-Welcome.
I've been honored to moderate this annual
Behavioral Health Legislative Forum now
for well over a decade.
And I'm delighted to be back here once again
in our new setting,
which is a whole lot different from Seattle Center.
I invite you to listen to our podcast,
"Recovery Coast to Coast,"
featuring prominent people in recovery,
including singer-songwriters Judy Collins and Bonnie Raitt,
authors Anne Lamott and Brené Brown, Buzz Aldrin,
second man to walk on the Moon,
plus everyday people in long-term recovery,
sharing their path, their inspiration.
And following tonight's forum,
I will put together the highlights from this year's
forum and feature them on a future podcast.
I'd like to formally welcome everyone, legislators,
elected leaders, special guests,
and recovery community members
to this annual celebration of our community's
commitment to behavioral health and recovery.
Everyone should celebrate recovery because,
as my hat says, recovery rocks.
Recovery is as recovery does,
and if at any time you would benefit
from respite or peer support,
please feel free to visit the relaxation room.
It's right near the elevator in the lobby.
It's a good place to find some quiet
or maybe take a break this evening.
First off, a hearty thank you to the 18 ambassadors
of this year's forum,
each of them bringing at least five people tonight,
and this includes provider agencies,
advocacy organizations, peer groups,
and many other community partners.
Thank you, ambassadors. You make this whole thing work.
And of course,
we're delighted to welcome so many
of our state legislators and county council members
seated here on stage.
We're going to meet them here in a few moments
and share their thoughts a little later on in the program.
Several legislators could not be with us tonight,
but they are represented by staff.
They are in the audience.
Legislative aides in attendance,
Emily Grupp, Office of Representatives;
Jerry Pollitt, Madeline Cavazos, Office of Councilmember;
Claudia Balducci, in the 6th District;
Cody Eccles, Office of Councilmember; Reagan Dunn,
that would be in the 9th District.
I love this name. Sunshine Cheng.
Sunshine's with the Office of Representatives.
Daria Farivar in the 46th District.
We also have staff here representing two members
of Congress, and we ask them to please stand and be recognized.
Thank you to Josie McKinley,
representing Senator Maria Cantwell, and Bailey White,
representing Congresswoman Suzan DelBene.
Big round of applause. [ Applause ]
And finally, we are joined by many local elected officials,
including judges, city and town mayors,
and local council members from across King County,
and we ask you to please stand and be recognized.
[ Applause ]
Thank you to all local elected officials here this evening,
showing your commitment to behavioral health.
And let's get started
by welcoming Susan McLaughlin to the stage.
Susan is the Behavioral Health and Recovery
Division director at King County.
She is a licensed clinical psychologist
with more than 20 years of experience in health care,
behavioral health, social services.
And in her role,
she oversees behavioral health treatment for the region.
A big job. She does a great job.
And tonight, she's here to talk to us
about King County's behavioral health legislative priorities.
We've had many accomplishments over the years in King County,
but there is so much more to do.
Please welcome Susan.
[ Applause ]
-Thanks, everybody. Wow, this is amazing.
What an incredible turnout.
Thank you all for being here.
And thank you, Neil,
for that great introduction and for emceeing,
as you always do.
As Neil said, my name is Susan McLaughlin.
I am the director of
the King County Behavioral Health and Recovery Division.
And it's just an honor to be here
at the King County Behavioral Health 2025 Legislative Forum.
Thank you all who are in attendance.
Thank you for showing up,
and especially during such challenging and uncertain times.
It's by showing up that we are all able to come together
and make a real impact happen.
That's what I'm going to talk about tonight.
I want to give a special thank you to our legislators.
Thank you all so much for being here,
and all of our elected officials who are showing up to listen,
to share their priorities, and also to share
the realities of the challenging times that we are in.
So thank you so much for your ongoing partnership.
Really appreciate you.
So all of us are here tonight
because we believe every person deserves access
to high-quality behavioral health care
regardless of their background or circumstances.
Tonight, I want to kick off by talking about progress
because it's important for us to acknowledge
how far we've come as we think about the many challenges ahead.
Now more than ever,
our state and local government
action is necessary to protect our progress
and keep intact the critical work
we do to make behavioral health services and treatment
accessible for all.
We know that mental health matters,
that treatment works, and that recovery is possible.
You will hear lots of testimony to that exact fact
throughout the evening tonight.
This is why behavioral health is worth investing in.
In King County,
we are working toward a system that is connected,
inclusive, and responsive,
one that delivers the right service
where and when a person needs it.
I always like to talk about we're building
the behavioral health system of the future.
In 2021,
our state passed landmark legislation
to implement the national 988 system to enhance
and expand behavioral health crisis response and suicide
prevention services.
This was due much to the efforts and leadership
of many of the people you see on the stage tonight.
One of the first in the country,
this legislation set the stage for King County to advance
a vision and create the opportunity
for historic investment in our region.
And in 2023,
the voters of King County agreed with that vision
and, with overwhelming support
of the Crisis Care Center's initiative,
approved a local levy that is allowing us to modernize
and build a crisis response system, funding five centers
where anyone can go to get mental health and substance
abuse care,
regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.
In both 2022 and 2023,
Washington State also made historic investments
in behavioral health.
From investments in Medicaid, crisis services,
residential treatment, mobile crisis,
to capital and operating
dollars for permanent supportive housing.
These investments have paved the way for more treatment,
for more people in need.
Buildings have opened, mobile teams have expanded,
and Medicaid rate increases helped support the workforce.
We've made tremendous progress over the last year.
I just want to cover a few of those.
Last year, outreach to the 988 Behavioral Health Crisis Line
increased overall, with over 9000 phone calls,
over 1200 chats, and nearly 3000 texts coming in each month.
I'll say that again, each month.
Crisis Care is now available 24/7 today for everyone
in King County, regardless of insurance or ability to pay,
at the first --
[ Applause ]
At the first King County Crisis Care center,
which was established in Kirkland.
And this year,
we will close on the purchase
of a second Crisis Care center located in the Seattle area
as we continue to work to create a network
of five centers around the region.
[ Applause ]
There are more mobile crisis teams,
both for adults and for youth,
who are responding in person to help people across the county.
And we've invested over $16 million
in our behavioral health workers around the region
to support things like training, recruitment and retention,
professional development,
among many other things that that goes to.
King County also made significant progress
to slow overdose deaths.
Through investments in our 13 actions to stop the surge
of overdoses, an initiative that was launched last March.
These strategies include the opening
of a new 16-bed residential treatment center
for people with co-occurring mental health
and substance use disorders;
a new place for people to recover from an overdose
and connect with resources; and an updated recovery
and sobering center in the SoDo district
that will open next year. With help from our partners
at Public Health Seattle and King County,
we've increased the distribution of naloxone
to our community-based organizations.
