models that strengthen community responses to suicidal distress. Her work is further informed by engagement with experts and initiatives in countries such as New Zealand, India, Greenland, Sri Lanka, and Ghana.

Alice is Deputy Chair of the Mental Health Association of Central Australia and contributes to national suicide prevention efforts through her involvement with the Suicide Prevention Australia Northern Territory Committee and the Suicide Prevention Australia Policy Advisory Committee. Her work bridges community experience and system reform to support more coordinated, culturally safe responses to suicide.

Description:

This presentation focuses on systemic transformation. It explores how healthcare systems and policymakers can innovate by integrating non-traditional data points (like community engagement, transportation access, and living arrangements) into standard mental health beneficiary profiles. The presentation explores how to track social determinants of health data in older populations to build robust, community-based upstream supports, while ensuring that downstream crisis interventions are age-appropriate and seamlessly connected to ongoing care.

Monique Andrews

Assistant Professor of Psychology
Alaska Pacific University
Dr. Andrews is the founder and owner of A Step Forward Counseling and Consulting, LLC, where she provides culturally responsive, resilience-focused mental health services. She is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Alaska Pacific University. In addition, she serves as the chairperson of the Alaska Statewide Suicide Prevention Council and is a member of the Alaska Mental Health Board. Dr. Andrews is on the Alaska Psychological Association’s Board of Directors. Additionally, she is a monthly host on Alaska Public Media’s Line One: Your Health Connection.

Dr. Andrews is a licensed mental health provider. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and went on to earn both her Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Counseling Psychology from Alaska Pacific University. Her research focuses on resilience and protective factors associated with suicide prevention, with a strong emphasis on integrating culturally informed frameworks and supporting diverse communities.

Dr. Andrews has served as a proud Alaska Army National Guard soldier since 2006 in various roles, such as a Victim Advocate, Master Resiliency Trainer, Suicide Prevention Specialist, and an Equal Opportunity Specialist. Across her professional and military roles, she remains committed to advancing mental health equity and evidence-based approaches to healing and wellbeing.

Description:

A comprehensive assessment of a person’s abilities, strengths, preferences, and needs creates a foundation for holistic care and promotes multidisciplinary collaboration across the service continuum. Alaska’s Division of Senior and Disabilities Services is transitioning to new assessment systems for participants receiving home and community-based services. These assessment systems apply across populations, supporting individuals throughout their lives and providing evidence-informed guidelines for multimodal interventions.

Join us for a discussion about how the interRAI Home Care fosters whole-person care and provides a platform for greater integration and coordination across the behavioral health and disability services continuum through Collaborative Action Plans (CAPs) focused on mental health and social life. We will discuss how CAPs facilitate multidisciplinary cooperation and offer adaptive interventions focused on prevention, improvement, and ongoing monitoring to address a variety of physiological, behavioral, social, and environmental factors.

Carrie Goodman

Senior Associate
HCBS Strategies, Inc
Carrie Goodman has over a decade of experience in healthcare operations and community-based research. Carrie joined HCBS Strategies as a Senior Associate in May 2025, after seven years directing home and community-based services (HCBS) programs for Maryland Medicaid, including two years as Acting Deputy Director covering the breadth and depth of long-term services and supports (LTSS). Carrie is adept at fostering reciprocal relationships with a broad range of partners and continuously supporting their needs and development, leading synchronously to better program outcomes.

Prior to Carrie’s work with Maryland Medicaid, she was instrumental in starting a new Community Health Center (CHC) in western North Carolina, building upon her previous work with a practice-based research network of CHCs in New York City. The connective thread throughout Carrie’s work is a passion for improving population health through the lens of equity and the collaborative generation of evidence-based strategies in support of this vision.

Erik Peterson

SDS Chief of Programs
Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services
Erik has worked for the State of Alaska for 18 years across several agencies, including Adult Corrections, Juvenile Justice, the Division of Public Assistance, and the Department of Labor. His work has largely focused on connecting individuals with training, support, and the resources needed to live independently. Since joining Senior and Disabilities Services in 2021, Erik has overseen the ADRC and DDRC networks, served as the Grants Unit Manager, and recently accepted the role of Chief of Programs.
Description:

Uninsured Alaskans with mental health concerns face significant barriers to accessing mental health care, including a lack of health insurance, cost, provider shortages, transportation challenges, stigma, and long waitlists. Through the Mental Health Counseling Program at Anchorage Project Access (APA), uninsured individuals are connected with no-cost outpatient counseling through a network of volunteer providers. This presentation will explore the often “invisible” barriers that prevent people from accessing behavioral health services and discuss APA’s practical strategies for improving access through community partnerships, care coordination, and volunteer-driven systems. Presenters will share lessons learned from implementing a community-based counseling program serving uninsured Alaskans and highlight approaches that can help organizations reduce gaps in mental health care access for underserved populations. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas for strengthening referral pathways, improving collaboration, and expanding equitable access to behavioral health services.

Melinda Freemon

Executive Director
Anchorage Project Access
Melinda Freemon has been in health-related leadership positions in Alaska for over 35 years. She has worked as an Executive Director in the behavioral health and health care fields overseeing comprehensive substance abuse and mental health treatment programs, permanent supportive housing programs, and public health programs with an emphasis on vulnerable populations. Ms. Freemon has worked extensively throughout Alaska to address health and social service disparities. Ms. Freemon serves as the Executive Director of Anchorage Project Access. She previously served as the Director of the Anchorage Health Department. Melinda serves on local task forces and statewide and national commissions working to improve access to health care for all Alaskans. As the Executive Director of Anchorage Project Access, Melinda and her staff provide access to donated specialty medical, dental, and mental health care to individuals with limited income and without health insurance.

