May is Mental Health Month and an opportunity to share how King County invests in critical services across the behavioral health system to improve access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
Today, we’re facing a significant behavioral health crisis in our region, which is connected to the affordability crisis; to the workforce crisis across human services; and to the national opioid overdose crisis. Responding to the layered crises and increasing access to treatment is a top priority for King County. Learn more on the DCHS blog about the broad continuum of SUD services that King County invests in and leads on:
- Treatment access and how to support someone with SUD,
- Substance use prevention: key steps to reduce harm and prevent use, or
- How King County is integrating health care systems to support and care for people with SUDs.
The Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) uses the broad term “behavioral health” which includes mental health, substance use disorder, life and health stressors, crisis care, and more. The term “mental health” may mean something different depending on the person. What defines and contributes to mental health and effective mental health care is also unique for each person.
Common features of mental health treatment, guideposts for King County’s efforts, include:
- Care available when, where, and how you need it
- In-language services and treatment
- Culturally responsive
- Trauma-informed (ensuring physical and emotion safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness and empowerment)
- Person-centered
- High quality (measured to both inform continuous improvements and to report back to community for transparency)
Here are four key investments King County is making across the behavioral health system, plus how to connect to our mental health and substance use services.
- Youth Mental Health Investments:
- In collaboration with the Ballmer Group, King County is investing more than $2.4 million to expand access to a broad range of health care, including mental health supports, at school-based health centers . Learn more about the expanding mental health enhancements in these school clinics on the Best Starts blog, including advancing health equity, increasing access to supports, and implementing language access. This March, we celebrated the opening of the first school clinic in Auburn.
- King County is promoting voices young people can relate to, by investing in projects like the Recess podcast, supported through partnership with Creative Justice. Recess is hosted and created by young people, who speak about healthy ways to cope and navigate typical challenges. https://www.youtube.com/@Recesswithcj
- Young people have invaluable insights into how best to strengthen the mental health and well-being of their peers and communities. Best Starts is proud to continue funding the Youth Healing Project, which provides mini grants to young people who create mental health supports for their peers. The project provides resources and support to young leaders advancing solutions that improve the mental health, connection, and wellbeing of youth people in King County. Learn more about the project and the 21 project awardees here.
- Community Behavioral Health Investments:
- DCHS invested $1.7 million in local MIDD funds to nine partners through Community Driven Behavioral Health grants in 2023. Eight partners focus on providing services that are trauma-informed and consider the communities’ culture, beliefs, practices and languages.
- DCHS launched the Community Owned Behavioral Health Collaborative (COBHC) in April 2023 to help strengthen organizations among BIPOC and marginalized communities and foster education and collaboration between community organizations and established elements of the behavioral health system. By the end of 2023, the COBHC had grown to include 22 partner agencies.
- This June, DCHS will launch the Be Heard: BIPOC Voices about Mental Health & Wellness Community Listening Project, funding 12 small Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) that provide mental health and/or wellness support within their community to hold Community Conversations and Key Informant Interviews with members of the communities they serve. The goal of the project is to partner with small CBOs to learn the behavioral health needs and desires of BIPOC communities and share insights back to communities, decision makers, and King County staff to inform system changes and new programming.
- Crisis Care Centers Initiative:
- King County lacks a place for people to walk in and access crisis care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Crisis Care Centers initiative, is investing $1.25 billion to transform our behavioral health system and expand access to crisis care. The proposed plan includes:
- Creating five new crisis care centers across the county, including one for youth, with the first center opening in 2026.
- Adding 115 residential treatment beds to build King County’s limited residential treatment capacity back to 355 beds.
- Investing in the behavioral health workforce. Workforce development strategies for 2024 center apprenticeship and training programs, promote workforce development and increase the diversity and cultural representativeness of the workforce through recruitment and trainings.
- Expanding Crisis Services through immediate investments to help people in a behavioral health crisis before the centers open.
- Expand on a pilot between Crisis Connections/988 and local 911 public safety answer points to redirect relevant 911 calls to behavioral health counselors embedded in the emergency call centers.
- Expanding mobile crisis teams so there are more behavioral health teams out in our communities helping people in-person.
- Expanding low barrier access to overdose reversal medication like naloxone.
- Investing in the new Overdose Recovery and Care Access (ORCA) Center that will open in early 2025 and provide a place for people with behavioral health and social service needs in the immediate area surrounding it.
- Substance Use Disorder Actions
- In partnership with the Executive’s Office and Public Health – Seattle & King County, we are leading the regional response to the opioid overdose crisis. This year, King County DCHS and Public Health Seattle & King County– announced 13 Actions to Help Stop Opioid Overdoses in 2024, expanding access to live-saving medicine like Buprenorphine and Naloxone, adding more mobile crisis teams, residential treatment beds, new sobering and post-recovery centers, and 100 apprenticeships.
- Pioneer is opening a new residential treatment program this year to offer services to people with “co-occurring” substance use and mental health disorders, which occurs frequently. King County is investing in this program given the need in our region.
These investments demonstrate the ways in which King County is creating a more connected, accessible, and responsive behavioral health system.
If you or someone you know would like to connect to services, here are numbers to call for care across the region:
To connect to services today:
- Call or Text 988 or the Regional Crisis Line: 206-461-3222 if you or a loved one are experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
- Call our Client Services line: 1-800-790-8049 to connect to mental health and substance use treatment services.
- Call or Text the Washington Recovery Help Line: 866-789-1511 to connect to substance use services and support, including next day appointments.
- Buprenorphine is a medicine that reduces opioid cravings, withdrawal symptoms and protects from overdose. Anyone age 13 or older in King County can call anytime 24/7 to get a free prescription: 206-289-0287.
We will be sharing resources this #MentalHealthMonth on our Instagram @kingcountyDCHS so please follow along.