Leveraging Partnership to Transform Change
On March 15, 2021, Governor Jay Inslee signed an emergency proclamation recognizing the current mental and behavioral health emergency among Washington’s children and youth.
Behavioral health crises come in many forms, and most do not fit neatly into a categorical service box.
No single entity or system owns full responsibility for crises, and a single entity or system is not, on its own, sufficiently leveraged to address the multi-factored complexities necessary for a healthy system.
Given the multifactorial determinants of psychiatric boarding in the ED, potential solutions will require a variety of hospital strategies, external community strategies, ideally in collaboration with one another. Kids Mental Health Washington partners across the state are streamlining and coordinating youth behavioral health resources.
Together, we are building an access portal for individuals needing support by:
- Centralizing where and how to access local resources
- Facilitating community solutions and referrals for complex behavioral needs by convening multi system disciplinary teams
- Creating and supporting steering committees, action committees, and community agreements to coordinate events, partners, and assets
New Kids’ Mental Health Service Areas
