Policy Codesign for Washington Thriving

K-12 School Behavioral Health

The Challenge

Behavioral health challenges for youth are urgent and widespread. Up to 1 in 5 young people in the U.S. have a reported mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder, yet about half of those with treatable behavioral health disorders do not receive adequate treatment.

About the Initiative

This Policy Codesign process is part of the implementation of first initiatives tied to the Washington Thriving statewide strategic plan for equitable behavioral health for children, youth, and young adults.

CoLab is working in partnership with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) as the sponsoring organization to co-develop a statewide technical assistance framework to support schools navigating the complex landscape of behavioral health, which is a critical factor in students’ learning readiness and well-being.

Washington Thriving has established a partnership with the CoLab for Community and Behavioral Health at the University of Washington (CoLab) to advance one of the first initiatives while also trying out an iterative, collaborative policy development, evaluation, and learning approach that can be built into the envisioned System of Care over time.

The Process

Policy Codesign is a participatory, creative process to help people in communities learn from each other and explore local policy solutions to complex problems. The Policy Codesign process produces a policy recommendations and implementation plan tailored to a particular community’s context. Because the recommendations and plan are created by community members who have both professional expertise and lived-experience with the issues they are addressing, Policy Codesign produces results that are both effective and sustainable.

Through an inclusive codesign process, CoLab and OSPI are working alongside students, families, educators, community and state partners to ensure that technical assistance responds to real needs on the ground, including by improving identification of and access to available behavioral health services, supports, and funding streams.

This work focuses on helping schools navigate the complex landscape of behavioral health: supporting earlier identification of student needs, improving access to services and supports, and making better use of available resources and funding.