King County hosted the annual Behavioral Health Legislative Forum on November 18th. Over 400 community members joined us for an evening celebrating recovery and the many ways people continue their recovery journey in communities. The Behavioral Health and Recovery Division at King County reflected on the progress made over the past year to improve behavioral health access, and elected leaders shared their priorities for the upcoming legislative session.
Washington Recovery Alliance (WRA) and King County Recovery Coalition (KCRC) kicked off the night, hosting their annual Recovery In Action pre-event onsite. Guests could learn more about community behavioral health organizations, grow their skills by talking to experts, like how to use Narcan to save a life of someone overdosing, and find out about services located all around King County.
Guests joined roundtable conversations with their legislators and shared their concerns and ideas. This event is special in that each year it provides an opportunity for residents to speak directly to their representative about their experience and what’s important to them related to behavioral health. As always, we heard from legislators that they will be taking what they heard in these conversations into their decision-making for the upcoming legislative session. Behavioral Health and Recovery Division (BHRD) Director Susan McLaughlin focused on community and shared impact and highlighted King County’s legislative priorities for behavioral health and the progress that King County has made in recent years.
Watch the full coverage of the program from our friends at the Seattle Channel.
King County’s State Legislative Priorities in Behavioral Health for 2026
Susan honored Nancy Dow for her decades of service to the behavioral health community as co-chair of the Behavioral Health Advisory Board, inspiring future generations of peers to make a positive impact on the system.
Karen Brady, the Executive Director and CEO of Ryther, also shared her firsthand perspective on the importance of maintaining support for small agencies to preserve access to care, especially for youth.
We also heard from the fifteen state legislators on stage about their priorities in behavioral health for the coming session. We’ll update this post to share event photos soon.
Throughout the night, three recovery speakers bravely shared their mental health and substance use recovery journeys. Their stories showed how there is always hope for recovery and inspiring all in the room to support our continued work to improve and increase access to the supports that made their recoveries possible.
Thanks again to all who joined, to our inspiring recovery speakers, and to all the volunteers who make this special event possible!