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State and community leaders pitch "Washington Thriving" plan to overhaul youth behavioral health
Summary
Representative Lisa Callan and a panel of state officials, providers and lived‑experience leaders described the newly codified Washington Thriving strategic plan (House Bill 2429) as a decade‑long roadmap to coordinate prevention, crisis response and recovery services for people prenatal through age 25.
Representative Lisa Callan, who identified herself at the start of the event as a sponsor and co‑chair of the advisory group, opened a virtual town hall presenting "Washington Thriving," the statewide strategic plan the legislature recently codified.
"This plan was developed by a very broad coalition of communities of providers, advocates, policymakers, educators, and the voices of people with lived experience is at the center," Representative Lisa Callan said, framing the effort as a cross‑agency, community‑led effort to make services easier to access.
Governor Bob Ferguson, invited to speak, endorsed the plan and described youth well‑being as a statewide priority. "We have funding [that] is fragmented across programs, responsibilities are spread across agencies," the governor said, urging coordination across state government and communities. He noted bipartisan backing and told attendees he signed House Bill 2429 into law to establish the Washington Thriving framework.
Panelists — including lived‑experience leaders, clinicians and agency staff — described how the plan aims to change care on the ground. Diana Cockerell of the Health Care Authority, who leads prenatal‑to‑25 work, summarized the plan's three organizing emphases: lifespan coverage from before birth through age 25, a full continuum of services from prevention to inpatient care and crisis response, and implementation built on feedback loops that center people with lived experience.
"Some of the things that help that happen from my perspective in this plan, there's three highlight areas I'd like to highlight," Diana Cockerell said, sketching the lifespan and data‑driven approach the plan proposes.
Speakers with experience navigating the system said the plan addresses long‑standing access problems. Shaya Grant, a certified peer support specialist and youth mobile response lead, said current systems are "almost like we're setting up for failure" because they are reactive and force families to repeat traumatic histories. Andrew Hudson, describing his experience as a parent, said his son did not receive meaningful services until age 11 despite earlier signs: "Our system has kinda let him down and not allowing him those tools to learn what help means at a young age."
Clinicians offered an operational model for early intervention. Dr. Thatcher Felt, a pediatrician at Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, described an integrated behavioral health model that embeds behavioral health consultants, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and care coordinators in primary care so problems are addressed early and stigma is reduced.
Community organizers and advocates stressed the "no wrong door" principle — warm handoffs and single‑site navigation — and cited local examples. Katara Johnson Jones, founder of Gabriel's Challenge, and other panelists pointed to community efforts such as a newly opened Columbia Valley Recovery Center in Benton County as examples of single‑site, community‑driven response to substance use and recovery needs. Panelists said they want the plan to resource existing local work and create infrastructure so those approaches are available statewide.
On measurement and accountability, panelists said success must be tracked with better data and feedback from people receiving and delivering services. "Did you receive the care you feel you needed?" was offered as a central, person‑centered outcome to measure. Diana Cockerell said the plan includes infrastructure and data tools to track outcomes and learning.
Panelists urged community action alongside state implementation. Rachelle Madigan encouraged families to participate in statewide family and youth networks, and Katara Johnson Jones urged local fundraising and organizing when grants are unavailable, citing a community that raised 2,500,000 to open local recovery services (amount and currency stated in the town hall transcript).
Representative Lisa Callan closed by asking attendees to stay engaged with implementation and pointing people to washingtonthriving.org for updates and future events. The town hall did not record any formal votes or motions; it focused on explaining the newly codified plan, sharing models and asking communities to remain engaged in implementation.
