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Salish BHASO briefs Clallam County on crisis services, naloxone distribution and opioid‑abatement role
Summary
Jolene, executive director of the Salish Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization, updated the commissioners on BHASO programs, funding, naloxone distribution and the organization’s role as the regional opioid abatement council.
Jolene, executive director of the Salish Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization (BHASO), briefed the Clallam County Board of Commissioners at a Feb. 10 work session on the BHASO’s current programs, funding sources, naloxone distribution and its role administering regional opioid‑abatement funds.
The BHASO covers Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties and operates by interlocal agreement with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. Jolene told commissioners the organization manages the crisis continuum (crisis line services, mobile crisis outreach and involuntary treatment management), coordinates care for underinsured non‑Medicaid residents, and administers supplemental legislative provisos and pilot programs the state routes through BHASOs.
“Our funding currently, so this year's non Medicaid funding is $17,472,560, and then we also get about 3,800,000.0 from Medicaid,” Jolene said during her presentation.
She described several locally administered programs: supportive housing subsidies (Zebra and HARP), recovery navigators, the Salish Youth Network Collaborative (a care‑coordination program for youth with high multisystem needs), criminal justice treatment account funding, jail‑transition funding, assisted outpatient treatment coordination and Trueblood‑related forensic coordination. The BHASO does not itself deliver most direct services; it contracts with local providers, including Peninsula Behavioral Health (for Clallam County), Olympic Personal Growth Center, TrueStar Behavioral Health and Mountain Behavioral Health Services (the parent organization that absorbed a local contractor January 1).
On naloxone distribution, Jolene reported the BHASO distributed 34 naloxone cabinets regionally and provided 4,186 naloxone kits across the three counties in 2024. She said Clallam County received roughly 794 kits of that total, consisting of approximately 350 kits placed in naloxone cabinets and about 444 distributed by mobile “real teams.” The BHASO also maintains a public naloxone map (a QR code links to locations and photos) and partners with public health and outreach groups to expand access.
The BHASO is the regional opioid abatement council under the statewide 1 Washington memorandum of understanding (MOU). Jolene explained the council’s responsibilities: oversee distribution of settlement funds, verify expenditures comply with permissible uses, maintain public reporting and host a public dashboard (state dashboard work is ongoing). The BHASO reported it has dispersed earlier distributor settlement payments for Clallam County’s harm‑reduction program and that additional manufacturer/pharmacy settlement funds remain pending. The BHASO holds a 10% administrative withhold on abatement receipts for administration.
Jolene said opioid settlement payments arrive in uneven tranches and that the pattern of payments varies by defendant (some pay over six years, others over more), adding the BHASO is compiling an annualized table of funds actually received to help jurisdictions plan. She told commissioners the BHASO wants to balance the desire to distribute funds promptly with the need to avoid creating programs with unsustainable funding cliffs.
The board and staff discussed priorities the BHASO will consider at a Feb. 21 joint executive/advisory meeting: integrating the behavioral health continuum, expanded peer‑directed services, housing‑focused interventions, children’s intensive services and withdrawal management (detox). Jolene noted a regional secure withdrawal management facility on the east side of the mountains is closing Feb. 14, decreasing statewide capacity. The BHASO has two Clallam advisory‑board seats and one tribal vacancy that it encouraged the county to fill.
County Health & Human Services staff thanked Jolene and noted ongoing collaboration on naloxone, harm‑reduction and other programs.
No formal county action was taken during the update. County staff indicated they will continue coordination with the BHASO on program administration, opioid‑abatement planning and use of settlement funds.