This is a life-saving overdose reversal medication.
We're on pace to double what was distributed last year.
[ Applause ]
We also launched a new buprenorphine prescribing line
where anybody can call to talk to a physician
and get a prescription for buprenorphine,
also a medication to treat opiate use.
This telehealth program has served
more than a thousand people to date.
I am happy to share that all 13 actions from that initiative
are in place,
and King County has seen a steady overall decline
in fatal overdoses over the last two years.
And it is because of the collective efforts
of everyone in this room
that we are seeing those results.
[ Applause ]
By leveraging existing strategies
and enhancing the ways people access care,
we together are making a difference,
and we need to celebrate that.
So thank you all.
[ Applause ]
So this year, King County engaged over 2000 providers,
community members, and some of our key partners
to inform planning for the future of behavioral health.
This included in-person and virtual listening sessions.
We had community-based events
and online surveys available in 20 different languages.
Overwhelmingly, what we heard from the community
is that people want more access to services and supports.
People want more culturally relevant and responsive care,
and people want continued progress
to meet the growing need for behavioral health care.
So as we look toward the upcoming legislative session,
King County is urging our leaders in Olympia
to protect the care we have and the progress we made.
That is why King County's top priority for legislators
this year in behavioral health
is to protect access to behavioral health care
for people on Medicaid.
Federal funding cuts and policy changes,
including those to Medicaid and permanent supportive housing,
are expected to put hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians
at risk of losing coverage and life-saving services.
Community-based providers of behavioral health care,
especially our smaller organizations,
are also at real risk of closing and need help to stay open.
These federal changes make our
behavioral health system more vulnerable
and our communities less healthy and stable.
Inaction is no longer an option.
Our state and our local governments must work together,
which is why King County is asking the state
to protect access to behavioral health care for people
on Medicaid,
to strengthen our community behavioral health agencies,
and to grow navigator programs
that will help people sign up for
or maintain enrollment in our state Medicaid program
called Apple Health.
[ Applause ]
Similarly, our second priority for this session
is for the state to maintain its funding
for behavioral health crisis response.
Already, King County is facing a significant funding shortfall,
including insufficient funding
to meet the needs of our state-mandated crisis services.
This puts the crisis response, as well as
the community behavioral health system, at risk.
Maintaining the current level of state funding is critical,
and to the extent possible,
we ask the state to provide additional funding
to sustain community-based behavioral health treatment,
crisis response, and especially services for the uninsured.
Our outpatient mental health and substance use services
and our crisis response system
are the foundation of behavioral health treatment.
We have made much progress in the last few years,
and it is imperative that we sustain that progress,
keep people covered, and not go backwards.
Later, I'll talk about
additional legislative priorities for this year,
including retaining, strengthening,
and growing the behavioral health workforce, and
sustaining permanent supportive housing operations and services.
But first, tonight we're going to hear from recovery speakers
who will share their first-hand experience
with our behavioral health system
and the importance of protecting the progress that we've made.
So let's get that started.
It is my honor to introduce our first recovery speaker
for the night, Juju Pearce.
Juju is an Indigenous graduate.
[ Applause ]
She's an Indigenous graduate of the interagency recovery campus,
which is the only public, sober high school in Washington.
It's also celebrating its 10th year --
10th anniversary this year.
[ Cheers and applause ]
She's part of our Bridges Alternative Peer Group,
and she's an aspiring substance use disorder counselor,
our workforce of the future.
She's a remarkable young woman,
and her story is a testament to her strength and community.
And so, please help me welcome Juju.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Hi, my name is Juju.
I'm an indigenous woman in recovery for almost two years.
I want to thank everyone here for allowing me
to share my story today.
My journey with substance use started long
before I understood what addiction even was.
It has taught me about resilience, community,
and the power of support.
I'm here to speak about the importance
of accessible recovery resources
and how they change and save lives like mine.
Both of my biological parents struggled with substance use
and serious mental health disorders.
Because of the complications that came with that,
I was placed in the foster care system at a very young age.
Eventually, I was adopted by my wonderful parents,
and while they provided me stability
and I was mostly a happy kid,
I also struggled deeply with my identity as an Indigenous child
in a white household.
I often felt unseen and unfit for my environment.
That lack of belonging ended up following me.
At the age of 11,
I ran away from home to find my birth parents.
I thought that reconnecting with them would fill that emptiness,
but instead, I was introduced to methamphetamines
by my birth father.
My use wasn't daily back then,
but it planted a seed that would take root
and grow over the years that followed.
The following year, I was arrested.
As a part of the process,
I was ordered to complete community service and
attend therapy at the Cowlitz Tribal Health Center in Tukwila.
It was there that my therapist helped me see something
I could not yet understand,
that some of my behavioral issues
were symptoms of a deeper substance use disorder.
But because of my age,
residential treatment wasn't an option yet,
and my substance use disorder was not recognized.
I received help, but I wasn't ready to stop.
Addiction had already found a home in me.
At 14, I went to rehab for the first time.
I needed to complete treatment
to attend the Recovery High School on Queen Anne.
The school and amazing staff
helped me stay sober for 13 months
before a close friend ended up passing away.
This loss broke me, and I relapsed.
What started as a way to cope became the thing
that nearly destroyed me.
With that relapse, my addiction escalated.
I started using fentanyl and meth heavily.
I became homeless, cut off communication with my parents,
and lived on the streets of downtown Seattle.
I want to make it clear that I am a survivor
of the fentanyl epidemic.
Fentanyl almost took me --
[ Applause ]
Fentanyl almost took me, and it has taken so many people I love.
It consumed every part of my life,
my energy, my hope, my morals, and my values.
It was the only thing that mattered to me.
I lost myself completely.
I was in an abusive relationship during that time.
My boyfriend noticed an abscess on my leg from using
and dropped me to the drop-in center.
It was there that I met Johnny Ota, Dr. Teran Hansen,
and the staff at UDYC who would change my life.
[ Cheers and applause ]
They didn't judge me.
They didn't give up on me.
Their compassion planted a small spark of hope,
even though I wasn't ready to quit yet.
One day, I came back to the place I was staying downtown.
I saw mice crawling around,
overdosed rodents in the garbage can, holes in my face,
stolen computer parts, and whatnot.
I finally was able to see how I had been living for months.
That moment struck me with guilt.
I knew I couldn't keep living that way.
I called my father, and I told him I wanted to go to rehab,
but I needed five more days before I went.
My parents were desperate to help,
but they also knew that forcing me wouldn't work.
I had to make that choice myself.
When I finally went back to rehab this time at Hazleton,
it was different.
