CARE (Culturally Affirming & Responsive Mental Health) for Kids & Families is a 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.
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.)
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.
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
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.
Makinie Fortino
Deconstructing the Mental Health System
Mariam Haris
CoLab
Martha Ortiz
Seattle Children’s Hospital
Pete Gonzales
SPARK Peer Learning Center
Rachel Porter
CoLab
Sarah C Walker
CoLab
Shayla Collins
UW Center for Child and Family Wellbeing
Stef Cervantes
SPARK Peer Learning Center
Taquesha Dean
Deconstructing the Mental Health System
Alya Azman
CoLab
Anna Duncan
CoLab
Carolyn Cox
SPARK Peer Learning Center
Cece Byrd
SPARK Peer Learning Center
China Bolden
CoLab / Seattle Children’s Hospital
Deekon Jones
New Developed Nations
Diana McCallum
SPARK Peer Learning Center
Elizabeth Perry
Consultant
Jazmaine Wong
SPARK Peer Learning Center
Ali Goodyear, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Alissa Hemke, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Becca Calhoun, UW Center for Child and Family Wellbeing
Bill O'Connell, BHSS Clinical Training Program
Carolyn Cox, SPARK Peer Learning Center
China Bolden, CoLab / Seattle Children's Hospital
Deekon Jones, New Developed Nations
Gabe Hamilton, SPARK Peer Learning Center
Gary Stobbe, Washington INCLUDE Collaborative
Jami Armstrong, Workforce Central
Jim Mancini, Washington INCLUDE Collaborative
Jim Theofelis, North Star Advocates
Kari Haugen, Workforce Central
Karis Casagrande, Washington INCLUDE Collaborative
Kate Orville, Washington INCLUDE Collaborative
Katie Condit, Workforce Central
Laurie Lippold, Partners for Our Children
Lawrence S. Wissow, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Libby Hein, Molina Healthcare
Liliana J. Lengua, UW Center for Child and Family Wellbeing
Marcee Merriam, Kindering
Maria Nunez, SPARK Peer Learning Center
Mariam Haris, CoLab
Martha Ortiz, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Mary Ann Woodruff, Pediatrics Northwest
Monica Burke, Washington State Department of Health
Naisha Williams, Washington State Department of Health
Paul Davis, Health Care Authority
Rachel Lettieri, Pediatrics Northwest
Ray Gregson, Great Rivers Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization
Rebecca Betts, Providence Health and Services
Sarah C Walker, CoLab
Sarah Rafton, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Shayla Collins, UW Center for Child and Family Wellbeing
Someireh Amirfaiz, New Americans Alliance for Policy and Research
Stef Cervantes, SPARK Peer Learning Center
Taquesha Dean, Deconstructing the Mental Health System
Terry Lee, Community Health Plan of Washington
Thanh Nguyen, Washington INCLUDE Collaborative
Trenecsia Wilson, Psychotherapist
Chalon Ervin, Deconstructing the Mental Health System
Cindy Trevino, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Deekon Jones, New Developed Nations
Makinie Fortino, Deconstructing the Mental Health System
Mariam Haris, CoLab
Ray Gregson, Great Rivers Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization
Sarah Walker, CoLab
Shayla Collins, UW Center for Child and Family Wellbeing
Someireh Amirfaiz, New Americans Alliance for Policy and Research
Taquesha Dean, Deconstructing the Mental Health System
Trenecsia Wilson, Psychotherapist
Carolyn Cox, SPARK Peer Learning Center
Cindy Trevino, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Mariam Haris, CoLab
Martha Ortiz, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Ray Gregson, Great Rivers Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization
Sarah Walker, CoLab
Someireh Amirfaiz, New Americans Alliance for Policy and Research
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.