Lia Abraham

Mental Health Coordinator
Anchorage Project Access
Lia Abraham has worked in behavioral health settings for approximately 20 years, in both residential and outpatient treatment settings. She recently joined the Anchorage Project Access team as the new Mental Health Coordinator.
Description:

Dementia risk reduction is increasingly recognized as a critical component of whole-person care. Yet many providers and systems struggle to translate this knowledge into everyday practice. What does brain health promotion actually look like in behavioral health, substance use treatment, disability services, and community-based programs?

Drawing on statewide engagement data, participants will explore how Alaskans perceive modifiable dementia risk factors - what they find most surprising, most achievable, and most challenging. Through real-time participation, attendees will contribute to this growing dataset and see how community insight can inform program design.

In small groups, participants will “connect the dots,” linking practical, low-burden, high-impact dementia risk reduction strategies to their programs, populations, and settings. Many will see that they are already addressing brain health, often without naming it as such. Attendees will leave with concrete ideas of how to integrate dementia prevention into their programs - advancing whole-person care for Trust beneficiaries.

Jane Thomas

Outreach Specialist, Mat-Su
Alzheimer's Resource Alaska
Jane Showalter Thomas is an Outreach Specialist with Alzheimer’s Resource Alaska, focusing on the Mat-Su Borough. She grew up in Ohio and has lived in Alaska most of her adult life. She lives in Peters Creek, Alaska, with her husband, dog, and a tiny flock of chickens.

After 40 years working as an environmental engineer, Jane has changed directions, launching a second career.

Jane is the daughter, grandchild, and niece of people who experienced dementia. Once she discovered that research was revealing how lifestyle factors have a big impact on brain health, her passion turned to helping people do what they can to reduce their risk of cognitive decline. After becoming an FMCA Certified Health and Wellness Coach and a ReCODE 2.0 Certified Health Coach, she joined Alzheimer's Resource Alaska. She teaches courses and leads other programs to support people joining her on this journey, striving to stay sharp throughout life.

Her current mission is to increase awareness about dementia, programs supporting people impacted by dementia, and what we can do to reduce our risk of developing symptoms. To replace helplessness with hope.

Description:

Alaska is struggling to serve individuals with complex needs. This is a historical challenge tracing back to pre-statehood, the AMHT settlement, closure of Harborview and expansion of the waiver system. Challenges have accelerated in the past decade — persistent workforce shortages, depressed reimbursement rates, structural challenges — and have created a destructive cycle. Placement loss following a Bx incident creates scrambles to find emergency placement that often fail. Trauma of repeated service disruption discourages established providers from accepting complex referrals and creates strained relationships between funders and providers.

AADD recently completed a Trust-funded project that validated this and indicated some individuals are placed in settings managing behavior with approaches that keep people compliant without the clinical foundation or trained staff that person-centered behavior support requires. This presentation will focus on historical challenges that have created this situation, research that has given direction, and current hopes of stopping this destructive cycle.

Phillip Tafs

CEO
MethodWorks AK, LLC
Phil was born, raised and educated in Alaska. He attended West Anchorage High School and received both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Social Work from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Phil started his career in the Juvenile Justice system as a youth counselor at McLaughlin Youth Center while attending college for his BSW. While working towards his master's degree, he helped develop services for individuals who experience brain injuries, and became the Executive Director for the Brain Injury Network (formerly the Alaska Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board). During this time, he also ran his first business, consulting with peer-run organizations and coordinating a federal evaluation of their services, where he became a proponent of "nothing about us without us." Eventually, Phil began working at the Center for Human Development, and developed and ran the Capacity Building in Autism Interventions (CBAI) program, focused on increasing the availability of Behavior Analysts in Alaska. During this time, Phil became a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Phil gravitated towards challenging behaviors, and became the first consultant for the Complex Behavior Collaborative. He has spent considerable time traveling across Alaska working towards keeping complex individuals in their community. Phil started MethodWorks Alaska in 2016, and has provided waiver services, consulting services, and insurance-based autism services. He currently oversees a staff of 35 employees. Phil is president of the Alaska Association for Applied Behavior Analysis. He believes the use of positive behavior analytic approaches can help us solve many of the world's biggest challenges!

Kim Champney

Executive Director
Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities
Kim Champney is the Executive Director of the Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities (AADD). She first came to Alaska as a VISTA volunteer living and working on Prince of Wales Island in 1992. Kim spent nearly 20 years working for a Juneau-based DD services provider in a variety of roles before leaving to start a consulting business. As a consultant she facilitated several systems change projects including the DD Shared Vision and the launch of the Dementia Action Collaborative. Kim joined AADD in 2022. She has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Description:

This presentation will discuss how the Mobile Crisis Team serves the Fairbanks North Star Borough and how it has evolved into a vital component of our city’s crisis response system. Through partnerships with behavioral health providers, community agencies, law enforcement, EMS, and other first responders, the Mobile Crisis Team has helped transform how behavioral health crises are addressed in Fairbanks.

