CARE (Culturally Affirming & Responsive Mental Health) for Kids & Families is a new, statewide initiative to promote culturally responsive behavioral healthcare while centering youth, caregivers, and community members with lived experience/expertise in the behavioral health system.
With workforce shortages and the impact of COVID-19 on our communities' mental health, the need for expanding access to culturally responsive, child mental and behavioral health services is immense.
CARE for Kids & Families is a new project led by a growing coalition of collaborators and facilitated by UW’s CoLab for Community and Behavioral Health Policy that works to address that need while centering community knowledge and lived experience. This initiative has been funded through Washington State legislative proviso.
To outline a vision for a community behavioral health system in Washington State that is more culturally responsive, equitable, and effective in the services it provides to children and families.
Provide organizational support to public behavioral health agency leaders;
Develop a training strategy to increase culturally relevant and evidence-informed treatment;
Support an expansion of the workforce to include non-masters level providers with lived experience to deliver these treatments.
For more information, scroll down to view our recent community forum.
Broad community input and participation is key to the success of this project!
Depending on your time capacity and level of interest, we have many ways for you to get involved. We’re particularly interested in connecting people with lived experience, work experience, or other forms of expertise in behavioral health care, racial equity, and/or promoting health equity.
Sign up for regular updates below. We’ll keep you informed on how things are going and share exciting project milestones and any future opportunities for participation. (We respect your time and inbox—we’ll never email you more than once per week.)
Commitment level: light
Time investment: about 5 minutes per week to read email updates
8.18.23| Year 1 review & what's next
6.8.23 | Ray Gregson on Transforming Our Behavioral Health System
4.13.23 | Discover this Unique Mental Health Nonprofit Empowering Youth
2.16.23 | The Inside Scoop
2.2.23 | Reviewing 573 Articles on Expanding the Child/family Mental Health Workforce
1.5.23 | How can we improve refugee mental health?
12.15.22 | Sharing an update
10.27.22 | Meet our partner engagement lead
10.13.22 | A BIPOC mental health advocate you need to know
9.29.22 | Sharing our origin story
9.22.22 | Announcing the Codesign Team
9.15.22 | Meet our community engagement champion
9.1.22 | What we've been working on
Would you like to share feedback on the project on an ongoing basis? Want to make sure your voice is reflected in the project outcomes? Join our Community Sounding Board—an easy way for those involved with or interested in behavioral health to inform this work through regular interactions with our team including opportunities to win door prizes and access to exclusive content.
In just a half an hour a month, you can help make culturally responsive mental healthcare more effective and accessible in Washington State. Active participation in the Community Sounding Board comes with a host of benefits including quarterly giveaways and invitations to special events. Plus, the first 100 people to sign up will receive a special gift. All are welcome!
Commitment level: low
Time investment: about 30 minutes per month; invitations to biannual open forums
Everyone in Washington State deserves access to culturally responsive behavioral healthcare. That’s why we want as many people as possible to know about this initiative! Are you a part of any networks that should know about this work? Can you connect us with others who may want to get involved? Consider becoming a Project Amplifier.
Email Communications Specialist, Rachel Porter, at rachport (at) uw.edu to learn more.
Commitment level: medium
Time investment: up to you!
Do you have other ideas of how you may want to be involved with this work? Simply want to learn more, or have a question for our team? We’d love to hear from you. Please reach out to Program Operations Specialist, Anna Duncan, at aeduncan (at) uw.edu to discuss.
Dr. Someireh Amirfaiz has been a leader in the nonprofit sector for over 25 years, advocating for refugees, immigrants, and families of color impacted by poverty and racial and social disparities. As a codesign and advisory team member for the CARE, Someireh has been a key partner in ensuring that the needs of refugees and immigrants do not go overlooked when it comes to expanding access to culturally responsive mental healthcare.
To learn more about Someireh and her work, check out the feature on our Insights & Reflections page.
Click here for team bios and more information.
