The Knik Tribe has $1 million to design youth mental health care

The Knik Tribe has nearly $1 million in federal money to build a mental health system for Alaska Native young people in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. None of it can pay for an hour of treatment.

The grant, from the federal substance abuse and mental health agency, funds planning and capacity-building over three years. What it buys is a design: how services would work, who would provide them, and how the agencies that already touch these families would connect to each other.

The population it covers is broad and specific at once. Alaska Native and American Indian children and young adults from birth through age 25, and their families, with particular attention to those involved with the state Office of Children's Services or at risk of being removed from home, of serious mental illness, or of suicide.

The tribe has benchmarks to hit. Within three months, a community board of at least 15 people, including three young people and three caregivers. By the end of the second year, an outside assessment of what is working and what is not, and at least five formal agreements with other systems. At the end, a written plan built around what families say they need.

The tribe is already doing related work. A separate federal award of $1.25 million funds youth suicide prevention through 2028.