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 maintains accreditation by CARF International, is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) Look-Alike and attests to meeting Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) criteria.
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 LGBTQ2S+, 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. 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 is reflective, conducting an annual self-assessment of its performance as well as an assessment of the board President; and annually review and sign a 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 of the CEO.
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 strive to represent the individuals who are served by JAMHI in terms of demographic factors, such as race, ethnicity, and gender.
Leadership and Staffing
Will Jemison is Chief Executive Officer and has been with JAMHI since October 1, 2024. Dr. Jemison came to JAMHI from the southeastern US and has over 18 years of experience in leading community-based health and academic medicine organizations, with an emphasis on engaging underserved and marginalized communities.
Dr. Jemison holds additional experience in national project consulting for the National Institutes of Health and to three Secretaries of the US Army. Having extensively traveled the world, Will serves as a representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, where he’s worked to draw attention and resources to health, educational, and economic issues impacting the most vulnerable populations globally.
- 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:
- Deb Percy, Chief Financial Officer
- Rachel Gearhart, Chief Operating Officer
- Emory Welch, Director of Behavioral Health Services
- Erika Lindsey, Director of Information Systems and Analytics
- Alyssa Waters, Director of Compliance and Quality Improvement
- Ashtyn Aure, Director of Human Resources
The leadership team formally meets weekly 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 collaborates informally consistently to guide the innovative development of integrated, high quality patient-centered care aligned with JAMHI’s mission of helping people live their own best lives.
JAMHI leadership team members look for opportunities to interact directly with 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. 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.
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. We also collaborate with other interested community stakeholders as needs and opportunities present.