This presentation will highlight how the Mobile Crisis Team operates, increasing call volume trends, and lessons learned in developing a collaborative, community-based crisis response model. Presenters will discuss how these partnerships have strengthened public safety response, improved access to behavioral health support, and contributed to the emerging concept of mobile crisis teams as a “fourth branch” of first responders.

Courtney Evans

Clinician
Mobile Crisis Team - AKBH
Courtney Evans, LPC began working in the Community Behavioral Health setting in June of 2023 and joined the Mobile Crisis Team in May of 2024. Courtney’s passion lies in the community counseling setting and crisis work, which she approaches through a cognitive and dialectical behavioral approach as well as solution focused. She places great value on the therapist-client relationship. Outside of the office, Courtney enjoys all things outdoors including traveling around the state, gardening, fishing, and has proudly called Alaska home for 30 years.

Liz Sewell

Fairbanks Mobile Crisis Team Clinician
Alaska Behavioral Health
Liz Sewell, M.Ed., LPC-S, is a licensed professional counselor and clinician with the Fairbanks Mobile Crisis Team. She is a certified hostage and crisis negotiator, holds certification in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), and serves as a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) instructor. Liz is dedicated to advancing intentional, coordinated crisis response to better support individuals and communities across Alaska.
Description:

The Municipality has developed and deployed co-responder Mobile Intervention Teams (MIT) within the Anchorage Police Department following the Crisis Now framework and SAMHSA best-practice standards. These teams pair a behavioral health professional with a law enforcement officer to deliver timely, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive care. The teams respond to calls involving youth and adults experiencing a behavioral health crisis, as well as individuals experiencing intellectual and developmental disabilities, FASD, TBI, Alzheimer’s disease, or other related dementias. The MIT teams assess, de-escalate, stabilize, and connect individuals to the appropriate level of care. The goal is to reduce unnecessary placements in jail and hospital emergency departments while keeping individuals at the lowest appropriate level of care without compromising public safety. This presentation will focus on the populations served, operations, community, inter-departmental and team coordination, the value of community care coordination, and program outcome data.

William Hutchings

Mental Health Clinician
Anchorage Police Department
William Hutchings has over a decade of clinical service in Alaska’s behavioral health system, currently serving as a mental health clinician with the Anchorage Police Department’s Mobile Intervention Team (MIT). APD’s Mobile Intervention Team operates as a co-response model where mental health clinicians are paired directly with a police officer and the two primarily respond to 911 mental health calls. MIT has existed within APD for 3.5 years and William has been part of the program for nearly 2 years. Prior to APD, William spent more than 10 years at Alaska Behavioral Health (formerly ACMHS), where he led multidisciplinary teams across programs including Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), Permanent Supportive Housing, Adult Outpatient Services, and as a liaison to Alaska’s only psychiatric hospital (API) to ensure continuity of care.

As a 2-time alumnus (BS & MS) from UAA, William participated and engaged in extensive research and academic involvement, including multiple research assistantships, conference presentations (national and local), and graduate teaching positions. William continues to promote trauma-informed, recovery-oriented care across systems, focusing on improving behavioral health for underserved Alaskans through crisis services, interagency collaboration, and ongoing program development.

Michael Montgomery

MIT Officer
Anchorage Police Department
Officer Michael Montgomery graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 2014. He has served with the Anchorage Police Department since 2015. Since 2018, Officer Montgomery has been a Crisis Intervention Team Officer and a member of the APD Crisis Negotiation Team. In 2023, he joined the Mobile Intervention Team, where he continues to serve.
Description:

Ketchikan Wellness Coalition (KWC) presents a whole-person, community-driven reentry model that integrates behavioral health, disability-aware supports, housing, and employment services to improve post-release well-being. Key innovations include co-located case management inside the Department of Labor (DOL) job center, jointly taught in-custody and community reentry classes with the Department of Corrections (DOC) and DOL, seamless cross-program referrals, and a Reentry Transitional Living Facility supported by AHFC and the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority.

The model embeds trauma-informed, peer-led engagement and disability-inclusive practices to ensure continuity of care across the custody-to-community transitions. Strong DOC collaboration sustains program capacity and successful linkages to housing, employment, and community behavioral health services.

Jackie Yates

Executive Director
Ketchikan Wellness Coalition
Jackie Yates is the Executive Director of the Ketchikan Wellness Coalition, leading a coalition-driven approach to community wellness that brings together public safety, health services, nonprofit partners, and residents to build coordinated, compassionate responses to local needs. Born and raised in Ketchikan, Alaska, Jackie draws on deep local ties and decades of front-line experience — from four years as an emergency dispatcher with the Ketchikan Police Department and five years as a court clerk with the Alaska Trial Court, to eight years as an adult probation officer focused on successful reentry. Today she oversees both a reentry program and a Crisis Now initiative, applying the System Intercept Model to reduce harm, strengthen supports, and create pathways to stability for people returning to the community.

Jackie believes strongly in the power of neighborhood-level solutions and the transformative role of collective action. Her work centers on practical collaboration: aligning services, removing barriers to reentry, and building community capacity so that people get the timely help they need where they live. She lives in Ketchikan with her husband and two daughters and brings both professional expertise and personal commitment to nurturing a healthier, safer community for all.

Drew Herby

Re-entry Program Manager
Ketchikan Wellness Coalition
I’m a mom first, a Program Manager for Ketchikan Reentry, and someone who is deeply passionate about helping people rebuild their lives. Recovery and second chances have shaped who I am, and I believe everyone deserves the opportunity to grow, heal, and become a positive part of their community. My focus is on rebuilding our community by creating strong partnerships, supporting individuals through reentry, and helping people find hope, purpose, and stability. I’m committed to making a difference - one person, one family, and one success story at a time.

