Professional Development at Alaska Behavioral Health

At Alaska Behavioral Health, we value the personal development of the people we serve and our staff. We are committing to helping our staff grow professionally to meet the needs of our clients and their own career goals.  Clinical staff are engaged in developmental pathways that support increased competency and specialization.  Given the complexity of the work we do, we are committed to developing and retaining a highly qualified, competent and experienced clinical workforce.

Phase I:

For new Master’s level clinicians, in their first two years of post-master’s experience, the focus is on developing core clinical competencies. 

  • Intensive clinical supervision (2 hours per week combined individual and group)
  • Training in an evidence-based practice (EBP)
  • Support for achieving licensure (we aim for 100% within 3 years of graduation)

Phase II:

The focus during Phase II extends beyond basic clinical competencies to include more advanced skills and treatment of complex conditions

  • Training and supervision in a second EBP
  • Develop competency in treating complex populations
    • For Child & Family Clinicians: Learn Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) or the ARC framework (Attachment, Regulation and Competency)
    • For Clinicians working with Adults: Develop competency skill sets using CBT for Anxiety, Depression, Personality Disorders and Schizophrenia as mentored through individual, group supervision and external training resources

Phase III:

In Phase III, clinicians are building competencies to be able to actively engage in peer mentorship of new clinicians.

  • Clinicians are supported in learning multiple EBPs across multiple populations and developing clinical supervision skills.
  • Clinicians receive direct mentoring from senior directors and managers in systems of supervision, advanced case conceptualization and mentoring for clinical leadership.
  • Clinicians in the children’s continuum also become trainers in specific areas of expertise (i.e. Trauma 101 trainers).
  • Clinicians in the adult continuum are actively working toward or are in process of achieving CBT certification from the Beck Institute.

Phase IV:

In Phase IV, we aim to support the development of clinical management as well as professional growth for providers who do not intend to become managers.

  • Clinicians work on developing new areas of service/programs/expanding services for new specialty populations and/or
  • May become licensure clinical supervisors, train new clinicians, facilitate group supervision  and/or
  • May transition into clinical management positions.Â