Alaska Island Community Services director Steve Helgeson, center, with two of his staff therapists Bethany and Lee Burgess, have been working hard over the past 8 months to ensure the continuity of the outdoor program for at-risk youth in Alaska.
In November 2011, the Alaska Island Community Services “Crossings” program went through a metamorphosis when it was forced to shed a group of nine full- and part-time core staff members.
Employees from Crossings, the largest wilderness therapy program for emotionally at-risk teens in the State of Alaska, received letters on Friday, Nov. 4, 2011 telling them their positions were being eliminated due to “unforeseen circumstances.”
Those circumstances related to procedures regarding Medicaid billing at the state level.
According to AICS director Mark Walker, the change was unavoidable at the time.
“Five of those nine employees were going to be laid off anyway due to their part-time positions and the seasonal nature of Crossings,” Walker said in November. “There has been a change in Medicaid regulations and we are uncertain about the implications for Crossings. We had to make an adjustment based on the prospect of not receiving as much funding from Medicaid for each youth that comes to the program.”
But that was then – and this is now.
Crossings, which is now under the direction of longtime administrator Steve Helgeson, said the program is smaller, but still doing much to serve the community and at-risk youth who partake in its services.
“The therapeutic ‘meat’ of the program has not changed one bit,” Helgeson said. “What has changed, however, is the volume of programming and a reduction of our administrative staff.”
In 2011, Crossings completed 26 programs, with as many as 10 outings happening at the same time, Helgeson added. This year, however, the program is down to 16 total sessions, with up to 5 outings occurring simultaneously.
The time spent in the field with program clients has also been reduced, he said.
“Last year our programs were 51 days long,” Helgeson said. “In 2012, they are 41 days long. That has to do primarily with adjusting our schedule to meet the new requirements we face from Medicare.”
Instead of just providing group skills, as the program had focused on in the past, the current program is providing more individual skills development for youth involved in the outings.
The mix of services is something Helgeson said works better in the shorter time frame of field outings.
“We focusing more on individual services this year than we have in the past and it fits well with the new way we are doing things out in the field,” Helgeson added.
A long-range plan, taking Crossings into the 2013-14 seasons, is something Helgeson said he is focusing on enlarging the program – but that he is more focused on sustaining the services it offers.
“We’d like to grow the program to the extent we can,” Helgeson said. “Our concern now, though, is sustainability by finding a mix of administrative structure and services that meet the needs of the kids taking part, as well as making the revenue we need to generate.”
Crossings’ budget is approximately $2 million annually.
“It’s a very expensive program to run,” Helgeson said of the capital outlay required to send the program’s at-risk youth on outings. “We feel we’re doing a good job if we break even. The most expensive element is the salary of our field guides.”
Fore more information on the Crossings program, call Helgeson at 874-2373.
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