Bailey Singstad

Case Manager
Ketchikan Wellness Coalition
Bailey Singstad was born and raised in Ketchikan Alaska. After spending 15 years of her life stuck in drug addiction, she now has a truly blessed life. Now, at almost 5 years clean, she gets to work in a profession dedicated to giving back to those struggling just like she once did.

Jonathan Pistotnik

Reentry Program Manager
Alaska Department of Corrections
Jonathan Pistotnik is the Reentry Program Manager with the Alaska Department of Corrections. In his role, he oversees a team of staff who support the delivery of correctional education programming, vocational training, and reentry support across the state. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Minnesota and a Master’s Degree in Public Health from UCLA. He currently resides in Anchorage, Alaska, with his wife and two children.
Description:

This presentation centers on the IPS Individual Placement and Supports model and the importance of including beneficiary voice in conversations about employment, recovery, and community inclusion. Too often, systems talk about people instead of with them. Through a panel-style discussion that includes Trust beneficiaries alongside service providers, attendees will hear real experiences about what helped, what created barriers, and what made meaningful work possible. The session will highlight how person-centered employment supports through IPS can promote recovery and open opportunity, while also recognizing the complexity of individuals with co-occurring behavioral health and intellectual or developmental disability-related support needs.

Nikki Marcano

Supported Employment Program Coordinator
Frontier Community Services
Nikki is the Supported Employment Program Coordinator with Frontier Community Services on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. Her work centers on helping people with disabilities pursue meaningful employment, build confidence, strengthen workplace skills, and create lives rooted in choice, dignity, and community belonging.

She has extensive experience supporting individuals through job exploration, employer engagement, workplace accommodations, educational planning, job coaching, and long-term employment retention. She is especially passionate about person-centered services, supported employment, and the belief that lived experience must guide the systems and decisions that affect people’s lives.

In her role, she works closely with job seekers, families, employers, community partners, and service providers to identify practical opportunities and remove barriers to employment. Her direct, creative, and relationship-based approach allows her to challenge assumptions about what people with disabilities can contribute in the workplace.

Her responsibilities also include program development, staff training, maintaining clear, accurate, and person-centered documentation practices, and community education related to employment services and inclusion. She regularly advocates for stronger partnerships between businesses and disability service organizations, believing employers benefit when they recognize talent, adaptability, and potential rather than focusing on limitations.

Through this work, she has seen how employment can strengthen independence, identity, social connection, and overall quality of life. She believes real inclusion begins when people are heard, respected, supported, and trusted to lead.

Nikki is honored to present “Nothing About Us Without Us: Lived Experience and Employment in Action” alongside colleagues and self-advocates who bring firsthand knowledge, honesty, and leadership to the conversation.

Bexx Geleide

Community Integration Director
Frontier Community Services
Bexx Geleide is the Director of Community Integration with Frontier Community Services on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. Her work focuses on developing and strengthening programs that help individuals overcome barriers, build independence, access meaningful opportunities, and become more fully connected to their communities.

Bexx oversees a diverse range of programs and services, including supported employment, Behavioral Health, reentry services, SNAP Employment and Training, and services provided in partnership with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. She also serves as the Program Administrator for Supported Employment services provided through Alaska’s Medicaid waiver. Her experience includes program development and oversight, staff training, employment services, case management, grant implementation, and building partnerships across community and state systems.

Throughout her work, Bexx collaborates with individuals receiving services, families, employers, state agencies, correctional partners, and community organizations to identify gaps, remove barriers, and create practical pathways toward employment, stability, and greater independence. She is particularly passionate about person-centered services and ensuring that the voices, goals, and lived experiences of the people receiving services remain central to the decisions and systems that affect their lives.

Bexx believes meaningful employment and community inclusion can strengthen independence, confidence, identity, connection, and personal choice. Her approach emphasizes collaboration, practical problem-solving, and challenging systems or practices that unintentionally limit opportunity.

Bexx is honored to present “Nothing About Us Without Us: Lived Experience and Employment in Action” alongside colleagues and self-advocates whose firsthand experiences, perspectives, and leadership are essential to advancing meaningful employment and inclusion.

Michael Washington

Program Participant
Frontier Community Services
Michael moved to Alaska in 2022, beginning a journey that would transform his life and connection to his community. After experiencing homelessness and staying at the Friendship Mission, Michael met Cami and Rich Zifko, who became meaningful and inspirational influences in his life. He later transitioned to Alpha House, a sober living home, where he learned about Frontier Community Services and began building a new path forward.

Through Frontier’s employment services, Michael worked with Employment Specialist Bexx Geleide and obtained a position as a Breakfast Chef at the Quality Inn, where he remained employed for three years. The experience allowed him to demonstrate his passion for cooking, hospitality, and serving others. A relationship formed through his employment has since developed into an opportunity to pursue his goal of opening his own café with a business partner.

Michael also credits Frontier team members Cindy Vasille, Nikki Marcano, and Isaac Cryer with providing support and encouragement that helped him recognize his strengths and ability to contribute meaningfully to his community.
Today, Michael is working to establish Men With Mindsets, a men’s mental health group focused on creating a safe environment for men to express their emotions, fears, and experiences while building connections with others.