I wanted recovery more than I wanted to die.
When I got out of rehab,
I cut ties with everyone connected to my addiction.
I got on Sublocade,
a medication that continues to help me stay drug-free.
I kept working with the wonderful people at Ryther
and did almost everything that was suggested to me.
I returned to the recovery high school expecting
people to resent me,
but instead they welcomed me with open arms,
the same way they had before.
The unconditional support reminded me
that I was still worthy of recovery
and belonging, and that I still had years ahead of me,
not to use, but to recover.
[ Applause ]
I started rebuilding relationships with my parents.
I began setting goals again.
For the first time in years,
I could picture a future for myself,
and I knew what I wanted.
My recovery has taught me that addiction is
not a moral failure.
It's a disease that thrives in isolation and hopelessness.
So many times I wanted to stop.
I went to detox, rehab, NA meetings,
but I couldn't stop myself.
The only reason I'm standing here today is
because of the programs who believed in me
when I didn't believe in myself, like Ryther,
the Cowlitz Tribal Health Center, Hazleton, Bridges,
access to Sublocade and suboxone,
and Recovery High School, made me make my recovery possible.
They gave me support, compassion, and accountability,
but most importantly, they gave me an exit route
when I was ready to get clean.
[ Applause ]
After getting clean, my life started changing for the better.
I took on a leadership role at Bridges APG,
which helped me learn accountability
and what it meant to show up for others.
A big part of my stability
has come from the community at APG and Recovery High School.
Sublocade has been a consistent and reliable part of my recovery
that's helped me stay grounded and focused.
At almost two years clean, my life looks completely different.
I'm a trusted and respected person in my community,
and I have the chance to share my stories with others
in a positive light.
[ Cheers and applause ]
I'm able to hold a steady job
and spend real peaceful time with my family.
I enjoy my normal problems,
now the kind that come with living a stable, honest life.
It's the small moments like dinner together that remind me
how far I've come.
I can now envision myself in a place
where I can help other people just like me
and show them that it might not feel so,
but it's normal for us.
My story is just one of millions,
but I hope that it shows what's possible
when people are given the chance to heal.
Thank you for listening,
and thank you for continuing to make recovery possible
for more people like me.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Wow.
[ Applause ]
Legislators, that is what recovery is all about.
Thank you very much, Juju,
for your courage tonight sharing your story.
And congratulations on your journey.
Recovery is the journey back to self,
and it's living proof you don't have to die
for a drink or a drug.
Next up, we're going to hear from Karen Brady.
Karen's the Executive Director and CEO of Ryther,
a behavioral health agency serving young people.
She's also a leader on the executive committee
of the King County Integrated Care network.
Now, this is really unique.
It's the first of its kind,
a public-private partnership
between behavioral health partners and King County.
And it's built on mutual goals of improving equity,
access, and quality care for all King County residents.
Please welcome Karen Brady.
[ Applause ]
-Hello.
I feel very privileged to be invited to speak tonight,
and especially to speak right after Juju.
It's kind of a -- that's a big speech to follow.
This annual event is a great reminder about the value,
for me, a reminder about the value and importance
of a strong behavioral health network
and the value of partnerships.
Partnerships between agencies,
partnerships with our elected officials,
and partnerships with those we serve.
As the executive director of that small pediatric agency,
the importance of partnerships cannot be overstated.
There are many partners for Ryther in this room,
and I, hello you all.
Partnerships allow us to both focus on excellence
and amplify our strengths.
At Ryther, our partners help us eliminate
barriers to those we serve, just like you heard from Juju.
They help us do -- help the folks that we serve
get critical life needs met, like housing, food,
medical care, and more.
Like Juju,
Partnerships make a real difference in the lives of those
we serve because those partnerships weave together
a unique set of services that are specific to each individual.
As a member agency in the King County Integrated Care Network,
a participant in the executive committee,
I know that KCICN is built on the ideals of partnership.
Bringing together the entire community
of behavioral health providers
to amplify the strengths of members
while working towards a behavioral health system
that meets the needs of anyone seeking services.
As a member, Ryther has benefited
from many of the county initiatives
around workforce support.
Intensive trainings on evidence-based practices
for our clinicians -- thank you, Dr. Brian.
Wellness benefits for our staff, stipends for our interns,
and bonuses for employees who provide clinical supervision.
These are investments
that Ryther could never afford on our own.
And they have reduced our turnover
and improved recruitment,
which ultimately benefits the young people
that we serve and their families by allowing
for greater access to services and predictability
in their therapeutic relationships.
Johnny can speak to predictability
and therapeutic relationships.
As members of KCICN,
we have also benefited from improved Medicaid rates
and from incentives for improved performance.
As a small agency within King County Integrated Care,
we benefit from the back office, too.
This is a big thing that I talk about,
that the county provides negotiating contracts
with the Medicaid managed care organizations,
collecting and submitting our service data,
and paying predictably on time,
which is essential for small agencies.
These things improve our negotiating position,
avoid an increase in our back office,
and help us navigate a challenging
financial environment.
Being a member of KCICN,
Ryther's voice is amplified at a time
that is critically important.
With the upcoming funding cutbacks,
the recent gains made in funding for behavioral health
must be maintained, as Susan talked about earlier.
As important partners,
I also want to give a shout-out to all of our elected officials
here tonight who have made behavioral health a priority
both in budget and in policy.
However --
[ Applause ]
Stable funding is essential to maintaining current services,
and I know everyone here feels that.
Our collective voice can be used to heighten
the importance of the need to complete
the behavioral health rate study to inform fair
future payment levels.
Those collective voices can also remind our community
and legislative partners
of the importance of the children and youth
behavioral health work groups' recent gap analysis
and the strategic plan
to improve pediatric behavioral health in our state,
which I think is a critical need.
The voice of many is stronger than the voice
of a small pediatric agency.
The people we serve,
that we all serve, have extraordinary strength,
like you just saw with Juju, resilience, and persistence.
As a behavioral health network,
we should and can reflect those same attributes.
When we work together in partnership,
we can do just that.
Thank you so much.
[ Applause ]
-Thank you, Karen, for shedding light
on your work with King County's young people
and the innovative Integrated Care Network,
bringing better access to behavioral health.
Next, we're going to hear from some of
our state legislators and county council members here on stage.
We're going to pass the microphone around.
And we're going to ask folks in the first row
to introduce yourself,
and then respond to one of the following questions.
What are your thoughts on something
you've learned here tonight?
And what are your behavioral health
legislative priorities for 2026?
We ask that you take about maybe a minute or so each.
And we'll start with Representative Scott.
-My name is Shaun Scott.
