King County begins implementation of Crisis Care Centers initiative, a transformational investment in behavioral health care
Summary: The King County Council unanimously approved Executive Constantine’s plan to implement the Crisis Care Centers initiative to bring five crisis care centers to the county, preserve and restore residential treatment beds, and strengthen the behavioral health workforce.
Today King County Executive Dow Constantine’s plan to implement the Crisis Care Centers initiative was unanimously approved by the King County Council, ushering in one of the largest investments in the region’s behavioral health system in decades.
King County is investing more than $1 billion over the next nine years to expand access to crisis care services, creating five new walk-in facilities where people experiencing a behavioral health crisis can receive help. Together, the centers will aim to serve as many as 70,000 people annually.
“We’re facing a behavioral health crisis and there is an urgent, growing need for care. That’s why at King County, we’re building a behavioral health system that is connected, accessible, and culturally responsive — providing the help people need and deserve,” said Executive Constantine. “In partnership with councilmembers, cities, providers, workers, and community members, we’re putting this plan in action to open the first crisis care center as soon as possible.”
The implementation plan authorizes $57 million for early investments this year to boost the county’s existing crisis services ahead of the centers opening, including:
- Expanding the number of 24/7 mobile crisis response teams for adults and youth from 20 to 32, investing $3 million to increase coverage across the county to help reach more people.
- Directing $15 million in funding to up to three residential treatment facilities to preserve the current supply of community residential treatment beds and prevent further loss.
- Building on Crisis Connections’ work to embed crisis counselors in 911 call centers in South King County by investing $500,000 to expand the program to additional locations across the county.
- Supporting recently announced actions to stop the surge of opioid overdose deaths.
“Two years ago, we brought together partners from around King County and put forward a proposal to transform the way we help people in mental health and addiction crisis,” said King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay, lead sponsor of the levy legislation. “Today, we cleared the final milestone before that proposal can become a reality: the Council has adopted the Executive’s detailed plan for how nearly $1.2 billion will be spent to build crisis care centers around the region, expand mental health beds, and invest in our healthcare workforce. This is a powerful moment in our region’s history and will give a lot of people hope for recovery.”
The King County Department of Community and Human Services, DCHS, will begin implementing the early investments. To kick off the process of determining locations for the first three crisis care centers, DCHS will release the first request for proposals. All five crisis care centers are planned to be fully operational by 2030.
“The Crisis Care Centers initiative is a direct response to the continued closures and reduced capacity in the face of growing need for behavioral health services. At a time when we are losing beds, treatment options, and critical workforce, every action counts. The early strategies this year help us bring more workers into the field to respond to the call when someone is at their most vulnerable.” said DCHS Director Kelly Rider. “Informed by the experiences of people with lived experience accessing behavioral health services, workers providing behavioral healthcare, behavioral health and community-based organizations, and other community members, King County is investing in the most urgently needed services and transforming an inadequate system to restore pathways to recovery.”
Three Priorities of the Crisis Care Centers Initiative
- Create five crisis care centers: Distributed geographically across the county, the centers will provide walk-in access for mental health and substance use services and short-term stays to help people recover, with one center specifically serving youth.
- Preserve existing residential treatment beds and create 115 new beds: Make capital facility investments to build back capacity lost in recent years.
- Invest in the behavioral health workforce: Create career pathways through apprenticeship programs and access to higher education, credentialing, training, and wrap-around support. It will also invest in training programs and worker incentives to help recruit the crisis care centers workforce.
King County’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Division launched the Workforce Development Learning Collaborative in May to share best practices, resources, and investments to strengthen the behavioral health workforce. Starting in 2024, community behavioral health workforce investments will total $7.5 million to:
- Create new training pathways for licensed providers.
- Grow the apprenticeship program led by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW Training Fund, creating a pathway for more than 100 new apprenticeships.
- Sustain and expand labor-management workforce development partnerships.
- Begin training the future crisis centers workforce.
King County will continue to partner with state agencies and legislators to address key priorities across the behavioral health continuum. Partnership at the state and local level is essential to increase foundational Medicaid funding as well as capital and crisis services investments that match the community’s needs. King County’s robust community-based behavioral health provider network will also play a lead role in future crisis care centers around the region.
Partner Quotes
“We are excited about the approval of the Crisis Care Centers’ implementation plan by the King County Council. This type of investment expands resources to prevent crises from happening in the first place and enables our team to assist more people at their first call for help — whether it’s to 988, 211, or 911,” said Michelle McDaniel, CEO of Crisis Connections. “Expanding programs like the crisis care centers and our 988/211/911 colocation model ensures that our community members receive timely support from the most appropriate responder for the situation, thus reducing emergency medical services and law enforcement involvement. This plan enhances our ability to provide comprehensive care and effectively address the community’s needs, helping to stabilize and resolve crises promptly. Continued investments are essential to sustaining and expanding these services, ensuring that everyone in our community can access the right help they need when they need it most.”
“We’ve been partnering with the county to go to community members in their moment of crisis for over a decade and this investment would help us realize a more full-service model. Structuring teams regionally would reach even more people in the community faster and provide the follow-up care to help them connect to services after their crisis,” said Daniel Malone, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center.
“The crisis care centers will provide a safe alternative to families having to use the emergency room or calling law enforcement and give young people and their family time to work through the immediate crisis with the support from our CCORS teams and the crisis care centers,” said Dianne Boyd, clinical director, YMCA of Greater Seattle and Children’s Crisis Outreach Response System, CCORS.
“We are taking big and bold action this year to expand our crisis services and treatments to help people recover from opioid-use,” said Dr. Susan McLaughlin, director of King County’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Division. “We still have a long way to go to scale up our entire system, but the incremental results of having more access and capacity are saving lives already.”
“I appreciate the voters responding to this regional need with the passage of the Crisis Care Centers’ implementation plan. Currently, people experiencing a behavioral health crisis often end up in hospital emergency rooms or don’t get help at all,” said City of Redmond Mayor Angela Birney. “With five new centers throughout King County, more behavioral health supports will be available to those in need. Collaboration between the cities and county is vital to successful implementation of these centers, and we are starting out in strong partnership with the refinement and passage of the implementation plan. These significant investments will help our family, friends, and neighbors stabilize and thrive.”
“Too many in our community are struggling, and this initiative carries the hopes of behavioral health workers and those in crisis that we can turn the corner,” said Jane Hopkins, president of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW. “We hear often that behavioral health workers are valued, but the Crisis Care Centers initiative puts resources behind the words and our union is proud to be a partner in its passage and implementation. Now comes the work to stand up these centers and to train and support the workers who will staff them. We’re ready to get started.”
More Information
Crisis Care Centers Initiative
Executive Constantine announces plan to bolster behavioral health access