As a co-presenter of “Nothing About Us Without Us: Lived Experience and Employment in Action,” Michael brings firsthand perspective on recovery, employment, personal growth, community connection, and the impact meaningful support and opportunity can have on a person’s life.

Alicia Clements

Program Participant
Frontier Community Services
Alicia’s journey with Frontier Community Services began during a time when she was experiencing significant barriers related to her disabilities, housing instability, and employment. While navigating challenges that affected her daily life, she earned income through DoorDash when able and searched for a path toward greater stability and independence.

Through Frontier, Alicia connected with housing resources, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), and other community-based services that helped her begin working toward her goals. After securing her own apartment, she received support in accessing resources to furnish her home and continued receiving individualized assistance when disability-related barriers made everyday tasks more challenging.

Today, Alicia is a full-time college student pursuing a second career that will allow her to remain engaged in the workforce while accommodating her individual needs and ability to work part-time. She continues working toward long-term housing stability, greater independence, and increased involvement within her community.

Alicia also brings an important perspective on the need for accessible and adequately funded community-based services. She recognizes that many individuals across the Kenai Peninsula continue to wait for needed services and believes everyone should have access to meaningful support and opportunities.

As a co-presenter of “Nothing About Us Without Us: Lived Experience and Employment in Action,” Alicia hopes to demonstrate how individualized support, access to resources, and meaningful choice can change a person’s path. Her story highlights the importance of listening to lived experience and ensuring people with disabilities have a voice in shaping the services and systems intended to support them.

Brenda Elizalde

Program Participant
Frontier Community Services

Brenda was raised in Kenai, Alaska, and spent a portion of her life in Southern California before returning to the Kenai Peninsula in 2023. As an individual with an intellectual and developmental disability, Brenda brings valuable lived experience and a firsthand perspective on the importance of meaningful choice, person-centered support, community connection, and self-advocacy.

Through her participation in the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) program, Brenda explored different types of employment, identified her interests and strengths, and discovered what meaningful employment looks like for her. With individualized support, she successfully obtained long-term employment, strengthening her independence, confidence, and connection within her community.

Brenda also expanded her access to services and supports that promote continued independence, choice, and community participation. With program support, she successfully applied for and received an Individualized Supports Waiver (ISW), opening the door to additional long-term, individualized supports. She became more actively involved in her community by attending self-advocacy summits and connecting and collaborating with peers and others who share similar lived experiences. These opportunities have helped Brenda strengthen her voice, build meaningful relationships, and grow as a self-advocate.

Brenda’s journey demonstrates what is possible when people have meaningful choices, accessible opportunities, and individualized support to identify and pursue their own goals.

Brenda is honored to present “Nothing About Us Without Us: Lived Experience and Employment in Action” alongside Nikki, Bexx, and peers, sharing her experiences and highlighting the importance of lived experience in shaping the programs, services, and systems that impact people’s lives.

Description:

Most conversations about AI in mental health jump straight to the far horizon. The real opportunity starts closer to home. Eric Arzubi, MD, CEO of Frontier Psychiatry, will walk through both. On the bold end: using health information exchange data to predict which patients are headed for a psychiatric emergency, and working with a technology partner to deliver AI-supported, evidence-based therapy to patients who would otherwise wait months for care or never get it at all. On the quieter end: using the same class of tools to look under the hood at scheduling, documentation, and capacity inside your own organization. He will share what his team built, what it took to get providers to try it, and where the work fell short. Attendees will leave with a clear sense of which problems in their own organizations are ready for this kind of work right now, and which ones are not. Learning Objectives:"

At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Describe how health information exchange data can be used to identify patients at elevated risk of a psychiatric emergency department visit, including what the data can and cannot predict.

2. Distinguish among three categories of AI application in behavioral health: predictive tools that support proactive care, AI-supported therapy that extends treatment capacity beyond what a clinician workforce alone can deliver, and operational tools that improve existing workflow, documentation, and capacity.

3. Identify at least one process within their own organization that is a realistic candidate for this kind of work, and name the specific barriers, data, staff willingness, and workflow fit, that would need to be addressed first.

Eric Arzubi

CEO
Frontier Psychiatry
Eric Arzubi, MD, is the CEO and co-founder of Frontier Psychiatry, a physician-led telepsychiatry practice serving rural and frontier communities across Montana, Idaho, and Alaska. He is also an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale School of Medicine.

Dr. Arzubi came to medicine after an earlier career in finance at Morgan Stanley and as a Latin American correspondent for Bloomberg. He trained at Yale, where he completed medical school, his adult psychiatry residency, and his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship.

As Chair of Psychiatry at Billings Clinic, he built Montana's first psychiatry residency program, the state's first EmPATH unit, its first Project ECHO behavioral health hub, and Billings' first school-based health center. He co-founded Frontier Psychiatry in 2020.

Frontier's outcomes were published in JAMA Network Open in 2025, showing a 38% lower psychiatric hospitalization rate among its Montana Medicaid patients compared to a control group. Dr. Arzubi serves on the board of Big Sky Care Connect, Montana's health information exchange, where his team's work on predictive risk modeling began.

He is a TEDx speaker and one of LinkedIn's most widely followed thought leaders in behavioral health.

