Our History

Gastineau Human Services Corporation is a local nonprofit corporation operated by a volunteer Board of Directors. It is designed to provide low-cost community alternatives for behavioral health and rehabilitation services. GHS currently serves the community by providing behavioral health and substance use treatment, community corrections programs, and transitional housing. In 1965 local citizens in Juneau organized a task force on alcoholism and incorporated as the Gastineau Council on Alcoholism in 1966.

Having persuaded Governor William A. Egan to call a Governor’s Conference on Alcoholism in 1966, the Council mobilized local support for the treatment of alcoholism. The direct result was the establishment of Juneau’s first Halfway house on Front and Main Streets. Its operation depended on the generosity of local merchants and whatever monies the clients themselves could pay.

In 1979 this program expanded to include a home in the Starr Hill area to house advanced care clients. In the fall of 1983 Glacier Manor, located in the Lemon Creek area, opened its doors as a Community Residential Center (CRC) providing residential services to offenders, furloughees, and probationers – under the jurisdiction of the Alaska Department of Corrections (ADOC).

In 1986, the corporation changed its name to Gastineau Human Services to more accurately reflect the scope of our services. In 2002 GHS shifted from residential substance use treatment to an outpatient setting and established the Juno House transitional housing program to provide safe and supportive housing for homeless individuals.

In 2023 GHS expanded two key parts of is programs. We enteredered a new contract with the ADOC which added intensive outpatient substance use treatment (ASAM 2.1 LOC) as a component of the CRC program. We also opened a 19-bed residential substance use treatment program (ASAM 3.1 LOC) and branded the behavioral health arm of the organization as Mount Juneau Counseling & Recovery, which is fully accrediated by the Comission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

In 2024 we are opened a completely remodeled behavioral health treatment building with more space for the expanding programs. We are also responding to the community need by adding 8 more beds to the residential substance use treatment program. Our other big project at this time is moving forward on building a 51-unit permanent housing project for those in recovery or coming through our CRC. We plan to break ground in Q2 of 2025. 

Throughout our history, Gastineau Human Services has developed a multi-faceted rehabilitation program that acknowledges and appreciates the fact that basic needs are interrelated and interdependent. Our programs cooperate and work together to simultaneously address issues of public safety, alcohol and other drug dependency, housing and adequate diet, educational, vocational and employment skills development and training. In all our efforts, we strive to enable our clients to achieve personal growth and economic independence, gain training and employment opportunities for themselves in the workplace, and learn to take individual responsibility for the choices they make in their lives.