JAMHI Health & Wellness (herein referred to as JAMHI) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation with the mission of ‘Helping People Live Their Own Best Lives’ providing community housing and support services, substance use prevention, addiction and mental health treatment services, primary care and wellness services to nearly 1,500 adults, children, and families in Juneau and across Alaska. The organization is the product of a 2018 merger of two longstanding Juneau non-profits: Juneau Alliance for Mental Health, Inc. and the National Council on Addiction and Drug Dependence – Juneau Chapter; organizations with a combined 97-year Juneau service history prior to merger.
JAMHI is in its fourth consecutive three-year accreditation by CARF International in the areas of:
- Assertive Community Treatment: Integrated SUD/Mental Health (adults)
- Case Management/Service Coordination: Integrated SUD/Mental Health (adults)
- Case Management/Service Coordination: Integrated SUD/Mental Health (children & adolescents)
- Community Housing: Integrated SUD/Mental Health (adults)
- Crisis Intervention: Integrated SUD/Mental Health (adults)
- Integrated Behavioral Health/Primary Care: Comprehensive Care (adults)
- Outpatient Treatment: Integrated SUD/Mental Health (adults)
- Outpatient Treatment: Integrated SUD/Mental Health (children & adolescents)
- Governance Standards applied
This accreditation extends through November 30, 2023.
JAMHI is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Look-Alike as designated and funded by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA). Look-Alikes are community-based health care providers that meet the requirements of the HRSA Health Center Program, but do not receive Health Center Program funding. They provide primary care services in underserved areas, provide care on a sliding fee scale based on ability to pay and operate under a governing board that includes patients.
JAMHI is also a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) expansion site recognized and funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA). The purpose is to increase access to and improve the quality of community mental and substance use disorder treatment services. CCBHCs provide person- and family-centered integrated services. The CCBHC provide access to services including 24/7 crisis intervention services for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) or substance use disorders (SUD), including opioid use disorders; children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbance (SED); and individuals with co-occurring mental and substance disorders (COD), providing comprehensive 24/7 access to community-based mental and substance use disorder services; treatment of co-occurring disorders; and physical healthcare.
Since 1985 JAMHI has earned a reputation for timely, person-centered direct service, responsive community collaboration, visionary governance and successful management of a diverse portfolio of complex clinical treatment and support services. This experience has fueled the development and refinement of effective and successful project management and tracking systems, continuous quality improvement systems, prudent fiscal oversight, ensuring cost-effective and timely execution. Further, JAMHI’s diverse staff bring a breadth of experience working with specialty populations such as military and veterans; people who are justice-involved; Americans living with HIV and AIDS; rural communities; Native Alaskans; ethnic minorities; children and families; older adults; people who identify as LGBT, peers and people in recovery. We believe our mission of helping people live their own best lives affords every opportunity for recovery and full participation in community life.
Financial Health
JAMHI’s annual revenue has grown significantly over the years. This growth is the result of both increased revenues in traditional sources of funding as well as increased funding source diversification. As a result, JAMHI is less reliant less on traditional revenue sources such as state general funds or on few contracts or grants. JAMHI has had a longstanding relationship with the City and Borough of Juneau and newer federal funders include HRSA and SAMHSA. State funders include the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority as well as numerous State of Alaska grants. In addition, there has been growth in fee-for-service Medicaid service revenue. The organization maintains segregated unrestricted reserves.
Governance
The JAMHI Board of Directors meets monthly in order to exercise its fiduciary and governance duties. Committee reports and financial statements are presented and governance issues are discussed. The Board engages an outside audit firm and the Board is involved in both the annual audit and approving the annual IRS 990 Form. The Board approves its annual calendar of activities, conducts an annual self-assessment of its performance as well as an assessment of the board President. Board members all annual review and sign an annual conflict of interest acknowledgement and code of ethics declaration. Beyond fiduciary and governance responsibilities the Board contributes to JAMHI’s mission and operations by providing valuable leadership, direction and oversight for the organization and the advancement of health promotion, clinical treatment and policy issues, including planning and development of the strategic plan and oversight of its implementation. Further, the board has ultimate authority for the policy direction of the organization and the supervision CEO. Board members are heavily engaged in JAMHI’s work, with close to 100% attendance in monthly meetings. Board members are active participants in a variety of JAMHI projects and initiatives and are valued resources in exchanging information between the organization and the community.
The JAMHI board governance model has long been participant-driven. The organization was founded by a grassroots group of parents focused on ensuring safe and affordable housing for adults with mental illness in Juneau. Today at least 51% of the board is comprised of families, consumers, or people in recovery from behavioral health conditions as is required of all CCBHCs. Similarly, at least 51% of the board members must be patients served by the health center as is required of all FQHC Look-Alikes. As a group board members represent the individuals who are served by JAMHI in terms of demographic factors, such as race, ethnicity, and gender. No more than two-thirds of the non-patient board members derive more than 10% of their annual income from the health care industry.
