Take Survey 2 (June 1-15) on draft recommendations for strengthening P-25 BH system infrastructure in WA State
Survey Details:
Time to complete: 20-25 minutes
Survey link follows below
Before You Start
Before you answer the questions, please read the information below. This explains what Washington Thriving is thinking about doing and why. You can look back at this information while you answer the survey questions.
What Is Washington Thriving Working On?
Washington Thriving is working on a plan to make Washington State's Behavioral Health system work better for pregnant people, infants, kids, teens, and young adults (P-25) and their caregivers and families – allowing them access what they need when they need it and to thrive.
This includes the ways in which the system:
Is truly guided by those it serves
Makes getting help straightforward and dignified
Adapts to each person's unique situation
Ensures fairness and cultural safety for all
Uses information to grow smarter over time
Builds well-being before problems develop
Strengthens natural support networks
Builds widespread awareness and literacy
Components work together seamlessly
Ensures the right help is available to everyone
The Strategic Plan: Three Connected Goals
The Strategic Plan – currently in development - talks about three (3) important and connected goals – or "strategic imperatives" - to shift from how things work today to achieving the lasting change Washingtonians want to see in the behavioral health system that serves Washington's young people.
Goal 1: Build Stronger System Infrastructure
Build a stronger system infrastructure that will deliver what young Washingtonians, their caregivers and families need
Goal 2: Create Better Services and Programs (Comprehensive Offerings)
Create more and better services and programs for young people, their caregivers and families to meet their needs
Goal 3: Embed Important Values
Embed values and principles important to Washingtonians into how care is provided and how the system operates
All three parts work together to create real change across the whole system. The Strategic Plan delivered by November 2025 will speak to specific strategic recommendations within each of these 3 areas. If the plan succeeds in these key areas, it will create lasting positive change for young people and their families across the state.
Why This Survey Focuses on Infrastructure (Goal 1)
This survey focuses first on the infrastructure part (goal 1) - the foundation - because without it, the other improvements can't work as well as they should. (Future surveys coming soon will ask similar questions about goals 2 & 3)
What Success Looks Like
When we strengthen the basic foundation of the behavioral health system - how it's run, how it's paid for, and who works in it - life gets much easier for young people, their caregivers and families.
If Washington gets this Goal right, here is what Washington Thriving hopes to see:
Instead of families having to figure out confusing rules, navigate multiple agencies and bureaucracy, and wait for help because there aren't enough workers or facilities, they'll find a system that makes sense and actually works for them.
Young people will be able to get the right help at the right time, closer to home, from trained professionals who stay in their jobs long enough to build real relationships.
Parents and caregivers won't have to become experts in the behavioral health system just to help their kids - the system will be designed to support families instead of frustrating them.
Providers will flock to the behavioral health professions and be able to focus on delivering good care because they're happy and supported in their jobs.
When the foundation is strong, everything built on top of it works better. People will not have to worry about how services get paid for when they need them because of smart funding decisions the state makes, informed by smart information systems that help Washington state and its communities understand where to invest next.
Building a Strong Foundation
To make real change happen, we need to fix the basic structure of how the prenatal-through-age-25 (P-25) behavioral health system works in Washington State. Right now, different parts of the system don't work well together, which makes it hard for young people and families to get the help they need, when and how they need it, and by their own definitions of what help should look like.
Emerging Recommendations for Strengthening Washington's P-25 Behavioral Health Infrastructure
The following are the developing recommendations related to the strengthening of Washington State's P-25 Behavioral Health System Infrastructure (Goal 1).
(Future surveys coming soon will share more about developing recommendations for Goals 2 & 3)
1. Put Leadership in Place to Make Everything Work Together
Why this matters: Right now, too many different agencies oversee aspects of behavioral health and the systems that impact it (for example juvenile justice systems, housing and foster care systems, school systems and more) for young Washingtonians, but the way things are structured make it hard for them to collaborate well. This creates confusion, makes it hard to find help, and means many young Washingtonians can't get the care they need. Other states that have clear leadership for children's and youth's behavioral health outcomes in their state have seen big improvements and good results.
How this helps the bigger plan: Having clear leadership who can make decisions helps all the other parts of this plan work together instead of working separately.
