Sharing the Draft Strategic Plan
For background on Washington Thriving see our About video. More context is provided in the narrative that follows.
What is the Strategic Plan?
Washington Thriving is excited to share an overview of the draft Strategic Plan for Washington’s prenatal-through-age-25 behavioral health system. This effort began in 2023 following a recommendation from the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Work Group to the legislature responding to the growing behavioral health crisis for children, youth, and families in Washington.
The Strategic Plan development has been guided by the Washington Thriving Advisory Group and has received input and support from many different collaborators across the system. The input and partnership with the Advisory Group and other contributors with lived and living experience with the behavioral health system as young people, families, and system partners has led to the creation of a Strategic Plan that centers the needs of those who use the system.
The purpose of this strategic plan is to:
Share a detailed vision for what the future of our state’s behavioral health system should look like to actually serve people in a way that feels like support, when and where they need it.
Provide information on what it would take to transform the system from where we are today, to where we need to go to achieve this vision.
Give decision-makers the information and education, strategic direction, and insight to powerful opportunities that can be acted on immediately to improve the system
Look across the continuum of behavioral health needs and address the full spectrum of needs for both those on the receiving end of services and supports, and the workforce and agencies that deliver them.
Incorporating Feedback into the Draft Strategic Plan.
We want to share a preview of what is in the draft Strategic Plan and provide transparency that at this time, the plan is undergoing feedback and input from the Washington Thriving Advisory Group and CYBHWG members. That means, what we are sharing with you all now is not final, but is getting close to the version of information that will be submitted to the legislature in November of this year.
We've gotten input from many different people and groups to help create this Strategic Plan. Our goal is to make sure the final plan covers every part of the P-25 behavioral health system so we can start putting it into action after November. Thank you to everyone who provided their feedback through the feedback survey series earlier this Summer!
Based on analysis of the survey responses, we learned that people across all groups agree that the behavioral health system needs:
To improve access to high-quality care
Better training and better pay for the behavioral health workforce
Services that are appropriate across ages and developmental stages
Different groups prioritize different solutions for these priorities:
Families lean towards immediate crisis help and more family and caregiver involvement in behavioral health treatment decisions
Behavioral health service providers want better pay and improved support
Community organizations prioritize equity and more prevention services
Overall, we learned that the Strategic Plan is on the right track, but there is room for us to strengthen certain areas around support as people age through different services and support needs, improve behavioral health services in rural areas of the state, and inclusion of tribal voices and understanding of tribal priorities, and the behavioral health systems that serves them.
Following the completion of surveys 1-4 (previous blog posts can be found here), the project team has worked to incorporate the feedback into the full Strategic Plan draft. Some of the detailed suggestions people gave us might not appear word-for-word in the main plan, but don't worry - we're keeping all those details that will inform future materials, issue briefs, and implementation guides following submission of the plan to the legislature.
Draft Strategic Plan Preview.
What is in the draft Strategic Plan?
The draft Strategic Plan contains the following sections to achieve the goals and scope of the Washington Thriving initiative.
The plan starts with context and introduction, describes the current state, and outlines the vision.
Section IV outlines the framework for system transformation to an integrated System of Care including a comprehensive set of needs the system must have in order to realize the long-term goals established by the Washington Thriving vision. Within each Imperative, there are specific requirements (previously called recommendations) which detail the specific areas that must be addressed to achieve success.
Imperative 1 – Strengthen System Infrastructure through coordinated leadership, workforce development, and sustainable financing that establishes system governance, data, financing, and workforce architecture that powers and guides an effective System of Care and responds to community needs.
Imperative 2 – Expand Comprehensive Offerings across all developmental stages and levels of care to ensure the right help is available at the right time for every child, youth, caregiver and family spanning education and promotion of wellbeing, through prevention and early intervention through intensive treatment and ongoing supports.
Imperative 3 – Embedded System Principles that guide how the system is structured, how services are delivered, and how young people, caregivers, and families experience care through actioning core values into functional system practices that ensure culturally responsive, equity-centered, and family-partnered care delivery.
Previous surveys collected in-depth feedback on the requirements listed within each imperative, which have been incorporated into the revisions to the Strategic Plan.
Section V provides a roadmap from vision to action and outcomes through describing the implementation philosophy, leadership needed for immediate action, and the First Initiatives.
In addition to the first initiatives outlined below, the Strategic Plan calls for the legislature to establish Washington Thriving as a cross-agency statewide initiative and that in collaboration with the Governor’s office, leadership and governance structures should be established to guide near-term action.
This leadership should include:
Executive leadership – a full-time role housed in the Governor’s office with authority to coordinate across agencies and systems
Governance council – A decision-making body with authority to set direction, prioritize, and hold the leader accountable
Advisory body – a group to observe and evaluate Washington Thriving’s progress on the First Initiatives and make recommendations for improvement. This group would grow from the established CYBHWG and Washington Thriving Advisory Group and include intentional and meaningful partnership with young people, caregivers, workforce, and community representatives.