I represent the 43rd Legislative District
in the Washington State House of Representatives
alongside my seatmate, Nicole Macri,
and Senator Jamie Pedersen.
Periodically in the State House of Reps,
as we are getting ready to deliberate on bills, tax policy,
spend policy, etc.,
we are made privy to polls
that are taken by our House Democratic caucus
that indicate the popularity of various issues
across the state of Washington. If I recall correctly,
behavioral health and supporting behavioral health
was the first or second most popular statewide issue
that House Democrats could have supported on.
In other words,
there were no other issues that were more popular than the one
that we are gathered to discuss today.
It is something that I've seen,
and we can clap for that for sure.
[ Applause ]
It's something that I've seen with my own two eyes,
and earlier this year,
using office resources the best that I could
to help support the placement
of the behavioral health crisis care center in Capitol Hill.
There was some pushback from some small businesses
in the community
who did not understand exactly how valuable this
would have been to the community.
And so the question that I think we should be asking ourselves,
and I promise I'm going to answer the question
swiftly here, is if this is such a popular issue statewide,
and we know it is a popular issue within many
of our individual districts,
why have we not necessarily seen the kinds of progress
that we should have liked to have seen on this issue?
I do believe that the federal budget situation has something
to do with it,
but I do think that there's a little bit
of passing the buck there.
The fact of the matter
is that massive corporate lobbies have spent
this year alone upwards of $2.1 million
to influence the state legislature
against progressive tax policy
that would fund some of the programs
that we're discussing tonight.
And when we talk about sustaining levels of funding
in the face of federal divestment,
when we talk about what it looks like to step in,
in the middle of a federal austerity budgetary regime,
that is revenue, revenue, revenue.
There is no way to make that happen
if you are unwilling to tax the ultra-wealthy in this state
in order to make those programs happen.
So -- [ Cheers and applause ]
To answer the question, there are a couple of bills
that my office is working on right now
that are relevant to this conversation.
The first is a major revenue bill
that we'll hear about at some point
in the next couple of weeks,
that is designed to plug up holes
that have been created by the federal divestment.
And the second is if the state of Washington
is not going to do our part to make it
so that counties can do what they need to do
to fund these programs,
counties at present are not allowed
to raise their own business and occupation taxes.
That is something that can change,
and that's going to be something
that my office is going to be working on this year
to support all the service providers,
people who are in need of support, recovery services,
because you know that this is about as vital of an issue
as we could be discussing at this time.
[ Applause ]
-Good evening, everyone. My name is Nicole Macri.
I use she/her pronouns,
and I also am just so honored to represent
the 43rd legislative district in Seattle.
It is really great to be here tonight.
I have learned a lot this evening in connecting
with colleagues here who work in behavioral health.
I've heard exciting things about what's happening at 988.
I've heard from constituents about the fears that they have,
about both federal bias against marginalized communities
and how that intersects with access to behavioral health
and the need for the state to stand up.
In the legislature,
I do a lot of work on our state operating budget,
and particularly on health care and housing.
In particular,
I have really focused on increasing investments
in behavioral health.
I really appreciate this agenda that's here in front of us,
and I'm intimately familiar with every single item on here,
and have some follow-up questions for King County folks,
as well as folks working in the field,
about a few of these issues.
I, too, am working on a revenue bill
to help stabilize our behavioral health crisis system,
in particular, and I'm looking forward to the work on that.
We have done a lot
to invest in behavioral health crisis services,
but we know we are nowhere near meeting the demand.
And we know with shifts in federal policy and cuts
in federal funding
that we expect to see more people coming
to crisis services, either mobile crisis services,
calling our hotlines,
or showing up at the crisis care centers
that we have available
and that we are planning to open in the coming years.
And so those are a few issues.
I have been a big champion around expanding access
to long-acting injectable buprenorphine
and other medications for opioid use disorder.
These are life-saving medications,
and we need to make sure that they continue to be available,
and I'm particularly focused on
how we can expand access to those medications,
not just in our behavioral health community clinics
but in our child welfare system and in our prisons and jails.
So those are a few things that I'm working on.
[ Applause ]
-Good evening, everybody. I am Jamie Pedersen.
I also represent the 43rd legislative district,
so that's the middle of Seattle,
and I currently serve as the majority leader
in the Washington State Senate.
I am struck as I read the priorities that you have here
by the verbs, protect, sustain, stabilize, resolve, continue.
How many of you think that what we're doing is
enough right now in terms of investment?
And yet, I mean, it's a pragmatic agenda, right?
But we know that it is not even remotely adequate
to meet the tidal wave of behavioral health need
that we all see every day in our streets, in our communities.
So my priority for this next session
is to turn the ship around in terms of our broken tax system
so that we have enough revenue to make these kinds
of investments in the people of our state.
[ Applause ]
Thank you.
-Good evening, everyone.
My name's Manka Dhingra, and I represent -- thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
And I represent the 45th Legislative District.
I am so glad we had all the conversations
about taxes and revenue,
because that's what we're dealing with next year.
And it's not just about the money and the revenue,
because they impact real people.
And they have really drastic negative impacts on people,
given what's happening at the federal level.
And I want to be very clear
that the policies at the federal level come from a place
that is based in, frankly,
either indifference or worse,
simply being evil towards people,
because that is the consequence of what we're going to see.
We're going to see dramatic increases in the number
of uninsured individuals in the state of Washington.
That is the reality.
We're not in a position to backfill all the insurance
or all the individuals who lose their insurance in the state.
But what we can do is make sure
that we are looking out for each other the best way that we can,
which means each and every one of us
is going to have to take that responsibility
to look out for our neighbor, for our friend.
And I do want to say that, you know,
Senator Orwall and I were so adamant
that when we passed the 988 bill,
that we put in a fee to pay for that crisis system.
That fee is going to make sure our 988 system
remains the way it is.
And I don't have to tell you how critical that is.
[ Applause ]
I am so very proud that every time
I talk about our 988 system nationally,
we have one of the highest rates of phones being answered
in the state of Washington,
which is incredible.
But we know we have to build on that system,
and so I don't want us to lose momentum,
but I want us to make sure we continue down that path
in creating the system that each of our loved ones
deserve to go through if they need that help.
So I look forward to supporting all these revenue ideas
and making sure that we in this Washington
take care of every single person,
no matter where they come from,
how they identify, or who they are.
[ Applause ]
-Good evening, everyone.
I'm Roger Goodman,
and I'm also from the 45th Legislative District.
It looks like the 43rd sticks together,
the 45th sticks together.
And I actually want to say hi to Neil because 20 years ago,
2005, I was the legislative liaison
for what was called the Alcoholism and
Substance Abuse Administrative Board at the time.
I guess it's the Behavioral Health Board now.
So I've been involved in this work for a long time.