Description:

High healthcare utilization (HHU) among Medicaid beneficiaries is a persistent, costly problem and disproportionately affects patients with complex behavioral health and physical health needs. This presentation will define HHU, along with the epidemiology and key determinants of HHU. Behavioral health determinants and Alaska-specific challenges, such as provider scarcity across our vast state, will be a focus of this discussion. HHU in Alaska reflects fragmented care delivery, compounded by the complex interaction of behavioral health conditions, chronic physical health conditions, and unmet social-geographical needs that interact to produce predictable patterns of crisis-driven, hospital-based care. Evidence-based models shown to reduce HHU, such as integrated case management, collaborative care, and assertive community treatment, along with Alaska-based initiatives will be described. Throughout the presentation, HHU will be framed as a predictable systems outcome, rather than a patient-level failure, and one that can be reduced with evidence-based care models that emphasize coordinated, whole-person care.

Sarah McCutcheon

Regional Medical Director
Comagine Health
Dr. Sarah McCutcheon is Regional Medical Director at Comagine Health and is based in Anchorage, Alaska. Dr. McCutcheon completed medical school and her psychiatric training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She went on to receive advanced training in Quality and Safety through the prestigious Veterans Affairs Quality Scholars program. For nearly 8 years, she has served as the medical director for Comagine’s care management programs in Alaska, and she has since expanded her role to include strategic and operational leadership for nationwide care management initiatives. An expert in caring for patients with complex needs, Dr. McCutcheon is a strong advocate for care models that are person-centered, equity-informed, and designed to effectively meet the real-world conditions that influence care delivery and outcomes.
Description:

This session will present No Wrong Door (NWD) infrastructure being developed by the Division of Senior and Disabilities Services (SDS) in conjunction with healthEconnect Alaska that will help streamline access to services, enhance coordination and information sharing, and provide opportunities for ongoing funding through Medicaid Administrative Claiming (MAC).

This session will provide an overview of the NWD infrastructure that enhances and expands the existing network of Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs) and Developmental Disability Resource Connections (DDRCs) including: enhancement of supports for people with mental health challenges and/or substance use disorders; integration with other agencies beyond the ADRCs/DDRCs; and expansion of the ability to obtain federal financial participation (FFP) through MAC. The session will also talk about how the NWD network is integrating the capabilities offered by the Health Information Exchange (HIE) through a collaboration with healthEconnect to provide real-time referrals and information sharing.

Steven Lutzky

President
HCBS Strategies, Inc
Steven Lutzky has extensive experience designing, implementing, and evaluating home- and community-based systems for older adults, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with long-term illnesses for the federal government, states, and private-sector clients.

He served as the Director of the Division for Advocacy and Special Issues (DASI) within the Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group, Center for Medicaid and State Operations (CMSO), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Steve has also served as the Chief of the Office on Disabilities and Aging within the District of Columbia’s Medical Assistance Administration and was a Senior Manager with The Lewin Group.

He received his doctorate in Gerontology and Public Policy from the University of Southern California, Davis School of Gerontology.

Erik Peterson

SDS Chief of Programs
Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services
Erik has worked for the State of Alaska for 18 years across several agencies, including Adult Corrections, Juvenile Justice, the Division of Public Assistance, and the Department of Labor. His work has largely focused on connecting individuals with training, support, and the resources needed to live independently. Since joining Senior and Disabilities Services in 2021, Erik has overseen the ADRC and DDRC networks, served as the Grants Unit Manager, and recently accepted the role of Chief of Programs.

Ariel Berg

Health Program Manager II
Alaska Division of Senior and Disabilities Services
Ariel Berg works in the Grants Unit at the Division of Senior & Disabilities Services, collaborating with Aging and Disability Resource Centers and Developmental Disabilities Resource Connections to strengthen Alaska's "No Wrong Door" network. Previously, Ariel worked at Catholic Social Services with individuals experiencing homelessness and helped found Choosing Our Roots, an Alaskan nonprofit safely housing queer youth.

Chris Sturm

Healthcare Engagement Specialist
healthEconnect Alaska
Chris recently transitioned from UAA's Center for Human Development to the health information field at healthEconnect Alaska. His desire to make such a shift was to work at a systems level to fill gaps in care that he experienced while working across Alaska as a Complex Behavior Specialist.

For more than 15 years, Chris worked around the State with teams consisting of agencies, families, community organizations, and schools. These teams supported our most complex and vulnerable individuals who were at risk of being hospitalized and/or sent out of state. Teams were doing the most they could with what they had. However, for many individuals who had complex needs, there were a variety of issues that contributed to their complex behaviors. Some were untreated conditions, like seizures, while others had medication-related issues. Some even had unknown medical issues that impacted their behavior and quality of life.

It was through the sharing of records and close review of these that helped resolve some behavioral challenges with limited interventions required. It is this experience and learning that Chris brings to his work now at healthEconnect.

Andrew Cieslinski

Senior Principal
HCBS Strategies, Inc
Andrew Cieslinski has over 13 years of experience working directly with federal, state, and local agencies to improve the national landscape of home and community-based support systems, including 13 years working with home and community-based (HCBS) systems in Alaska. Andrew has supported long-term services and supports (LTSS) systems change efforts in over 20 states as well as with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Administration for Community Living (ACL), and ADvancing States.

Andrew has expertise in a wide range of LTSS areas and has led or supported over a dozen complex, large-scale systems change efforts. Specific experience includes strategic planning and operational reviews; developing standardized tools for intake, screening, assessment and support planning; development and redesign of 1915(b),(c),(i),(k) and 1115 waivers; creating, piloting, and operating Medicaid Administrative Claiming (MAC) initiatives to gain Federal Financial Participation (FFP) funding; successfully working with states and other entities to procure a variety of competitive grants and other funding opportunities; planning and implementing major projects with States to meet the requirements for federally-funded programs including No Wrong Door (NWD) and Balancing Incentives Program (BIP); and implementing and enhancing Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs).