Each year the Board works to establish goals for the CEO for the following year. The governance committee reviews the performance of the CEO based upon these goals and makes a recommendation in the form of an annual evaluation that is approved by the full Board.
Leadership and Staffing
Dave Branding is Chief Executive Officer and has been with JAMHI in this role for 5 years; serving as an intermittent independent consultant to JAMHI since 2010. During his tenure, the organization’s budget and workforce both nearly doubled and the number of people served more than tripled, with a substantially expanded service array provided. Dr. Branding came to JAMHI from South Peninsula Behavioral Health Services in Homer where he served as CEO after holding numerous direct service, executive leadership, consulting and accreditation positions in the health and human service industry for over 40 years.
The JAMHI leadership team is facilitated by the CEO and pursues the charge of being individually and collectively accountable for achieving results, in part by aligning and empowering others to achieve our mission in an atmosphere of teamwork built on trust. The team includes:
- Jenry Schorling, Practice Manager- FQHC
- Emory Welch, Director of Behavioral Health Services
- Deb Percy, Chief Financial Officer
- Rachel Gearhart, Chief Operating Officer
The leadership team generally meets 3 to 4 times every month and is in regular communication together on a daily basis. All meetings are organized around a written agenda with concurrent documentation including specification of action items, responsible parties and timeframes for completion. The leadership team operates on a consensus-based decision making model and completes annual quantified self-assessment of its performance as well qualitative discussion recognizing accomplishments, setting goals and identifying improvement opportunities. An FQHC leadership team focuses on guiding the innovative development of integrated, high quality patient-centered primary care services aligned with JAMHI’s mission of helping people live their own best lives.
All JAMHI leadership team members look for opportunities to interact directly with JAMHI staff and are accessible to the people we serve and community stakeholders. This occurs through regular departmental meetings; supervisor team meetings; all-staff meetings and during daily operations; encouraging, coaching, answering questions and implementing projects. All staff are encouraged to engage the leaders in direct conversation and the organization’s culture features continuous interdepartmental collaboration built upon mutual responsiveness and respect. Continuously improving a positive, focused organizational culture where everyone has voice and is respected is a priority.
Given that the entirety of JAMHI’s policy, service delivery and quality improvement portfolio is targeted toward people from marginalized communities, we recognize the value of diversity throughout our workforce and in project conceptualization, implementation, and evaluation. We engage people from diverse backgrounds to serve on advisory groups that oversee specific initiatives, actively recruit qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds for employment opportunities, and have a track record of supporting a leadership development for diverse professionals. JAMHI is proud to have a staff and Board that represent ethnic and religious minorities, veterans, peers, consumers, and people with lived experience. Further, all JAMHI staff members are required to take annual cultural competency trainings to ensure we serve and represent individuals and communities from marginalized communities to the best of our ability.
Organizational Planning
JAMHI’s strategic and operational priorities are established and documented in a series of formal written organizational planning documents addressing the following elements:
- Risk Management
- Strategic
- Staffing
- Training
- Communications and Marketing
- Facilities
- Compliance
- Behavioral Health Performance Improvement
- Primary Care Quality Improvement
- Cultural Competency & Diversity
- Technology and Systems, and
- Accessibility
Each of these plans are reviewed annually and revised as necessary.
Collaboration
JAMHI maintains positive working relationships with a number of sectors and organizations to support achievement of our mission. These relationships span the continuum of health care stakeholder organizations from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Health Resources Services Administration to the National Council on Mental Wellness, state and regional associations including the Alaska Behavioral Health Association and Alaska Primary Care Association, Alaska Health eConnect and Northwest Regional Primary Care Association; the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and Alaska Mental Health Board, Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Suicide Prevention Council.
Achieving our mission also includes understanding and impacting needs in our community. To that end, JAMHI maintains relationships with a number of other organizations including the Juneau Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, the Juneau Re-Entry Coalition, Juneau Housing First Collaborative, Juneau Therapeutic Court, Zac Gordon Youth Center, Bartlett Regional Hospital, Juneau Police Department, the City and Borough of Juneau, Juneau Community Foundation and Southeast Alaska Foodbank. JAMHI participates in the local community action planning process with AWARE, Gastineau Human Services, The Glory Hall, BRH/Rainforest Recovery Center, NAMI Juneau, Juneau Youth Services and Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. We also collaborate with other interested community stakeholders as needs and opportunities present.
