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Arctic Mental Health Working Group

A USARC-Coordinated Working Group

ARCHIVE. The Arctic Mental Health Working Group (AMHWG) pages on this website contain archived content from 2015–2018. In 2018, concurrent with the $4.25M grant received by the University of Alaska Fairbanks for the Alaska Native Collaborative Hub for Research Resilience (ANCHRR), the group disbanded to pursue focused projects in smaller groups. Please contact crosa@arctic.gov for additional information. 

January 19, 2017 | Anchorage, Alaska

Integration of Multiple Data Streams for Improved Mental Health Care

A session at the 2017 Alaska Public Health Association Health Summit hosted by USARC’s Arctic Mental Health Working Group

There is a multitude of complex issues related to suicide, suicidality and behavioral health issues globally, in Alaska, and in other Arctic regions. In order to develop effective prevention techniques and focused early intervention efforts, there is a need (and opportunity) to understand these issues and affected populations from a broader viewpoint across the various public health and service systems (i.e., child protective services, corrections, behavioral health, etc.). This session examined barriers and challenges to data integration across different public services and entities in Alaska. Additionally, through a panel question and answer session, the benefits and knowledge that could be gained through data integration to provide improved mental health care was discussed.

Next Steps

The Arctic Mental Health Working Group will continue to encourage research and activities that collect, integrate and analyze data to improve our understanding of the epidemiology of mental and behavioral health issues.

Data integration across different public services and entities in Alaska can be very challenging, particularly when confidentiality constrains are considered, as is the case in many health related issues. However, enhancing the sharing of information and data across agencies addressing mental health issues will enable current health care systems to better identify and provide earlier and more appropriate assistance to those in need.

The AMHWG will continue to encourage awareness and discussion surrounding these, and other, mental health issues. As part of this effort, we will propose a follow-up session on suicide surveillance data collection and integration for the 2018 ALHPA Health Summit.

> Learn more about our working group’s mission and objectives

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