2. Create Clear Guidelines for How Everyone Should Work Together
Why this matters: When everyone follows the same rules and works toward the same goals, young people and families get better help. It removes confusion and fills in gaps where services and supports are missing.
How this helps the bigger plan: Good teamwork between all the different groups and agencies is the foundation for making everything work better. When everyone understands their important role to play and knows that others will also play theirs, it helps resources work better, reduces problems, and helps everyone adapt quickly to solve complex issues.
3. Build Information Systems That Show How Well the System is Working
Why this matters: Right now, Washington has a hard time seeing if the services that are supposed to exist for young people across the state actually do exist, if there are enough in the right places for everyone who needs them, or if the services and supports actually help people in the way they plan to. Without good information, we can't tell if things are working or make them better.
How this helps the bigger plan: Good data systems work like a report card for the whole system, showing everyone how well services are working and where they need to improve to better help young people. It also makes it possible for the plan to not just address the needs of today, but to adapt to changing needs in the future.
4. Improve How Washington Pays for Services
Why this matters: The way Washington currently pays for behavioral health services makes it hard for people to get help. It doesn't pay enough for important parts of care, creates the wrong incentives, requires too much paperwork, and makes it hard to keep good workers.
How this helps the bigger plan: Better payment systems change access to behavioral health services and support for young Washingtonians and their families, from something that creates barriers to something that supports quality care. This helps providers hire and keep good staff and create new ways to help people.
5. Combine Money from Different Sources to Invest Wisely and Help More People
Why this matters: Right now, money for behavioral health services and supports comes from many different sources that don't work together. This makes it hard to provide complete care for young people who need help from multiple systems, and families have to navigate many different programs. It also wastes money.
How this helps the bigger plan: Coordinating funding removes barriers that break up care, letting resources follow what young people actually need instead of being stuck in separate program categories. This helps the state spend money more efficiently and effectively.
6. Pay for Community Programs That Support Health and Well-Being and Prevent Problems Before They Start
Why this matters: Programs that promote health and wellness and help prevent behavioral health problems from occurring or worsening work well and save money, but they often don't get enough funding. This creates a cycle where most money goes to expensive hospital care instead.
How this helps the bigger plan: Investing in prevention changes Washington's behavioral health system from one that only responds to crises to one that builds community health and wellness, and prevents problems before they get serious.
7. Make Behavioral Health Careers Sustainable and Rewarding
Why this matters: Too many people who work in prenatal-through-age-25 behavioral health-related jobs aren't supported and paid in the ways they need to be, and so leave their jobs or the profession, which makes it hard for young people to get care. Many existing behavioral health workers in Washington State are also close to retiring. These disruptions costs a lot of money and hurts the quality of care because therapeutic relationships between workers, young people, and families get interrupted.
How this helps the bigger plan: Having stable, supported workers is essential for making all other parts of this plan work. When we reduce paperwork, increase pay, and provide better professional support, we transform the system into a strong network of well-supported professionals who can better support young people, caregivers, and families.
8. Create Career Paths to Train New Behavioral Health Workers
Why this matters: With many behavioral health workers set to retire in the next 5-10 years, and fewer students graduating from colleges and universities, Washington State doesn't have enough new behavioral health workers coming in, especially focused on the needs of young people, and in areas that support specialized needs and underrepresented communities.
How this helps the bigger plan: A comprehensive plan to train new workers transforms Washington's behavioral health workforce from a shrinking resource to one that keeps growing with more diversity and specialized skills. This ensures we have the people needed to make and sustain system transformation while creating career opportunities that attract the next generation of professionals.
What Happens Next:
This is the first of three surveys that aim to share all of the emerging recommendations under development (as drafts) for feedback.
Each recommendation that gets included in the final Strategic Plan will also include detailed information about how to actually make it happen. This will cover the practical steps needed to put each idea into action, the key things that help it succeed or cause it to fail, and real examples from Washington, other states, and across the country that we can learn from.
However, this survey isn't the place to share all of those still developing details. At this important point in recommendations development, Washington Thriving wants to hear your thoughts on what the main recommendations within this goal should focus on and what other important areas they should include.
Your input will help shape these recommendations as Washington Thriving develops the detailed action plans and strategic starting points.