Treatment Philosophy

Sitka Counseling and Prevention Services have adopted a “no wrong door” philosophy in providing behavioral health services. This philosophy mandates a welcoming approach to all clients and eliminates arbitrary barriers to initial engagement in services. It specifies mechanisms for helping each client connect to a suitable program as quickly as possible.  Regardless if the program is within our agency or through the referral process.

Sitka Counseling and Prevention Services continually strive to better serve our community and clients. This is evidenced by collaboration with other agencies in the form of shared resources, contractual relationships, and integration of service delivery models.

Sitka Counseling and Prevention Services utilize the Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual model in developing and providing behavioral health treatment services. This theoretical model conceptualizes mental illness and substance misuse to be a result of complex interactions among biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors.

The Biological component includes genetic factors that may predispose an individual toward mental illness/chemical dependency; brain chemistry imbalances; physical changes or damage as a result of injury or substance misuse; and/or biological risks due to substance use such as HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, and/or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

The Psychological component includes the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional aspects of behavioral health including co-occurring mental health/substance use disorders.

The Social component refers to relationships with significant others, social support systems, communication skills, and sense of belonging in the social environment.

The Spiritual aspects include a sense of purpose and meaning in life; a sense of the transcendent; that there is “something” greater than ourselves; self-exploration; and/or self-realization.

This theoretical framework encompasses the wide range of mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual issues related to mental illness/substance use disorders. It allows for a holistic assessment and treatment of individual needs. Since this model recognizes behavioral health issues affect individuals in diverse ways, a comprehensive assessment is necessary to determine individual needs. A continuum of care is essential to provide appropriate treatment services to meet individual needs. This model allows for treatment services to be increased or decreased according to individual progress and is client driven versus program driven.

Sitka Counseling and Prevention Services supports utilization of harm reduction strategies designed to lessen possible adverse health, societal, and economic consequences of untreated behavioral health issues. Success is no longer defined only to be complete, sustained absence of symptoms or abstinence. Instead as progress toward other measurable outcomes such as improved social functioning, improved job/school performance, decreased criminal justice involvement, improved relationships with significant others, improved emotional self-regulation, and increased sense of purpose/meaning in life.