I actually was in charge of putting this event together,
which attracted maybe a dozen people in a small church.
No, seriously. This is amazing.
There's never done a better job,
particularly the resources out in the hallway.
A-plus. Incredible job.
So at that time,
I was working for the King County Bar Association
to end the war on drugs, and I'm still working on that.
We have cranked it down quite a bit.
Echoing Susan McLaughlin's remarks,
think how far we have come.
It was just a dozen people in a church 20 years ago.
Now, the stigma really is wearing away,
and families care, and we want to go public about this.
And also think how far we've come in terms
of the legislature,
acknowledging
that behavioral health really needs to be right
in the middle of our radar, and it has been.
We have a long way to go,
but we have come a long way since,
despite the budget challenges and the political and cultural,
and economic challenges facing us.
So thanks all of you for standing up for those you love,
and also for coming here tonight.
-It is my absolute honor to recognize tonight someone
who has given more than a quarter of a century
to that very cause.
Our colleague, our leader, and our friend, Nancy Dow, who's --
you can stay seated over there, Nancy, right now if you want.
Nancy likes to say
that she's been on the Behavioral Health Advisory Board
since before there was dirt. And in some ways,
that's actually true.
Nancy joined what was the Mental Health Advisory Board,
the partner to the Alcohol Advisory Board.
She joined it in 2002,
long before it ever was what it is today,
which is our Behavioral Health Advisory Board.
She was the first peer to ever serve on the board.
She also chaired the board in 2007 and 2008.
And when the moment demanded it,
Nancy stepped back into leadership in 2020
and has been the chair for the past five years.
She has served alongside five
different King County Division Directors --
hopefully on the last, Nancy --
coached recovery speakers for our forums,
and even turned her dining room into a recording studio
when the forum had to go virtual.
Through transitions, recessions, and years of staff,
leadership, and membership turnover,
Nancy has kept us together.
Our board members often ask, how do we really make a difference?
How do we influence policy in a system as large as King County?
Nancy's career is one of the answers to that question.
She was there when the legislative forum began
in the 1990s, an event, as you just heard,
that started in a church basement with four sponsors
and our esteemed Neil Scott, who's still emceeing this today.
We're so grateful for him.
And it has grown into one
of the most important advocacy gatherings in our region.
I mean, look at tonight, is just a testament to that.
Nancy was there
when the local mid behavioral health sales tax
was first proposed back in 2007.
Our county staff, of course, couldn't advocate for it,
but the advisory boards could.
And Nancy was the first, as the first peer chair,
walked that tightrope with courage,
showing up at every event, encouraging others,
and helping secure what was at that time
the largest infusion of behavioral health funding
in our county's history.
She was there when marijuana was legalized in 2012,
ensuring that tax revenue would be directed
toward prevention and treatment.
She was there on the Harborview Leadership Group in 2019,
which made recommendations for
how voter-approved bond funds should be used to improve
the hospital,
including improving behavioral health care,
sitting alongside CEOs, council members, and medical directors,
and reminding them what it means to sit with a client
in a psychiatric emergency who has been waiting for hours
on a gurney and in restraints.
That moment of speaking up, Nancy says, was life-changing,
because it affirmed for her that peers
and lived experience matter in shaping the future
of behavioral health treatment.
Nancy has also been a pioneer in the development
and growth of peer support.
For 21 years at Harborview, she worked as a peer specialist.
She was one of the originals.
She helped launch the peer Bridger program,
which helps people transition out of hospitals
back to the community.
Turning an idea,
she once heard from the board table into a reality
that she lived every day with the clients she served.
Nancy has seen the system from every angle,
from providing direct services to clients
to the decisions about how the services will be paid for.
And through it all,
she has never lost sight of the people at the center,
people in recovery, working harder than anyone,
proving every day that recovery is real.
What makes Nancy extraordinary is not just her resume,
but her spirit.
She has carried this work through bureaucratic hurdles,
through budget battles,
through moments when it seemed the system itself might falter.
And yet she kept showing up
and showing us what it means to lead,
to serve with integrity,
and to never give up on the possibility of recovery.
Nancy's official last meeting as co-chair
of the Behavioral Health Advisory Board
will be this December.
But we know she won't be far.
She will continue to advise, mentor,
and inspire the next generation of board members,
as well as the people who continue to serve,
especially peers.
So tonight, Nancy, we don't just say thank you.
We say,
Nancy, your legacy is woven into the very fabric
of behavioral health in King County.
Your leadership has shaped policies,
your compassion has touched lives,
and your courage has opened doors for peers
who will follow in your footsteps.
On behalf of this community and the thousands of people
whose lives are better because of your work, we thank you.
Thank you for your service, your wisdom, and your heart.
Congratulations.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you so much, Susan,
and to Nancy for your extraordinary service over many,
many years here in King County.
Our next speaker is Hussein Ugas.
Hussein is the founder and executive director
of Rahma Recovery Center down in Federal Way.
If you're unfamiliar with it,
it's a level two accredited,
culturally informed recovery residence serving East African
and Muslim communities.
A survivor of civil war, addiction, and homelessness,
Hussein now dedicates his life to building recovery spaces.
And those spaces bridge faith, culture,
and healing across King County.
Let's welcome Hussein to the stage.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Good evening, everyone.
13 years ago, I was sleeping on the cold streets
of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Today, I stand before you as the founder
and executive director of Rahma Recovery Center.
A place of healing and hope for others just like me.
Far from my time on those cold streets,
homeless, addicted, and hopeless.
I came to this country
as a young Somali refugee carrying trauma
I didn't yet understand.
I worked hard to succeed.
I was a straight-A student, the model refugee.
But behind that image was a deep pain.
You see, in our culture, mental health and addiction are taboo,
things to hide, not to heal.
I took my first sip of alcohol in 2002
at a Halloween party in Bellingham, Washington.
And that one choice led to 10 years of chaos.
I was a functioning addict for a while, holding jobs.
I even managed to get married with a home and a son.
But that illusion helped me to stay in denial.
Denial about my arrest in Alaska for selling drugs.
Denial about being detained by ICE for four months,
facing deportation.
Denial about lying to everyone that I loved
while dealing drugs in my own home with my wife and my son.
So in 2008, my world collapsed.
My wife left me while pregnant with our second son.
That same year, I got shot, but that didn't even stop me.
I was lost, running from my pain through states,
shelters, and streets, surviving only to feed my addiction.
By 2012, I was homeless in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
arrested for the third time on drug trafficking charges.
You see, I wasn't a dealer.
I was an addict trying to survive.
My public defender told me something
that truly changed my life.
If you go to treatment, it'll help your case.
