ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – An Anchorage task force is trying to help those dealing with complex behavioral health issues, many of whom are currently dealing with some form of housing insecurity — and little to no access to the care they need.

The task force met with the Anchorage Assembly Friday morning and provided a list or recommendations for improving complex behavior health services.

The list included coordination or systems, with the municipality working to identify who in Anchorage is dealing with both housing insecurity and behavioral health issues.

The recommendation suggested that if necessary, the municipality could fund a position and utilize the team at the Anchorage Health Department for implementation.

Another recommendation was health care coordination, and the suggestion that the municipality contract with behavioral health clinics and peer providers to do mobile outreach to provide medical and behavioral health services to those experiencing homelessness.

The recommendation suggested that individuals dealing with housing security and complex behavioral health care needs may not be enrolled in healthcare coverage, and may be living in homeless camps in the community. Providing mobile outreach will help connect them with the care they need.

The final recommendation was a suggestion the municipality create a collection of year-round, low barrier or no barrier shelters, that are smaller in size, serving about 50 people. That way individuals with behavioral health issues can have their needs met,

“What we heard from taskforce members was that, with the seasonal change in our current shelter operations, people who need medication on a daily basis who have really high health care needs suddenly kind of disappeared and they were no longer able to find them to meet those needs,” task force consultant Thea Agnew Bemben said.

Additionally, Agnrew Bemben said there may be somewhere between 300 or 400 members of the community dealing with complex behavioral health issues, but that would be a “total guess.”

“I think it’s not easy to estimate the number of people. It’s probably a shifting number,” she said.

The Assembly took no action on the recommendations at Friday’s meeting, but chair Chris Constant discussed Anchorage creating a behavioral health department as a possible solution.

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