Staffing – continued staffing from the Health Care Authority and Behavioral Health Catalyst wo have supported the development of the Strategic Plan
Partnerships – continued partnership and coordination with state agencies, community-based organizations, advocates, academic institutions and other groups from across the state to implement the First Initiatives, building upon collaborations established in the process of developing the Strategic Plan.
To get started, Washington Thriving has identified four First Initiatives – one to lay the groundwork for transforming the System of Care and three to make progress filling gaps in services and supports. These consider both the constraints of the current 2025-2027 state budget as well as the urgent need for action. These First Initiatives will be implemented during the next 1-3 years with timelines dependent on available resources. The phases to follow will require more time to transform the system intentionally and sustainable for long term success.
The initiatives below are prioritized to set the necessary foundation for achieving the three imperatives outlined by the Strategic Plan and to make early progress in filling notable gaps in the services and supports in the behavioral health system. There is strong support among legislators, agencies, partners, the CYBHWG and the WA Thriving Advisory Group for taking action in each of these areas.
First Initiatives:
Initiative 1: System of Care Infrastructure
Objective: to work with government leaders to design and set up three foundational elements of the permanent System of Care infrastructure described in Imperative 1:
Designing the recommended leadership, governance, and coordination structures to decide who should be accountable for managing the System of Care, who does what for the system to function, and planning the transition to this new framework
Defining the shared outcomes for cross-system actors to collaborate toward and identify and integrate the data available to measure progress and inform decisions
Identifying and finding ways to integrate current sources of funding, taking into account their different requirements and limitations
Why: In Washington’s constrained funding environment, this infrastructure will be critical to deploying existing resources more strategically while building the structural foundation for future growth. All the other changes envisioned in this Strategic Plan depend on this foundation. Putting this in place first will enable more informed near-term decisions and position Washington to build other elements of the System of Care quickly and effectively when additional resources become available.
Initiative 2: Perinatal Mental Health and Substance Use
Objective: to 1) develop a plan to advance culturally-responsive, non-stigmatizing perinatal mental health and substance use screening in perinatal and pediatric settings and 2) develop a shared action plan to overcome barriers to family-centered SUD care for pregnant and parenting people.
Why: Perinatal behavioral health interventions interrupt intergenerational cycles of trauma and create ongoing benefits that extend across generations. A pregnant person’s mental health and substance use during pregnancy can lead to lifelong learning and behavioral problems for the young person. Investing in this area of the continuum provides Washington with an opportunity to intervene and provide support and prevention services earlier in care with implications to improve long-term wellness for both the parent and child. Washington Thriving is seeking funding partnerships to make progress on this initiative in the short-term.
Initiative 3: K-12 Student Behavioral Health
Objective: to propose a statewide definition of the role of schools in supporting students’ behavioral health to be written into statute. It will clarify the role of schools in behavioral health and will establish the support and assistance needed to help schools implement.
Why: Almost every child aged 5-18 in Washington State goes to school, regardless of family income, insurance status, or geographic location with 1.1 million kids (nearly 70% of school-aged children) attending public school. Currently, very few schools across Washington have the guidance, resources, or know-how needed to support student’s behavioral health needs. Alignment and support on the role of schools in student behavioral health creates a huge opportunity to improve behavioral health supports for most of the state’s 5-18 year olds. Washington Thriving is seeking funding partnerships to make progress on this initiative in the short-term.
Initiative 4: Treatment Service Expansion
Objective: to lay the groundwork for establishing critical behavioral health treatment capacity with three priority areas of focus identified as having significant gaps in today’s systems:
Expanding crisis and stabilization services,
Developing specialized capacity for high-need populations including young children and those with complex conditions,
Expanding the missing middle in this part of the care continuum
Why: It is well-documented that across our state, many young people and families can't get the behavioral health treatment they need. While investing in prevention and early intervention, a comprehensive system must also care for those struggling or in crisis today and those who will always need intensive support regardless of our upstream efforts. The existing gaps in our system’s treatment service continuum provides an important opportunity for necessary improvement to behavioral health care across the state. Washington has a strong base of analysis, established working relationships across agencies and providers, and sustained legislative interest to build on.
Next Steps.
Currently, the full draft is under review from the CYBHWG and the WA Thriving Advisory Group and members are providing their feedback, while we invite feedback from all voices across the state on the overview provided in this blog post. The remainder of the review and submission process will proceed as follows:
9/9 – Washington Thriving Office Hours
9/15 – Feedback Survey (the last in the feedback survey series) responses are due
9/18 – Joint CYBHWG and WA Thriving Advisory Group meeting: team will hold discussions to discuss the feedback received and answer questions and collaborate on what and how to incorporate into the final draft.
10/6 – final WA Thriving Advisory Group to review the updates to the strategic plan before it goes to the CYBHWG
10/14 – final CYBHWG meeting to approve the Strategic Plan and prepare for submission to legislature.
11/1 – Final Strategic Plan submission to legislature
After November – Once the Strategic Plan is submitted to the legislature, work will continue and shift into implementation. Washington Thriving will work to make progress on the First Initiatives and towards realization of the vision of the strengthened System of Care for our state.
As always, thank you for your participation in this process and for providing any input and feedback on the developing Strategic Plan!