Motivated by those words,
I entered the 28-day treatment program in St. Paul, Minnesota,
and on my first day there,
an addiction treatment counselor looked at me and said,
"Hussein, you're not a bad person.
You're a person with a disease called addiction."
That was the first time I ever heard those words,
substance use disorder.
That moment broke me.
It broke me open and began my healing.
Afterwards, I entered a drug court deferment.
I was ordered to stay clean for one year
and an additional treatment.
So I applied five-star recovery in Chaska, Minnesota,
for six months of mental health and substance
use disorder treatment program
with the sober living afterwards.
There, a therapist helped me uncover the PTSD
that haunted me since childhood,
the bombs, the screams,
the lifeless bodies in Somalia's civil war.
I began to heal not only from my addiction,
but also from my trauma.
After I fulfilled my one year of court obligations,
my cases got dropped, and I left Five-Star Recovery.
I became a town car driver.
I was staying sober, rebuilding my life.
However, in 2014, I relapsed.
Like many who go through addiction,
my recovery was non-linear.
Terrified, I went back to five-star recovery.
This time, I did it for me.
I faced my demons, embraced therapy,
and found strength through faith.
While in treatment,
I also got my CDL and became an over-the-road truck driver.
Those long drives gave me time to think,
to pray, to heal, and to rebuild.
I have now been in recovery for nearly 12 years.
[ Applause ]
But even as my life improved,
I never forgot the barriers I faced,
the lack of culturally aware programs, the shame,
and the stigma in my own community.
That is why I founded Rahma Recovery Center,
to give my community what I never had.
A space that honors culture, faith, and recovery.
Our flagship home, Salam House,
became Washington's first accredited level two,
culturally responsive sober living home
for East Africans and Muslim men.
We provide dignity, safety, and belonging to men in recovery.
We host Narcan trainings and address substance
use disorder and mental health stigma in our own communities,
and partner with community organizations
like Living Well Kent and the Somali Health Board
to create healing rooted in culture and understanding.
But the truth is, we are struggling,
not because the need isn't there,
but because culturally grounded programs are
still underfunded and overlooked.
Help cannot be one-size-fits-all.
Traditional systems --
[ Applause ]
Traditional systems are failing communities like mine.
Our Salam House model is proof that recovery is possible
when systems work together with compassion
and cultural understanding.
I am living evidence of what happens when justice,
treatment, and therapy align.
There are thousands like me still waiting for that chance.
Let us make sure behavioral health care in King County
reflects all of us,
our cultures, our languages, our humanity.
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-The bright side of addiction is recovery.
Hussein embodies that. Thank you, Hussein,
for sharing your incredible journey into recovery
and helping others in your community
find their own path to recovery.
Next, we're going to hear from our state legislators,
some more of them, and county council members here on stage.
We're going to pass around the microphone and again,
ask folks in the second row to introduce yourself
and then respond to one of these questions.
What are your thoughts on something
that you've learned here tonight?
And what are your behavioral health
legislative priorities for 2026?
And we will begin with Sunshine Cheng,
representing Daria Farivar's office.
Sunshine.
-Hi, my name is Sunshine Staff to Rep. Farivar
in the 46 District, so Northeast Seattle.
I've been working with Representative Farivar
for about six years now, and when I met her,
I was someone
whose life had been profoundly impacted
by mental health struggles and substance use.
And last year,
I had the honor of attending this event for the first time,
and I remember listening to the speakers' stories
and thinking that there was a time
when I never could have imagined being alive to sit in that seat.
And listening to the stories that we've heard this evening,
I feel that way right now.
And for anyone who can relate to that story,
I mean, relate to that, I'm glad that you're here with us.
I'm so proud to be supporting Rep.
Farivar, and she looks forward to continuing
to protect access to culturally responsive care,
care that isn't one-size-fits-all,
and deliver services when and where we need them.
[ Applause ]
-Well, hello, everyone.
Really great to see you all here today.
My name is Osman Salahuddin.
I'm a state representative from the 48th Legislative District,
which is Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland,
and the Points Communities.
And I do just want to say it's such a privilege
to have heard Hussein's story
and what he's been able to do in our communities.
I have the honor of serving as the first Muslim
ever in the House of Representatives in Washington.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
And he hit the nail on the head
when he said that talking about behavioral health,
talking about recovery in our culture,
in our community, it has been taboo.
And what my focus,
what I know so many of our legislative priorities,
and so many of your focuses are making sure
that that taboo no longer exists in our communities,
focusing on culturally responsive care,
focusing on care
that embraces the humanity of what we each bring to the table.
And so I am committed to fighting for that,
not just in the legislature,
but with all of you in the community.
And I'm really excited
to continue this conversation moving forward.
So thank you. -Thank you.
[ Applause ]
Representative Burnett.
-I'm going to stand up next to my colleague here,
that has much nicer hair than I do, and I'm a little jealous of.
I serve in the 12th district, which is most of Chelan County.
I actually reside in Wenatchee.
And we come all the way over Highway 2,
Stevens Pass to Monroe across Deval, Carnation Valley,
Snoqualmie Ridge, and North Bend,
covering parts of King County and Snohomish County.
And you're going to see that the commonalities are that.
It doesn't matter where we live in Washington State.
But you could fill the seats here from people from Wenatchee
in Chelan County, Monroe, and Snohomish, all over King County.
And the commonalities are just that.
But the personal stories are quite selective.
And what I've learned here tonight, Hussein, Juju,
is you have a story to tell that can motivate others.
Don't be ashamed of your past,
but be proud of what you've done
and the people that have helped you,
because now you can turn around and assist those that need help.
Some of my 2026 priorities
that I don't know that I'll accomplish those,
I think it's going to be a journey for as long as I serve,
and I hope that I have the privilege
of serving this district for quite some time,
but is to better advocate for the victims.
And when I say victims,
are you guys familiar with restorative justice?
That's something, a new terminology for me
that I just recently sat down
and actually had a conversation with Matthew Leon today,
who's in the Monroe facility for a crime
that he did a long time ago.
But they identify the victimization
of their own family members,
of the people that they hurt in trauma, first responders.
The point is, trauma goes deep and wide.
And we need to do better,
not just as legislators and community members
and King County Council members,
as community members, as family members,
to reach out to those that we can actually communicate with.
Because they're not going to reach out
and try to grab that help
until they feel safe in an environment.
And sometimes that safe person
to bring them in might be somebody sitting here
at this table, that table, and around.
So I hope that I'm being able to partner with both
of my colleagues from the Senate and the House
to be able to move this forward
and make a difference for all those
who are waiting for a safe environment to be
able to have somebody come alongside them
for the journey that they have yet to make a difference
so they can mentor someone else in the future.
[ Applause ]
-Good evening. I'm Tina Orwall.
