Katie (staff member) presented a high-level summary of the Initiative for Student Wellness to the Spokane County Behavioral Health Advisory Board on a virtual meeting, saying the program served eight schools in 2024–25 and screened about 1,200 students, of whom roughly 1,000 completed the full screener.

"We had a goal of screening a thousand students and we were actually able to get 1,200," Katie said. She added that about 10% of screened students received some form of referral, "whether that's community services of some kind or treatment at a higher level of care." Katie said participation rates for the ISW screener equaled or exceeded the Healthy Youth Survey among participating schools.

The nut graf: the program's organizers told the advisory board the screenings are identifying unmet behavioral-health needs and creating new links between students and clinicians, particularly in rural areas where transportation to outside services is a barrier.

Program staff described a three-tier system for needs: tier 3 for imminent safety risk with same‑day intervention; tier 2 for more urgent but not immediate needs, with clinicians attempting outreach within two weeks; and lower tiers for monitoring or preventive support. Katie said clinicians met the goal of addressing tier 3 needs by the end of the school day and that many students asked to follow up with clinicians they had previously met.

Speakers described notable regional differences. Katie said an alternative high school, 3 Springs in Cheney, had higher shares of tier 2 and tier 3 students. She also said clinicians in another district reported increased engagement after a known drug dealer who targeted students was arrested; that clinician was the program’s only substance-use disorder provider at that school and saw increased referrals while students were withdrawing.

Program staff said about 85% of students who participated in ISW reported that it was their first connection to behavioral-health services. Katie emphasized the convenience of in‑school services and noted that students 13 and older can receive some services without parental permission, reducing transportation and scheduling barriers in rural and frontier areas.

Board members asked about the screener tool. Katie said the program uses software called Ticket Health (the ISW "check your health" screener) and offered to share a demo link; she cautioned that the public demo does not include all questions used in the county’s final report. She also said the program is being careful about expanding to new schools so that staffing and clinician capacity are not exceeded.

The presentation concluded with program outcomes reported by participating schools: one district reported that 100% of participating students felt they had at least one adult in the school who supported them, and staff said they were seeing declines in high‑intensity needs and disciplinary actions year over year among students who had been through the program.

Looking ahead, Katie said the program is awaiting final review and approval of its 2024–25 report by the Spokane County Board of County Commissioners and will distribute the full report to advisory board members when it is released.