Description:

Learn how Intensive Home-Based Treatment (IHBT) supports customer-owners and families through individualized, community-based care. This training reviews the purpose, eligibility criteria, key components, and evidence supporting IHBT, while highlighting how the model is implemented at Southcentral Foundation (SCF).

Roberto Perea

Operations Manager
Southcentral Foundation
Robert Perea is an Operations Manager in Southcentral Foundation’s Nuka System of Care. In his role, he is responsible for the day-to-day performance and operation of the Child and Family Outpatient Services West and Intensive Home-Based Treatment departments. Robert joined SCF in 2024 as the Supervisor of Community Case Managers for the IHBT program. He worked collaboratively to help start the program, and in October 2025, he was promoted to Operations Manager. Robert has worked in a variety of fields, from recreation to education and employment, as well as behavioral health. Robert is Inupiaq and loves to work out, hike, and play the acoustic guitar.

Sara Risi

Clinical Supervisor
Southcentral Foundation
Sara Risi is a Clinical Supervisor in Southcentral Foundation’s Nuka System of Care. In her role, she provides clinical oversight for the Child & Family Outpatient Services West Clinic and Intensive Home-Based Treatment. Sara has a Master's in Social Work with a concentration in Mental Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Board Approved Supervisor. Sara has been in this role with SCF since September of 2021; prior to that she spent 14 years working with children, adolescents, and their families in inpatient and residential psychiatric care. Sara is from Homer, Alaska, and in her free time she likes to drive her children to all their activities, crochet, and sew.
Description:

This presentation will explore how the Alaska Humanities Forum expanded and adapted its Story Works program to support youth mental health and strengthen protective factors in rural Alaska communities. Through partnerships with educators in the Bering Strait School District, the project piloted culturally responsive storytelling workshops in new schools while developing a sustainable teacher-training model for independent program delivery. Participants will learn how trauma-informed storytelling practices can increase student connection, trust, and resilience. The session will highlight lessons learned from collaborating with rural educators, adapting programming to local contexts, and building long-term capacity for youth-centered mental health support through the humanities.

Eiden Pospisil

Youth Program Manager
Alaska Humanities Forum
Eiden Marston Pospisil is a youth program leader, educator, and musician whose work focuses on youth well-being, storytelling, and community connection. As Youth Program Manager at the Alaska Humanities Forum, he leads the Story Works program, supporting young people through creative expression, reflective writing, and relationship-centered programming that promotes resilience, self-awareness, and belonging. His work emphasizes the role of storytelling in supporting mental health and helping youth build confidence, empathy, and connection to community.

Eiden’s background spans youth development, education, refugee support, and the arts in Alaska and internationally. He holds dual degrees from Oberlin College and Conservatory, and brings an interdisciplinary, human-centered approach to his work with young people and communities.

Chuck Seaca

Director
Alaska Humanities Forum
Chuck was raised along the Kuskokwim River in Bethel and now calls Anchorage home. He is passionate about how our stories connect and build empowered communities, and he is lucky to do this as the Director of Leadership Programs. Chuck works in both adult and youth development with Leadership Anchorage, Story Works, and as the lead for Storytelling to Build Community. He has facilitated programming at AKHF since 2019, including serving as the lead facilitator for Leadership Anchorage. Prior to moving home to Alaska, he developed his facilitation practice at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he served as the Head Teaching Fellow for Storytelling as a Leadership Practice, Teaching Fellow for Adaptive Leadership, and Course Instructor for the Innovation Field Lab.

He has facilitated and coached executives from across the world. His past clients include the Bloomberg City Leadership Initiative, the National Urban League, the Advanced Leadership Initiative, the Obama Foundation, and the Center for Public Leadership. After traveling the country as a leadership trainer and coach, he is thrilled to be developing leadership capacity in his home state. Chuck holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Analysis-Sociology from Pomona College and a Master in Public Policy with a Certificate in Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Description:

Behavioral health systems often engage individuals after needs have escalated, limiting opportunities for upstream prevention and reducing continuity of support across substance use disorders, serious mental illness, traumatic brain injury, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. Isolation and fragmented engagement contribute to poorer outcomes across these populations. This session presents an upstream and downstream engagement model utilizing Behavioral Health Aides (BHAs) as consistent, community-facing workforce members who strengthen protective factors through predictable, non-clinical contact points. The model integrates two monthly interventions: structured sober social connection events that reduce isolation and reinforce positive peer association, and facilitated community talking circles focused on psychoeducation, stigma reduction, and normalization of support-seeking. Together, these strategies extend behavioral health engagement beyond clinical settings. Participants will learn implementation structure, BHA roles, and mechanisms of change, including increased contact frequency, strengthened protective factors, and earlier connection to services.

