Giving Thanks to Frontline Behavioral Health Workers

Kelli Nomura, director of the King County Behavioral Health and Recovery Division (BHRD), spoke at a lunch event to say thank you to frontline behavioral health workers at Recovery Café. Kelli shared a few words of gratitude to honor the 14 Recovery Café frontline workers who were nominated as behavioral health heroes.

King County Launches Youth Fentanyl Overdose Prevention Campaign

With drug overdose and deaths rising alarmingly among youth, King County today launched a new fentanyl overdose prevention campaign, targeted specifically to reach young people between the ages of 14 to 18 years old. Called Laced & Lethal, the campaign is designed to teach teens about the risk of buying pills and powders potentially laced…

New funding for Community Driven Behavioral Health in King County

Nationally, the current health system creates barriers that challenge providers and payers in providing whole person care and improving population health. According to the King County Community Health Needs Assessment 2018/2019, “People of color and low- income residents are at disproportionate risk of being uninsured and having poor health and social outcomes". Many health and…

New funding for behavioral health services in rural King County

Rural populations face significant health disparities compared to their urban counterparts. Rural community members are more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease, and stroke than community members in urban areas. Risk factors contributing to these health disparities include social isolation, stigma, lower socioeconomic status, higher rates of health…

Safe medicine return box

National drug take back day October 24: A good reminder that safe medicine disposal saves lives

Since 2016, DCHS has promoted awareness and use of free and confidential neighborhood medicine disposal programs as a strategy to prevent opioid overdose death, medicine abuse and suicide. DCHS, along with partners that include King County Waste Management and Washington Poison Center, produced a successful “Don’t Hang on to Meds” public health messaging campaign focused…

DCHS Funds Mental Health Training at NAACP Community Event

The NAACP and Public Health Seattle – King County are hosting a free Mental Health Day on Saturday, July 11th. This event aims to help Black communities impacted by intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and racism of widespread police violence by linking them to mental health resources in-person and online. The Behavioral Health and Recovery…