I have the honor of representing the 33rd Legislative District.
I want to say welcome to the 33rd.
The beautiful 33rd.
You know, mental health has impacted me and my family.
I'm a social worker.
I've worked 25 years in behavioral health.
And, you know, I know there are times
when people have reached out and had the courage to ask for help,
and they haven't always received it.
And sometimes they're harmed by our system.
And so I've been incredibly proud to team up
with Senator Dhingra and all my colleagues here
on the 988 system.
It's a chance once in a lifetime
to really redo our crisis services so they're healing
and that people do get the help that they need and deserve.
I would tell you we were, I think,
the first state to pass it with the fee comprehensive.
We also have the thanks to tribal leaders,
the first 988 tribal line called Native and Strong.
[ Applause ]
Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.
Sadly, there are federal cuts.
The LGBTQ line for youth was cut.
We had one of the receiving things through VOA,
and they were getting --
I had a thousand percent increase in text last year,
and we know, we know this is a high-risk population.
So I know my colleagues around me here
are committed to seeing what our state can do to step in
and make sure there's services
for what is really a really high-risk population,
especially our trans youth.
I also want to do a shout-out to King County.
When you look at the 988 and the rapid response teams in a place
to go, they are leading the state and the country.
I just want to say, great work.
We're really proud.
[ Applause ]
The last thing I'll mention is I've met with a lot of students,
and they have told me we need three things.
We need adults to be comfortable talking
about mental health and suicide.
We need more mental health in the schools,
and it needs to reflect the diversity of the student body.
And I can tell you in Kent, we have 120 languages spoken.
And so we are working with our community-based organizations.
I know Valley Cities is here tonight,
and hopefully Simar,
and we're making sure that we're trying to team up
so that not only the students but the families
get the services they need.
So thank you for being here tonight.
It's amazing. Thanks.
[ Applause ]
-We said we kind of feel like we're on a school bus today.
I'm sitting up here. My name is Claire Wilson.
Proud to represent the 30th Legislative District
in South King County.
[ Applause ]
Woo-hoo!
Hi. You know, protection is the name of the game for me.
I chair human services in the Senate, and it is all things.
Child welfare, juvenile justice, corrections,
basic needs, food, shelter, and clothing,
all discretionary income.
And as we think about our budget crisis right now,
those are things that put people out in the margins
even further out
and put them in a position of often doing things
that put them in harm's way
and put them in systems they should never be in.
The other issue for me, K-12, I vice chair K-12,
so early learning in K-12,
it's critically important as we think about family systems.
And then we have to think about who's not here,
and those are young people
in our juvenile justice system and adults
in our correctional system
who deserve not to criminalize mental health or behavior,
health issues, or addiction issues,
but to get the services they need
and they deserve in order to be contributing members
of our community. And again, it is our situation
that often is putting them in the positions that they're in.
So we'll continue to fight in every role
I'm in on behalf of those who need and deserve those services,
especially when we're struggling from the inside
out, and also right now with federal administration
from the outside in.
-So I now want to talk about
how important it is to have continued state partnership
in support of our behavioral health workforce.
We all know it takes people to treat people,
and our community agencies cannot provide care
without a robust workforce.
We know that current Medicaid rates do not cover
the true cost of care.
I just lost my place. Oh, without a -- sorry.
We know that the current Medicaid rates do
not cover the true cost of care,
including appropriate compensation for our workers.
King County is asking the state to continue funding
to complete the behavioral health comparison rate study
that will inform fair
and future payment levels for key services like counseling,
residential treatment, and peer support.
To maintain and improve access to behavioral health care,
Medicaid reimbursement rates must keep up
with the cost of care
and be high enough to attract and retain our workers.
Even if funding for rate adjustments
isn't available right now or is limited in the near term,
we believe that completing this study
will set the course towards workforce stabilization
and continued access to the services that support recovery.
The behavioral health sector also needs support to grow
and diversify the workforce through strategies
like tuition assistance,
paid internships, and teaching clinics.
These investments assure
that more people can access the education and training
they need to provide high-quality
behavioral health care.
We ask that the state join King County
in supporting innovative approaches to grow
and retain needed behavioral health workers.
And then our final behavioral health legislative priority
is protecting permanent supportive housing
that is threatened by the federal government.
Permanent supportive housing provides critical housing paired
with services and supports to individuals
with mental health and substance use conditions.
We all know how stable housing is fundamental
to a person's overall health and well-being.
Here in King County,
we've seen firsthand what's possible
when people can get the treatment they need in stable,
supportive housing environments. For example,
within the first year of moving
into a Health Through Housing building,
residents experienced a 17% decrease
in emergency room visits and a 33% decrease in hospital stays.
Yeah. [ Applause ]
It works.
But imminent federal cuts
and a campaign to discredit permanent supportive housing
is threatening a program we know works
and supports the long-term health of residents.
To protect existing programs and help people get
and maintain the housing they so deserve,
King County is asking the state to create flexibility
for the state's homelessness services funds,
which support permanent supportive housing operations,
rental assistance, and supportive services.
We also ask at the state
to maintain investments in mobile behavioral health teams
that bring care directly to people
in supportive housing or individuals
experiencing homelessness who are in need of care.
Having a stable, safe place to live is critical to recovery.
This is the type of progress
we must protect and invest in across the county.
So with that, I'd like to introduce
our final recovery speaker of the evening.
Please help me welcome Rocket Garcia.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Rocket is a 26-year-old artavista.
She is both an artist and an activist.
Through her love of the arts and working with the community,
she advocates for indigenous sovereignty,
ending homelessness, and juvenile justice reform.
Rocket brings a courageous
and insightful perspective on trauma, healing, and recovery.
She is proof that healing and transformation are possible.
Please welcome Rocket.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-[ Speaks indigenous language ] My name is Rocket Garcia,
granddaughter of Martha Maldonado of the Opi'a Taino,
and I have struggled with mental health
for as long as I can remember.
[ Sighs, chuckles ]
As a kid, I missed a lot of school
and frequently complained of stomach aches,
which I now know can be how children express
that they're anxious.
I cried a lot, so much so that my peers referred to me
as the girl who cries for no reason.
I was always reading, drawing,
or playing outside where there were fairies,
magic, fantastical creatures, and I didn't feel so alone.
I was one of those kids waiting for my Hogwarts letter,
a white rabbit, a tornado,
anything to transport me to a magical place away
from the isolation, couch surfing,
and frequent sexual and psychological abuse.
Around eight years old, I began to experience something
that I called the pulling.
I would lock myself in the bathroom
and lie on the cold tile floor as a horrible dread seeped in.