Elizabeth Diviney

SUD Treatment Supervisor
Maniilaq Association
Elizabeth Diviney is a licensed therapist and addiction professional serving communities in Northwest Arctic Alaska. She currently works as a clinical supervisor with Maniilaq Association, where she leads an interdisciplinary behavioral health team including therapists, Chemical Dependency Counselors (CDCs), Behavioral Health Aides (BHAs), case managers, and peer support staff. Originally from Michigan, Elizabeth is the daughter of Amy Diviney of Macomb, Michigan, and the late Dennis Diviney of Detroit, Michigan, with family roots throughout Southeast Michigan and Bat Cave, North Carolina. She has lived in Kotzebue since 2023 and is committed to supporting community-driven approaches to behavioral health and wellness.
Description:

Over the past three years, MY House has had the privilege of working alongside a dedicated group of youth leaders in developing the MY House Youth Board of Directors. All of the youth board members are former clients and, as part of their organizational structure, they have created by-laws, elected new directors, and selected a full-voting 'Youth Representative' to the MY House governance board. As part of their duties, the youth board has made many programmatic decisions for MY House's new building, the "Carson-Cottle Center," helped shape the direction of "Jeff's Path" (MY House's young adult treatment program), and, overall, allowed MY House to be more effective by letting stakeholders have input into how services are conducted at MY House. We believe that no matter what population an organization serves, stakeholder representation is not only possible, but necessary, and we will share how it can be implemented for you!

Isaac Smoldon

Chief Communications Officer
MY House
Isaac Smoldon is the Chief Communications Officer at MY House and has worked for the organization for over four years. As a previous donor to the organization, Isaac has a strong belief in MY House’s mission and philosophy of removing barriers for youth so that they can achieve their dreams. He began working for MY House after receiving his bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage in Journalism and Public Communications. He oversees the MY House Recording Studio and has helped produce hundreds of podcasts, YouTube videos, and other communications materials for MY House that highlight the work done by the organization in the fields of recovery, prevention, and homeless services. He has also been a key part of many successful fundraisers, events, and community initiatives on behalf of the organization dating back to 2022. He was recognized in 2026 by the Frontiersman as one of the “15 people making a difference in the Mat-Su in 2026.”

When not working at MY House, Isaac works for the Anchorage Wolverines as a play-by-play announcer for their broadcasts and referees youth, high school, and adult hockey in Alaska and at national events. When not working, he enjoys traveling with his wife, Ashlynn, volunteering at his church, and spending time with friends and family, which usually involves watching hockey, the Seahawks, and the Seattle Mariners.

Odessa Jackson

Peer Support Professional
True North Recovery
My name is Odessa Jackson. I have lived experience with homelessness, addiction, and recovery. I work full-time for True North Recovery and serve on both the MY House YBOD as a youth representative and the MY House Board of Directors as secretary. I have a passion for advocacy and helping others by using my past experiences as a potential survival guide.

Michelle Parker

Greenhouse Project Manager
MY House
My name is Michelle Parker, and I am a person in long-term recovery with over 5 1/2 years of sobriety. Growing up, I experienced homelessness from an early age and struggled with mental health, addiction, and incarceration. Those challenges shaped who I am, but they do not define me. Through recovery, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the support from MY House, I found hope, purpose, and a new way of life.

Today, I am an active member of AA, a devoted mother of two boys, and a Human Services student. I work at MY House, where I use my lived experience to support youth experiencing homelessness, addiction, and other life challenges. I am passionate about helping young people discover their strengths through peer support, gardening, food security projects, and community connection.

My goal is to show others that recovery is possible and that our past does not determine our future. By sharing my story, I hope to inspire others to believe in themselves, ask for help, and never give up on the possibility of a better life.

Raven Evan

Case Manager
MY House
Raven Evan is a recovering addict and alcoholic who has faced homelessness for the majority of their life. They chose the behavioral health field to help those facing the same struggles.
Description:

Following a brief update from DOH leadership on Alaska's RHTP, its initiatives and its application process, this session will feature a panel of representatives from organizations that have been awarded funding through RHTP's Year 1 funding cycle. This discussion is designed both to highlight the value of Alaska’s regional planning approach and to share information on how planned RHTP investments will improve healthcare access, quality, and outcomes in Alaska.

Larenda Coy

Fire Chief
City of Nenana Volunteer Fire & EMS Department
I have been a medical provider for Nenana Volunteer Fire Department since 2015, serving in capacity as Advanced Life Support medic and EMS Chief and now Fire Chief for my district. Alaska has been my home since 1980, I am mother to four children and hold a Masters of Science in Psychology. I am passionate about providing care that looks at the whole person, which has led me to the creation of a Mobile Crisis Team for my community.

Kim Champney

Executive Director
Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities
Kim Champney is the Executive Director of the Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities (AADD). She first came to Alaska as a VISTA volunteer living and working on Prince of Wales Island in 1992. Kim spent nearly 20 years working for a Juneau-based DD services provider in a variety of roles before leaving to start a consulting business. As a consultant she facilitated several systems change projects including the DD Shared Vision and the launch of the Dementia Action Collaborative. Kim joined AADD in 2022. She has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jacoline Bergstrom

Executive Director Health Administrative Services
Tanana Chiefs Conference

Jacoline Bergstrom has worked for Tanana Chiefs Conference since 2007, and as the Executive Director of Health Services since 2014, serving 37 federally recognized Tribes in the Interior of Alaska, serving all community members in rural communities in the TCC region. She holds a Dutch medical degree (MD) with specialty training in Public Health and a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) in health care management.

Jacoline serves as vice-chair of the Alaska Tribal Health Directors Association and actively participates in statewide and national committees and workgroups, focused on improving and expanding access to care for Tribal communities across Alaska serving tribal and non-tribal citizens.

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