System of Care
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What is a System of Care? A System of Care is an approach to providing support and services to individuals, families, and communities guided by the following principles and beliefs:
Family-Centered: Families are partners in creating plans, not just told what to do
Youth-Guided: Young people have a say in their own care
Community-Based: Support is provided close to home, not just in faraway facilities
Culturally Respectful: Care respects each family's culture, language, and traditions
Strengths-Based: Focus on what's going well, not just problems
Early Intervention: Providing support early before problems get bigger
For everything to work smoothly, and for families to get better support, a System of Care needs all of these pieces to exist and work well together:
Defined Leadership: Clear system leadership with authority, accountability, and responsibility for enabling cross-system collaboration
Coordination Team: People whose job is to connect all the helpers
Shared Information: Ways for different helpers to share important information (while keeping private things private)
Funding That Works Together: Money from different sources combined to provide what each family needs
Training for Everyone: Making sure all helpers understand the System of Care approach
Ways to Track Progress: Checking if the help is actually working
Family and Youth Leadership: Having families and young people help design and improve the system
Clear Communication: Simple ways for families to understand what help is available
A good System of Care means children get the right help sooner, families feel supported rather than overwhelmed, and the interventions actually work because everyone is coordinating their efforts.
What does a System of Care have to do with Washington Thriving? The System of Care will be the guiding framework for the P-25 Behavioral Health Strategic Plan.
Throughout the process to develop a statewide Prenatal-through-age-25 Behavioral Health Strategic Plan (P-25 Strategic Plan), a lot of input has led to the vision of what an ideal behavioral health system should look like and what services and supports should be offered. This includes the types of offerings, how they are accessed, and how the system can be coordinated to best serve the people of Washington.
A common theme across the lived and living experiences of people seeking support from the behavioral health system in Washington is the lack of coordination and consistency across the various supports, programs, and systems. This leads to individuals and families feeling frustrated, receiving conflicting advice from different sources, and sometimes giving up because it is too complicated to find and receive the right support.
The guiding principles and future vision of Washington Thriving are well matched with the System of Care principles. The System of Care framework:
Aligns with the vision & principles of the ideal vision crafted by the Advisory Group, Discussion Groups, and others
Has strong evidence base for the kinds of outcomes Washington Thriving is seeking
Follows the lead of other states who we point to as success cases in P-25 Behavioral Health
Leverages the strengths of Washington’s system while allowing us to fill critical gaps
Provides a clear structure and framing for the Strategic Plan and resulting recommendations
A System of Care centered Strategic Plan. The System of Care is not a new framework for the state of Washington. We are a System of Care state which means Washington has committed to:
Making sure all regions follow the same core principles
Including families and youth in all major decisions
Measuring how well services are working
Training providers across the state in System of Care values
Creating policies that support coordination between different helpers
Using evidence-based practices (services proven to work)
The Strategic Plan will build on what Washington State has already put in place and will aim to address gaps in:
Reaching Rural Areas: Many remote communities still don't have enough services nearby.
Addressing Workforce Shortages: There aren't enough trained providers, especially those who understand different cultures.
Improving School Partnerships: Schools need to be better connected to mental health services.
Creating Seamless Transitions: Better handoffs are needed when youth move between systems or age into adult services.
Expanding Prevention: More focus on helping before problems get serious.
Technology Solutions: Better computer systems that can safely share information between different helpers.
Sustainable Funding: Finding long-term money solutions instead of temporary grants.
Reducing Waitlists: Making sure families don't have to wait months for help.
Developing a visual representation of the System of Care framework for Washington Thriving. To communicate visually what a behavioral health system grounded in a System of Care should look like, and what the Strategic Plan is seeking to recommend, ongoing input from the Advisory Group, discussion groups, and other key partners has led to the following visual. This representation is still a work in progress:
Please share your feedback on the System of Care framework here.
This diagram and array of services build on existing frameworks from other states and incorporates:
The principle of supporting individuals as well as families/caregivers and communities
Cross-system coordination of support to enable "all doors lead to help"
The array of supports/services from education/promotion to prevention to early identification/intervention to treatment & recovery support
Important functions that are critical to realize the values – navigation, coordination, family advocacy
The idea of tiered services and supports, with different levels of support needed by all, some, few, and with the intensity of care stepping up and down as needed.