In 2021, the Washington legislature passed House Bill 1477 to implement the new 988 crisis line and recommend reforms to enhance the state’s behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system. The bill mandated the formation of a Crisis Response Improvement Strategy (CRIS) Committee and a Steering Committee to develop recommendations for an improved crisis response system and called on the Behavioral Health Institute at Harborview Medical Center to facilitate this process.
 
The CRIS Committee included stakeholders across government, community behavioral health providers, tribal partners, and people with lived experience of behavioral health crises. Mark Snowden, MD, MPH, and Stacy Devenney, MA, and Madeline Grant, MPP from Harborview’s BHI worked with Betsy Jones from Health Management Associates to facilitate the work of the committee.
 
Over the past three years, BHI has worked with these committees to engage various partners to create a unified and robust behavioral health crisis response system in Washington, with input from expert stakeholders, including individuals with lived experience. The BHI recently completed its work by submitting final recommendations report to the Governor and State Legislature.
 
The report begins with a letter from the CRIS Committee to Governor Inslee and members of the House Senate. “Since the inception of the CRIS Committee in 2021, the state has made progress on improving the behavioral health crisis response system,” they write. “The 988 Lifeline launched in July 2022 and has been meeting or exceeding national performance standards since its inception. The first in the nation Native and Strong Lifeline, a crisis response hotline staffed by and serving Tribal people launched shortly after and has become a national model. The state has expanded the number of mobile crisis response teams for youth and adults. It also launched a successful multi-language campaign to promote public awareness of the 988 Lifeline and reduce the stigma associated with asking for help in a behavioral health crisis.”
 
The report outlines recommendations for improving Washington’s crisis response system and documents the progress of state agencies and legislators on addressing recommendations over the past three years. “While we celebrate this progress,” the committee writes, “we underscore that continued investments are needed to reach the Committee’s vision for behavioral health crisis response in Washington and to carry forward the Committee’s recommendations.”