Policy Codesign for Okanogan County Youth Mental Health & Substance Use Prevention

Over 6 months, from June to December 2024, this Policy Codesign process brought together partners from government, service sectors, advocacy, and community groups in a series of interconnected design workshops, meetings, and other opportunities to inform policy.

Okanogan County’s District of Public Health, the County Commission, and Okanogan Behavioral Healthcare (OBHC) partnered with the University of Washington’s CoLab for Community & Behavioral Health Policy (CoLab) to convene and facilitate a design process across four groups: 1) the core codesign team, 2) a parallel youth codesign team, 3) a broader advisory group, and 4) a county-wide community sounding board. Throughout, relevant research evidence was integrated with local systems knowledge, lived experiences, and community perspectives to shape policy principles, and to ultimately inform the proposed policy strategy.

Click to read the Full Report: Okanogan County Policy Codesign (Youth Mental Health Promotion & Substance Use Prevention).

Click to read the Okanogan County Policy Codesign Policy Principles.