Work group breakout reports flag workforce, hospital representation and tribal consultation as top implementation issues

At its April meeting, the Children Youth Behavioral Health Work Group used breakout rooms to identify near-term priorities for implementing the Washington Thriving strategic plan.

Tisha Kirschbaum, co-chair and director of the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, summarized one group’s top concerns: "a potential discussion topic we'd like to learn more about is the workforce, and I think specifically identifying how are we doing with workforce burnout," she said. Other report-outs echoed that workforce capacity and staff retention are critical constraints for scaling services.

Groups also flagged missing stakeholders. One report noted the lack of explicit hospital representation and urged that both for-profit and nonprofit hospitals be included so statewide coverage reflects regional variation. Several groups called for greater prevention-focused representation — community and school-based prevention providers — and for clearer geographic representation beyond simple east/west divisions.

Tribal partners and lived-experience advocates consistently emerged as priorities. Angela Fraser Powell and others urged clearer mechanisms for tribal selection and representation on implementation bodies; staff and legislators said they are coordinating consultation through the Health Care Authority Office of Tribal Affairs and the American Indian Health Commission.

Report-outs recommended concrete next steps: map existing subgroups to the first four initiatives named in the strategic plan, define subgroup deliverables and timelines, track fiscal and capacity data (beds and treatment capacity), and identify specific organizations to seat in leadership-council discussions. Members asked staff to preserve open membership for subgroup work while clarifying expectations about deliverables.

The work group will carry these priorities into the May 28 in-person meeting, where members expect to refine subgroup structure, leadership-council composition and a set of near-term deliverables.