Alaska Alliance for Direct Service Careers

This project is now coordinated through The Alaska Mental Health Trust

Agencies serving the beneficiaries of the Alaska Mental Health Trust are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain a workforce with the skills and experience necessary to provide quality services. The shortage of direct service staff in the developmental disability, mental health, substance abuse, and aging fields is at crisis level in Alaska. The need to do more with less, changes in employee expectations, a tight job market and the aging of the American workforce are all contributing factors to this problem. The Alaska Alliance for Direct Service Careers (AADSC) is working with consumers, advocates, service providers and other state department staff to identify ways to improve the recruitment and retention of direct care providers.