Lacey Coffin Greene
WCAAP Program Manager
Through Pediatric Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative (P-TCPI), we are fortunate to work with a team of Behavioral Health Champions representing all 9 Accountable Communities of Health regions in Washington. We have learned about the many resources that behavioral health providers use to collaborate with primary care and about gaps in referral processes and communication. With this knowledge we continue to make meaningful changes for kids and youth struggling with behavioral health difficulties. While we work toward the future of whole person care, the behavioral health champions help us to understand support for families that is already available.
With their contributions of the P-TCPI team, we created and released the Pediatric Provider Toolkit- Primary Care and Behavioral Health, which is available for free online. The resource includes examples and templates for creating closed-loop referral processes, reliably share plans of care between behavioral health and primary care, and the integration guidance from the AAP.
We discovered through the creation of the toolkit some simple steps we can take right now to improve communication. One step was to create a template for region-specific resources, including local resources for substance use disorders, family support, crisis lines, and suicide prevention.
These regional guides are newly available for your use. We hope this information will improve your ability to find the right resources for behavioral health in the moment and we want to know if this is helpful to you. Feedback welcome at pediatrictcpi@wcaap.org.
WCAAP extends our thanks to the P-TCPI Regional Behavioral Health Champions for their expertise and partnership: Chris Coppen (Frontier Behavioral Health, Spokane); Greg Endler (Behavioral Health Resources, Olympia); Chris Moore (Comprehensive Healthcare, Yakima); Victor Place (Navos, Seattle); Blake Edwards (Children’s Home Society, Wenatchee); Julie de Losada (Skagit County Public Health, Mt. Vernon); Frances Wilder (Compass Health, Everett); Beth Friedman-Darner (Kitsap Mental Health Services, Bremerton); Joseph LeRoy (Hope Sparks, Tacoma); and Helen Sullivan (Children’s Center, Vancouver).