Avreayl Jacobson
King County
Rickey “Deekon” Jones
New Developed Nations
Georganna Sedlar
University of Washington
Cindy Trevino
University of Washington
Trenecsia Wilson
Psychotherapist and Community Member
Zalina Abner-Green
King County
Someireh Amirfaiz
New Americans Alliance for Policy & Research
Shayla Collins
Parent & Community Advocate
Carolyn Cox
SPARK Peer Learning Center
Gabriel Hamilton
SPARK Peer Learning Center
Dana Pearlman
Sue Grinnell
Public Health Institute
Laurie Lippold
Partners for Our Children
Melody McKee
Behavioral Health Institute
Maria Nunez
Washington Youth Spark Program
Bill O'Connell
University of Washington
Tyus Reed
Washington Youth Spark Program
Muhamed Selavick
Washington Youth Spark Program
Jim Theofelis
NorthStar Advocates
Jasmine Vidal
Washington Youth Spark Program
Naisha K. Williams, MPH, MA
Washington State Department of Health
Larry Wissow, MD, MPH
University of Washington
Seattle Children's Hospital
Gregory Aarons
University of California San Diego
Dr. Someireh Amirfaiz
New Americans Alliance for Policy and Research
Erika Crable
University of California San Diego
Dr. Benjamin Danielson
Allies in Healthier Systems for Health and Abundance in Youth (AHSHAY)
Paul Davis
Washington State Health Care Authority
Mark Ehrhart
University of Central Florida
Makinie Fortino, LMFT
Deconstructing the Mental Health System
Idabelle Fosse
Public Health – Seattle & King County
Libby Hein
Molina Healthcare
Ray Hsiao
Asian Counseling and Referral Service
Terry Lee
Community Health Plan of Washington
Jennifer Mannheim
Seattle Children’s Autism Center
Laura Mendoza
MENTOR Washington
Elizabeth Myers
Jefferson Healthcare
Akiko Nakayama
Compass Health
Carmen Pacheco-Jones
Health and Justice Recovery Alliance
Steve Perry
Washington State Health Care Authority
Shyla Ann Rhodes
Katherine Saluskin
Yakama Nation
Kelly Scalise
Ryther
Cynthia Tamayo
Commission on Hispanic Affairs
Abbey Wellemeyer
Alfred White
The League of Extraordinary People
Carla Arnold
Youthnet
Lauren Day
Boys & Girls Clubs of Washington
Michelle Downing
Technology Access Foundation
Makinie Fortino
DMHS: Deconstructing the Mental Health System
Kate Foster
Washington State University
Libby Hein
Molina Healthcare
Sarah Hoaglin
Renton Technical College
Theresa Hoeft
AIMS Center, University of Washington
Colleen Hollis
Solid Ground
Shawn Koyano
Families of Color Seattle
Shaena Lee Spoor
Y-WE
Makinie Fortino is changing the game when it comes to culturally responsive behavioral healthcare. Through her nonprofit, DMHS: Deconstructing the Mental Health System, Makinie brings together hundreds of anti-racist providers to address racial and financial inequities in the mental health system. CoLab’s Dominique Smith recently spoke with Makinie about the importance of access to culturally relevant care and how she is expanding equity in mental health through her work.
To learn more about Makinie and her work, check out the feature on our Insights & Reflections page.
On May 25, 2023 CoLab hosted an Open Forum to mark the one-year anniversary of working on the CARE project. This was an opportunity for us to share the progress we've made towards better understanding the landscape of expanded culturally responsive mental healthcare and to highlight the many partners who have co-led this work while gathering valuable community feedback.
On June 16, 2022, we hosted an open community forum to talk through the project vision, hear any initial thoughts/reactions, share ideas, and answer questions. If you missed the forum, don’t worry, you can view the recording below.
At the community forum (linked above), we asked community members to share their concerns and guidance regarding the CARE initiative. Responses were gathered from a public ranking and question submission platform. These responses guided and continue to guide our processes and work, both internal and external, to ensure transparency and accountability to community. Click the button below to view the themes that emerged and how our team will address each theme.
This project was funded through legislative proviso and aims to both strengthen the lived experience behavioral health workforce and create a culturally responsive care curriculum for statewide implementation in Medicaid-serving organizations.
To learn more about the background of this initiative, check our our origin story.
