Anchorage Community Mental Health Services, Inc. (ACMHS) was established on June 11, 1974, as a private non-profit corporation. The current board structure consists of 15 community volunteers and operated by an executive director. In May 1985, Southcentral Counseling Center was established as the operational agency for the organization. In May 2005 it was decided by the Board of Directors to drop the d.b.a. name — Southcentral Counseling Center — and to revert to the use of the agency’s legal name, Anchorage Community Mental Health Services.

Currently, ACMHS is financed through a combination of public and private grant, and through revenues generated from fees for service. Mental health services are provided to individuals and families on an ability-to-pay basis (family size/income level). The organization has remained true to basic tenets of community mental health care, while incorporating changes consistent with federal and state public policy changes.

The activities of ACMHS are driven by the Mission, Vision, and Values statements and a five year strategic plan. The mission statement includes social mission and business mission components which are reviewed by the board of directors annually.

The social mission is further defined by social mission target groups. Those target groups are: children who are severely emotionally disturbed, people with severe mental illness, people in psychiatric crisis, seniors with mental health needs and adults and children with emotional disorders.

The business mission encompasses development and acquisition of public resources as well as diversification of revenue sources into non-government sources. Diversification will provide for developmet of new resources to meet ACMHS’ social mission goals.

ACMHS Notice of Privacy Practices (pdf format)