Funding Type: State/UW

Policy codesign with law enforcement to improve crisis response for people who use drugs

This project examines the acceptability and feasibility of policy codesign process to help three regions in Washington develop their own local strategy to improve crisis response for people who use drugs, focusing on calls with law enforcement. Policy codesign is an evidence-based approach that aims to develop policies from “the ground up” that are tailored to community needs and promote region ownership. Design team members include local law enforcement, people with lived experience of substance use and legal involvement, and service providers.

Community curriculum codesign

Curriculum codesign is a capacity building initiative to cocreate therapeutic interventions alongside community partners using research translation and design-oriented activities.

Evidence synthesis for policy program

Using a scoping review approach, CoLab is systematically looking for reviews and authoritative sources to guide a model for value-based care for pediatric behavioral health. Our review approach was informed by guidelines for scoping reviews and rapid evidence reviews. The initial goal of this project was systematically looking for reviews and authoritative sources to guide a model for value-based care for pediatrics and mental health. Then, we would compile and synthesize the literature to see if there are any value-based models that would appear to be most effective for pediatric behavioral health care.

Participatory policy codesign

CoLab partnered with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department to develop a health equity policy recommendation using a codesign process that combines research evidence and community and stakeholder voice. The first phase consists of an overarching review to identify existing public health policies that have a strong positive impact on health equity while also synthesizing community-identified priorities to identify 10 pro-equity policy areas to provide direction for addressing COVID-19 recovery efforts in Pierce County. The second phase includes gathering a core design team of policymakers, key stakeholders, and community leaders to come together and design a policy recommendation that is feasible, sustainable, and fits the unique needs of the Pierce County community. There are two goals of this project: 1) piloting a participatory policymaking codesign process that centers community voice and 2) co-create a policy recommendation with key stakeholders, community leaders, and policymakers that supports health and equity in Pierce County. The codesign team is currently in the implementation phase of codesign: proposing and refining a policy on the scale up of community land trusts across the county to ultimately improve economic equity, housing affordability, and physical and behavioral healthcare access.

Embedded clinical coaching

Using an embedded clinical coaching framework, the Evidence Based Practice Institute (EBPI)/CoLab is promoting the development of quality care expertise within behavioral health agencies to reduce the cost and improve the speed of clinical workforce training. The goal of this project is to move principles of effective behavioral health care more quickly into practice, and to foster agency resilience to workforce turnover. This project is part of a broader Leadership Initiative for Quality.

To develop and eventually implement an embedded clinical coaching model, EBPI/CoLab partnered with multiple organizations in Washington to determine priorities and gather feedback. Through these partnerships, EBPI/CoLab identified key characteristics of an effective clinical coaching model, and incorporated stakeholder feedback to ensure scalability and adaptability. This coaching model includes the development of an asynchronous training for new clinicians, an embedded peer consultation structure, and competency checks through clinician-submitted videos. Through this novel embedded coaching structure, organizations can retain internal expertise and better support a shifting workforce.

Supervisor tools for quality

The Supervisory Tools for Quality initiative recognizes the integral role that clinical supervisors play in supporting behavioral health clinicians’ use of effective practices in community mental health agencies, and aims to leverage this role to improve the scale up and sustained use of quality behavioral health services. Specifically, this project is focused on the development of cost effective, easy to use, and practical strategies to elevate supervision practices. This project is part of a broader Leadership Initiative for Quality.

This initiative involved partnering with supervisors to form a Supervisor Advisory Team. This team worked to provide practical and tangible supports to supervisors in order to improve delivery of quality and effective behavioral health services, and ultimately strengthen outcomes for economically and racially marginalized children and adolescents. This advisory group included experienced supervisors in behavioral health organizations across the state. Geographic regions represented included Bellingham, Bellevue, Lakewood, Spokane, Walla Walla, and Yakima. To date, we have completed three Supervisor Advisory Team meetings.

Expanding culturally responsive care for children and families in Washington State

The Expanding Culturally Responsive Care initiative, a new project funded through a 2022 Washington State legislative proviso, aims to strengthen the lived experience behavioral health workforce and create a culturally responsive care curriculum for statewide implementation in Medicaid-serving organizations. This initiative was developed in response to Washington State’s urgent need for more culturally responsive, effective public behavioral health services–services that many families do not currently have access to. Ideally, this initiative will allow for more families to receive care that promotes true healing, mental health wellness and health equity. Curriculum and strategy development will be done through a participatory, collaborative co-design process with broad ranging input from across the state, and will center community voice, transparency, and accountability throughout all stages of the process. This project is part of a broader Leadership Initiative for Quality.

Housing stability for youth

The Housing Stability for Youth (H-SYNC) model was developed by the UW CoLab team in collaboration with Snohomish and Kitsap County workgroups and is intended to serve as a prevention tool for youth homelessness. Specifically, it’s designed to identify youth at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness within existing processes in juvenile court systems and refer youth and their families to appropriate prevention and housing services via a stepped-care navigation model. The court system serves as a pivotal resource for the identification of these populations in need due to the high frequency of police and court contact these populations experience. This model is being implemented in four counties in Washington State, including King, Snohomish, Kitsap, and Okanogan Counties and in collaboration with community-based organizations such as the YMCA of Greater Seattle, Cocoon House, and Kitsap Mental Health Services.

As of 2022, H-SYNC prevention program is coordinated by the Y Social Impact Center at the YMCA of Greater Seattle. H-SYNC now represents a state-wide partnership between juvenile courts and local social service providers across counties including King, Snohomish, Peirce, Spokane, Okanagan and Kitsap.

Opportunity Based Probation

Opportunity-Based Probation (OBP) is a new juvenile probation model that expands on adolescent development research by leveraging adolescents’ drive towards independence as well as their heightened receptivity to rewards. In collaboration with their probation officers, youth create meaningful goals and incentives that reward the development of prosocial behavior. Probation officers scaffold prosocial behavior by reinforcing success and constructively addressing probation violations and problem behaviors. OBP was originally developed through a collaboration between UW CoLab and juvenile court leadership in Pierce County, Washington with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and is now being implemented, refined, and tested for acceptability, implementation, and preliminary effectiveness. In 2021, a second OBP site was started in Hartford County, Connecticut and is currently undergoing co-design and implementation efforts with an eye for eventual testing and expansion statewide.