For more than 55 years, Juneau Youth Services has served as a comprehensive behavioral health provider for Alaskan youth and their families.
About JYS
Juneau Youth Services is based in Juneau, Alaska. Our emergency, residential, and community-based programs offer hope and opportunities to at-risk youths. From homelessness to mental health issues to chemical dependencies, we understand the unique circumstances faced by children and their families. That’s why JYS strives to provide the necessary resources for youths to overcome, develop, and succeed.
Reach Out Today
From emergency placement to ongoing treatment, JYS provides a wide variety of live-in residential programs. Each of our six programs is uniquely tailored for specific circumstances. Whether a youth has short-term or long-term housing needs, he or she has a place here.
Are you interested in becoming a foster parent? There are so many special kids out there looking for a hero. If that sounds like you, we’ll provide all the resources you need.
In order to help students feel successful in a mainstream classroom environment, we strive to help them manage their behaviors and emotions. Children enrolled in all school levels can benefit from the comprehensive services provided by our SBS program.
Are you a concerned family member, or work for an agency or organization concerned with a youth’s welfare? Visit our Intake & Assessment page to get connected with the resources you need and to connect with our team.
Juneau Youth Services has contracted with Closer to Home, a youth and family-serving organization in Calgary, Alberta to help us obtain accreditation in the Teaching Family Model. Teaching Family has many broad applications and JYS intends to adapt Teaching Family for use in all of our service areas. Our residential treatment teams have all be trained and are using the model. Pretty soon, we will start implementing Teaching Family in our community based services.
The State of Alaska has released an Emergency Regulations package with the intention to update and modernize Alaska’s behavioral health system. Over the course of the coming year, JYS will be organizing to provide an increased array of community based services, including in-home family services and intensive case management. We’re delighted with these opportunities to provide a full continuum of care for Alaska’s youth and families.
Preparing for both of these changes has resulted in some staffing modifications at JYS. We are delighted to welcome Connie Schaaf as our new Lighthouse Clinician. Connie comes to us from the Great State of Texas! She is certified in the treatment of substance use disorders and is pursuing her Ph.D. in family studies. We have a position open for a full time therapist in our Montana Creek unit, and two positions available for assessment clinicians in our new assessment center known as “the Link”. The Link is the first stop for anyone interested in participating in treatment at JYS. The Link provides planned and un-planned assessments and treatment recommendations, in an office, on-line, or in the community. Following assessment the link clinician assists in helping people obtain recommended services at JYS or with another provider, depending on the preference of the person. For more information about services at JYS, please call us at 789-7610. If you’re interested in applying for a position, please click the careers button on our website.
This year, we extended our service offerings to include young children, added new schools to our School Based Services program and initiated our community based case management services. When COVID-19 caused us to “hunker down”, JYS kept all of our services operating thanks to financial support we received from the State of Alaska, Sealaska Corporation, Spickler Insurance and individual generous donors. We can’t thank you enough. Your gifts allowed us to keep 100% of our staff employed, plus purchase technology to maintain physical distancing while providing social interactions with the people who rely on us.
In the coming year, you can continue to count on JYS to help youth and families facing tough times. If you can afford to make a gift to JYS, we would greatly appreciate it. This year, we hope to increase from two residential units to four; open our early childhood services up to two days/week; enhance our assessment and outreach operations (known as “the link”); and initiate in home & community-based family treatment. Any support you can offer goes a long way.
We are thrilled to announce our adoption of the Teaching Family Model. Teaching Family is an evidence-based, trauma-informed model designed to help young people live in a family setting. It has broad applications including residential treatment, therapeutic foster care, school based services, home based services and more. We are in the first year of a three-year implementation cycle, concluding with accreditation.
JYS responds to the behavioral health needs of Alaska’s youth and families. If you need help, please call us at 789-7610. If you are interested in working with us, we’d love to hear from you. Review our careers page for open positions and/or give us a call at 789-7610.
Our friends at AK Child and Family put this workbook together and we’re really impressed. For anyone having questions, thoughts about managing anxiety around COVID-19, this is an excellent resource.
JYS is taking steps to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 (Corona Virus). We are actively following the CDC’s guidance in the following ways:
The following is a list of programs we provide and more specific plans to keep you informed. We will be updating these plans as necessary, so please check back if you are concerned something has changed.
Outpatient treatment appointments will continue via telephone or video-conference (tele-medicine) treatment appointments to avoid lapses in treatment sessions. If you or your child is sick, please call us to make alternative arrangements, or cancel your appointment. And if you need video-conferencing equipment, give us a call at 789-7610, and we’ll help set you and your child up to continue to communicate with his or her provider.
School-Based Services will be discontinued for the duration of school closures; however, our staff are scheduling and providing individual, one-on-one behavioral health services for up to four hours. Staff will not be working with more than one young person at a time. We are scheduling times with our clinical staff, as well as assessments.
Residential Treatment will continue, but to avoid air travel, we’ll be accepting only new young people into the programs if they currently reside in Juneau, and a medical professional will examine any new young people before entering a residential program. We will monitor for any symptoms of the youth currently in our care. If a youth becomes symptomatic, we will isolate them and make a plan with the youth’s parent/guardian and the youth’s medical professional about the best course of action.
The State of Alaska has requested that Alaskans hunker down, and that everyone but essential staff should stay home except to get groceries, attend medical appointments, be outside away from others, and that we should all avoid gatherings. JYS is in compliance with this guidance. Our residential units are not practicing self-isolation. Outings are an important part of our programming and we will continue with outdoor activities such as walks away from crowds.
Coronavirus is fast moving and we will continue to monitor the situation in Juneau carefully.
Not Currently Accepting In-Kind Donations: Juneau has always been a very generous partner with JYS. Heck, Juneau helped build the JYS facilities! However, for the time being, we are asking folks to NOT donate in-kind goods (toasters, couches, chairs, desks, clothing, dishes, etc.). We’re doing everything we can to restrict the spread of the coronavirus, and for now, that includes not accepting used furniture and whatnot. Many non-profits could use financial donations now more than ever, and Pick. Click. Give. is an easy way to help your favorite agencies. Thanks!
We were founded in 1961, and since then we have provided comprehensive behavioral health services to Alaskan [and non-Alaskan] youths and their families. Many of our clients come to us through the intervention of agencies and organizations dedicated to a child’s well-being. Many of our youths have been homeless. Others come to us through families in desperate search of help for a loved one. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding our youths, we strive to utilize our trusted experience, genuine compassion, and steadfast dedication to ensure their success.
Our residential services are there for youths facing a variety of situations; from emergency short-term housing to intensive therapy to transitional living. Our community and school-based services allow youths to get the care they deserve while maintaining remaining in a community environment.
At Juneau Youth Services, it is our sincere goal to help at-risk youths succeed, and in doing so, feel hope for their future. Whether we are reuniting children with their families, helping them kick crippling habits, or offering the time and resources they need to transition properly into adulthood, Juneau Youth Services has and will continue to be a place where hope, opportunity, and success are abundant for all.