Alaska Marriage & Family Therapy Associates LLC

Desperate to cope with the pain of disconnection in his marriage, and unaware that he was attempting to manage his anxiety, Douglas was going to ask for a divorce from his wife Shawnmarie. She was shockingly surprised and felt powerless to keep from being rejected. Although, Shawnmarie could identify that she was suffering from work stress just to survive; she was unaware of her suffering from major depression as well. Shawnmarie loved her husband and did not want to separate. After 4 months of living apart they both felt safe enough to begin seeking community services toward helping their marriage reconcile. After living in Alaska for over 10 years they were never introduced to any community services in their home town, or anywhere else in the State of Alaska, they believed would be able to help their severe situation involving their marriage. The quality of known services available in the community were not effective enough to convince them to seek out local therapists. So, they sought out services in other States. Many were intensive mental health programs.

After seeing Dr. Dan Allender, a psychologist for services, he encouraged Shawnmarie and Douglas to bring to Alaska the healing services they had received. So, without having any local professional support, they both began to provide a Peer Support Specialist (PSS) model for healing disconnected relationships to each other and to other community members. They built a 2,000 square-foot home in Ketchikan to offer the services to community members to begin giving back what they had learned. After participating in a week-long couple’s intensive program located in Muskegon, Michigan, they experienced the effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). They combined EFT with the PSS model to form and establish a non-profit 501-c(3) organization in the State of Alaska, called H.E.A.R.T.S. This organizations’ name reflected its mission of ‘healing every abuse by recovering through stories.’ After 10 years over 400 people had participated in the H.E.A.R.T.S. program.

Shawnmarie and Douglas became aware of the need to expand the H.E.A.R.T.S. program to participants. After considering their financial limitations as a teacher and programmer they decided there was only one option, go back to school and expand by moving to the big city of Anchorage. This led Shawnmarie and Douglas back to school to receive additional degrees to allow them to Professionally help other Alaskan’s not only save their marriages, but to heal deep childhood wounds. Shawnmarie would go on to receive not only a second Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, but the highest level of training in the marriage model they used to save their own marriage, Emotionally Focused Therapy. Douglas would go on to not only receive his second Master’s degree in Psychology, but on to receive his Doctorate in how to save marriages and his license as a Psychologist. These two knew they needed to share this gift with all of Alaska. So, they picked up all their roots from Ketchikan to move to the big city of Anchorage where they would start a teaching clinic to expand who they could help.

This would allow more Alaskans to have professional services for helping in the same way that Shawnmarie and Douglas had. Only Alaskan now would not need to travel out of the State for an effective program or therapy. This plan would allow the unique services that Shawnmarie and Douglas use to heal from mental health difficulties to be centrally located in the heart of Alaska and become the training center using a Peer model of training therapists and providing EFT to all of Alaskans.

Reflecting back after reconciliation of their disconnect marriage, Shawnmarie and Douglas realized that many people do not get help who do not have the assistance from mental health problems.

In 2013 the couple started Alaska Marriage & Family Therapy Associates with one goal, help Alaskan couples and families become healthy mentally, emotionally, and even physically. What started with only the two of them expanded at a phenomenal rate. In less than two years they more than doubled the number of therapists they were training in this model as the clinic grew in rapid demand by the Alaskan community. After year three the demand for these services were still on the rise so the couple expanded again to add yet another therapist and additional administrative staff. Still, this is not enough. In the most recent year another therapist has been added and the current facility can only have room for one more therapist before the company must move to a larger building. As of the nearing of the end of 2019 Alaska Marriage & Family Therapy is now at a staff of 12. This includes 7 therapists all training in the most evidenced based treatment for earning secure attachment, Emotionally Focused Therapy. Also 2 Peer Support Specialists who are under direct supervision by licensed clinicians, and an administrative staff of 3. Even with this staff the demand is not being met for Alaskans.

The Ever-Growing Demand

With an average daily call for services of 3-5, our current staff cannot meet this need. Our therapists are all full and now have wait-lists for services. Even the Peer Support Program is expanding and growing. As a direct result of highly effective outcomes, word of mouth is now spreading throughout the Anchorage bowl as well as the state. Clients are reaching out to us from as far north at Barrow, which is now officially called Utqiaġvik, and as far south as Ketchikan. Clients are willing to travel great distances to receive our services. What started out as a way to help our fellow neighbors is now becoming a state wide demand.

As this model of treatment continues to be known by not only the Alaskan families, but also the medical community who are now wanting to join the Alaska Marriage and Family Mission of Building Healthy Relationships. The most recent outreach has been from owners of Functional Medicine clinics, dentists, and even Physical Therapists who understand the efficient treatment of having a rap around medical model that must include the mind, body, as well as the emotions.

With this expansion into a group of like-minded medical professionals Shawnmarie and Douglas see the need for a campus based in Anchorage, Alaska.

The Future Campus Vision

With the idea of a Medical Model of like-minded professionals the need for a campus for full healing services developed. As a retired Medical Science and health teacher, Shawnmarie new that healing the mind also involved the body. As she met new Anchorage medical providers they too saw this connection. Both the Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Dentist who heard about Douglas and Shawnmarie’s approach to mental health knew that their patients would be well served with the mental health component that currently only Alaska Marriage and Family Therapy Associates provided. These new professional relationships do not end there. Both the Advanced Nurse Practitioner, the Dentists, and the Physical Therapists are all envisioning exactly what Shawnmarie and Douglas are envisioning, a Medical Campus where patients can address all parts of their medical needs with providers who not only share the same philosophy of healing, but also share space so they can cross collaborate with care. From what these medical providers have discussed with Shawnmarie and Douglas there are even additional medical providers in the Anchorage area who want to share in this vision of a healing medical campus that addresses the mind, body, and emotions.

Scientific researching is bringing together not only mental, physical and emotional health, but nutrition and physical movement. Although the campus would start with a mental health clinic, this would only be phase 1 of the project. The next phase would be a second building which would be custom designed for the Advanced Nurse Practitioner, the Dentist, and the two Physical Therapists. This second building would also have room for a Nutritionist as well as space for other medical providers with this shared vision. The third phase would be to build a residential treatment center for both single young mothers who have a mental illness and also space in this residential treatment center for couples who both have diagnosis of mental illness. The center would also provide a place to teach mothers a culinary skill they can then use to become employed after completing treatment. An additional need for serving this population is a child care space where some of the mother can also receive training in early education which may also lead to employment after treatment is complete. Currently there are no residential treatment centers in the nation that provide treatment for couples who both have a mental health diagnosis. Another part of phase 3 is to build a conference space. This would allow for medical providers throughout the state of Alaska to come and be trained in this very specific way of providing mental, physical, and emotional treatment.

The entire campus must have 2 very important components. The first is the access to nature. The second is a central location in the state. By using the natural part of Alaska in the healing process the clients will be able to continue their healing even after treatment is complete. The research around using nature and nutrition for both mental and physical health is the current leading edge of medicine. Alaska Marriage & Family Therapy Associates want to make sure these vital parts of healing are a part of the location for the center. The additional need of a central location is a result of the continual teaching that Alaska Marriage & Family Therapy Associates believes is needed. Shawnmarie and Douglas do not want the healing to stop when they are no longer physically able to provide these services. If the campus is a teaching center then healing will continue for future generations of Alaskans. With Shawnmarie’s first masters in writing curriculum and instruction she will be able to pass down the knowledge and practice to future practitioners that will ensure that this way of healing does not end in one generation.