Organization Description

History

Sitka Counseling & Prevention Services, Inc. (SCPS) is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) corporation whose primary purpose is to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of mental illness/substance abuse in the lives of youth, adults, and families by providing caring, professional, therapeutic, and preventative services.  SCPS is the result of a merger between Sitka Prevention & Treatment Services and Sitka Mental Health Clinic dba Islands Counseling Services, finalized on January 1, 2004.  Prior to the merger, both agencies had been in operation in Sitka for over 25 years.  Since the merger, SCPS has continued to be an active force in the community striving to prevent and treat behavioral health issues; improve quality of life for citizens affected by behavioral health problems; and promote healthy, productive lifestyles. 

Sitka Counseling & Prevention Services serves a geographical area encompassing Baranof Island and surrounding coastal island residential communities.  In addition, the adult residential program, Aurora’s Watch, accepts referrals from other treatment centers, governmental agencies, and court systems from across the State of Alaska.  Behavioral health issues affect citizens in all socio-economic/racial backgrounds in Sitka, but tend to produce more devastating effects in the lives of individuals on the lower socio-economic end of the spectrum and in the racial minority.  Historically, the majority of our service population consists of low-income and/or minority residents who encounter significant barriers to accessing treatment. 

SCPS does not claim any religious affiliation and serves individuals of all faiths as well as agnostics.  We endeavor to promote a spiritual component in recovery of the individual’s own choosing and encourage each individual to explore their own spiritual beliefs as a part of our holistic approach to treatment and recovery.

Mission Statement:

To contribute to the social, behavioral, and emotional well-being of our diverse community & its members by providing professional preventative and therapeutic behavioral health services in a welcoming, accessible, integrated, continuous, and comprehensive continuum of care.

Slogan:

“Promoting Wellness in our Community.”

Vision:

“Healing by Example.” (see Agency Logic Model)

Treatment Philosophy:

SCPS has adopted the “no wrong door” philosophy in providing behavioral health services.  This model mandates a welcoming approach to all clients, eliminates arbitrary barriers to initial engagement in services, and specifies mechanisms for helping each client (regardless of presentation and motivation) to connect to a suitable program as quickly as possible whether within the agency or through the referral process.  SCPS continually strives to better serve our community as evidenced by collaboration with other agencies in the form of shared resources, contractual relationships, and integration of service delivery models. 

Sitka Counseling & Prevention Services utilizes the Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual model in developing and providing behavioral health treatment services.  This theoretical model conceptualizes mental illness and substance misuse to be a result of complex interactions among biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors.

The Biological component includes genetic factors that may predispose an individual toward mental illness/chemical dependency; brain chemistry imbalances; physical changes or damage as a result of injury or substance misuse; and/or biological risks due to substance use such as HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, and/or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. 

The Psychological component includes the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional aspects of behavioral health including co-occurring mental health/substance use disorders. 

The Social component refers to relationships with significant others, social support systems, communication skills, and sense of belonging in the social environment. 

The Spiritual aspects includes a sense of purpose and meaning in life; a sense of the transcendent; that there is "something" greater than ourselves; self-exploration; and/or self-realization.

This theoretical framework encompasses the wide range of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual issues related to mental illness/ substance use disorders and allows for a holistic assessment and treatment of individual needs.  Since this model recognizes that behavioral health issues affect individuals in diverse ways, a comprehensive assessment is necessary to determine individual needs and a continuum of care is essential to provide appropriate treatment services to meet individual needs.  This model allows for treatment services to be increased or decreased according to individual progress and is client driven versus program driven. 

However, this approach also necessitates that integrated and coordinated services are offered within a continuum of care.  SCPS offers a continuum of care that includes prevention, early intervention, crisis emergency services, outreach, outpatient treatment, in-home therapy, residential treatment, rehabilitative services, and corresponding referrals to other community services such as job training, community based support groups, child protection, housing, domestic violence advocacy, medical/dental care, spiritual support, housing services, and legal services per individual needs.

In addition, SCPS supports the utilization of harm reduction strategies designed to lessen possible adverse health, societal, and economic consequences of untreated behavioral health issues.  Success is no longer defined only by complete, sustained absence of symptoms or abstinence, but also as progress toward other measurable outcomes such as improved social functioning, improved job/school performance, decreased criminal justice involvement, improved relationships with significant others, improved emotional self-regulation, and increased sense of purpose/meaning in life.