Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Thursday signed a group of bills hoped to improve the state’s troubled behavioral health system, including measures for a new teaching hospital in Seattle.
The teaching hospital aspect directs University of Washington officials to plan a new facility focused on training medical students to enter the broader behavioral health field, which includes both mental health and substance abuse treatment. A separate measure responds to a federal court decision that the state to be leaving people found incompetent to stand trial waiting in jails for unconstitutional lengths of time. The bill assigns impartial “forensic navigators” to shepherd them through competency restoration treatment and expands diversion efforts.
Inslee also signed a measure aimed at expanding the state’s overall mental health care capacity by creating a network of new and expanded community facilities. The bill envisions three new areas where treatment capacity would be added in communities around the state – intensive residential facilities, medium-term treatment facilities, and peer support centers. The residential facilities would take patients including those given partial releases from the state hospitals, who don’t qualify for civil commitment but still need full-time care, as well as others who need long-term care. The intermediate facilities would focus on treatment of individuals held on 90 or 180-day orders for treatment, while the peer facilities would function more like drop-in day centers, with guides to connect people with resources. Inslee has yet to sign.
Also signed Thursday were bills aimed at integrating existing behavioral health services and expanding an existing program aimed at intervening early with teenagers and young adults experiencing psychotic episodes for the first time. (AP)
