Project Lead
Maniilaq Association
Tim Gilbert, President/CEO
(907) 442-3311 or (800) 478-3312
tim.gilbert@maniilaq.org
Funding needed: $5 million
Funding secured: $1,050,000
Overview
NWALT aims to ensure residents of the Northwest Arctic have access to the services necessary to live a safe and healthy life. Our region currently lacks a facility to stabilize people experiencing a mental health crisis or extreme intoxication. While psychiatric hospitalization outside our region is necessary in some cases, many cases could be stabilized here in the region with the introduction of short-term crisis stabilization or hospital diversion.
Maniilaq seeks $5 million to build a new 10,000 square feet, 24/7 crisis stabilization center (CSC), on an existing Maniilaq-owned lot. Maniilaq CSCs will allow for a non-hospital environment for temporary observation and rapid service delivery to handle acute behavioral health crises and will be designed to accept everyone who accesses the center 24/7. This will decrease the current burden on first responders, the hospital emergency room and the local jail.
CSC residents needing mental health and/or substance use disorder treatment will have access to stabilization, treatment and discharge planning. Additionally, Maniilaq Behavioral Health will administer sobering capabilities to intoxicated individuals, stabilize individuals in mental
and behavioral health crisis and provide transitional residential care to individuals. These services can be financially sustainable through newly developed 1115 Behavioral Health Medicaid waiver billable services. This project has garnered high interest from the State of Alaska, the Alaska Mental Health Trust, our federal delegation in Washington D.C. and our community partners.