It felt like I was being pulled apart from the inside out,
holding myself back from thrashing and screaming
because I couldn't let the people
we were living with hear me.
As I grew from child to adult,
I found that there were no fairy circles or portals
to escape through.
My behavioral health issues grew worse
as I experienced more intense traumas,
and my unhealthy coping skills escalated.
Because my abuser groomed me to have no boundaries,
privacy, and to not trust my intuition,
I became an easy target for other predators
who took advantage of me.
I tried to control my life through eating disorders,
improve my self-esteem through sex addiction,
and chase euphoria through passive suicide.
My biggest challenge has been my amnesic barriers.
There were large pieces of my life missing from my memory.
I had developed a serious association
because of my continuous and severe childhood traumas.
I was damaging my relationships beyond repair,
missing classes and work,
and in general struggling to get my life started.
The fall before my 25th birthday,
I started having something similar
to a quarter-life crisis. Up until that point,
everything I did was to try and numb myself from my thoughts,
memories, and experiences.
I turned around, looked at all of my problems,
and said, just what the heck is going on around here?
I could no longer ignore
how sick I was from my combination
of meds and overworking.
So I applied for short-term disability,
and for the first time in my life,
I sat with myself and really listened.
At that time, in the fall of 2023,
my worst nightmare was the thought of my abuser dying.
I didn't want to feel helpless anymore,
and I needed to believe that I could survive on my own,
but in order to do that,
I had to accept that my abuser was not my savior.
I was the only one who could save myself.
I'd been friends with a guy named Jonas
for a couple of years.
We had met while doing activist work together in LA.
We were both in rough living situations,
so we put our heads together
and made a plan to escape California.
While doing so, we fell in love.
For the first time,
someone was helping me to keep track
of my dissociation and memory lapses.
He encouraged me to write things down, to talk aloud to myself,
and to use grounding techniques.
I was able to start piecing together the truth.
I didn't need my abuser. They needed me.
There were times in the coming months
that I didn't think I was going to make it out of California.
My abuser did everything in their power
to keep me from moving, including taking my car.
People showed up to my house unannounced,
begging me not to leave.
But in January of 2024,
Jonas and I made it here to Washington.
It was a little bit of a rocky start,
but we figured it out.
You can clap. [ Laughs ]
[ Applause ]
It was impactful.
I took steps towards self-sufficiency
by learning about what resources were available to me.
I took the bus every week to Peer Seattle,
where a peer helped me reach my goal of housing stability.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Jonas is a former foster youth,
so together we were able to use the FYI housing voucher.
I began prioritizing and taking charge of my health
by getting Apple Health, EBT, and ABD.
Because of this, I'm back in therapy,
which is helping tremendously with giving me a safe space
to grow and heal.
[ Cheers and applause ]
When I look back on my memories from before,
it feels like a different life.
Part of my recovery is affirming to myself
that I am safe and deserve to have the life I do.
I deserve to have an incredible boyfriend.
I deserve to co-parent a one-eyed cat named Remy.
I deserve to have my own apartment
where I feel safe to live and be myself for the first time.
I deserve to move slowly,
focusing on my health instead of being in chronic survival mode.
I'm reaching out to people
from my past to try to help myself create
a chronological narrative of my life.
I'm also allowing myself to let go of the stifling narratives
that have been created for me.
I wouldn't have gotten here without lots of support.
I want to thank my ancestors who guide me,
the Van Antwerp family who gave me shelter during the pandemic,
my dad and Jonas,
my mentors, Mara Zaragoza and Kruti Parekh,
the Mockingbird Society, and the Y Social Impact Center.
And I want to thank King County.
This county has given me indispensable support
while I recover and claim the independence
I've been fighting for my entire life.
There are many things that I've had to leave out of my speech
in the interest of time,
but just know that it has not been as linear as this.
There are multiple times that I tried to leave my abuser,
only to find myself back there again with no memory of how.
But now that I'm here and in recovery,
I no longer have to look for fairy doors.
I'm so grateful to have built myself a life
that I don't have to dream of escaping.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
-Wow.
Whoo. That was powerful.
Rocket just proves that people with mental health challenges
can and do recover.
[ Applause ]
Thanks, Rocket, for sharing
your mental health journey with us tonight,
and we're certainly glad you find your recovery community
here in King County.
Next, we're going to hear from the rest of
our state legislators and county council members here on stage.
Again, we're going to pass the microphone
and ask folks in the next row to introduce yourself
and then respond to one of the following questions.
What are your thoughts on something
you've learned here tonight?
And what are your behavioral health
legislative priorities for 2026?
We ask that you take about a minute each.
We'll begin with Senator Valdez.
-Hi, I'm Javier Valdez,
state senator from the 46th legislative district.
I guess my first takeaway of one thing I've learned tonight,
and actually it's been a recurring theme and comment
over the last many years of my years of a legislator,
because more affordable housing.
We've heard that over and over again
during when I was here earlier before,
we sat here up front and talking to my 46th district table,
that came up over and over again.
In the 46th District, which is northeast Seattle,
we're doing a little bit -- we're doing our best.
We're just going to be opening some affordable housing there
at the Northgate Transit Center here next year.
We're working with the City of Seattle,
with Lake City Community Center coming on board in about 2029.
We're the first ever city of Seattle community center
that actually have low-income affordable housing up on top
and kind of setting the trend there.
And I guess the other thing that I've learned again,
and also I'm going to shout out to Karen
over at Ryther right in the heart of my district,
is that our reimbursement rates still need to be worked on.
I know.
It's just something you and I and former Senator Frock,
actually, my predecessor, worked for many years on,
and we've tried to do better,
we do a little better,
and then we always seem to take a step back.
And I haven't forgotten you, Karen, you're always on me,
and we're doing the best we can to making sure
that we do better on that.
-Hi, everyone. My name is Zach Hall.
I'm privileged to represent the Fifth Legislative District.
If you don't know me, I don't blame you.
I am the most junior member of the legislature.
I'm about five months on the job.
I was appointed this summer,
so I have not yet experienced the thrill
of a legislative session.
My familiarity with behavioral health policy
comes from my background as a city council member
in the city of Issaquah,
where we used sales tax authority
that many members up here gave us authority to use
on behavioral health and crisis response in our communities.
One of the challenges that we've recognized there
and across different municipalities in King County
is the workforce,
and recruiting and retaining talent and professionals
to be able to respond to community members
in the way that they need.
So I'm thrilled to see workforce on your legislative agenda
and that there are levers available to us
to encourage that pipeline,
and I look forward to working with all you on that.
Thanks. -Good evening.
I'm Lisa Callan.
I get to represent with Representative Hall,
the 5th Legislative District,
which is east-east, King County, east-south King County.
So Issaquah all the way up to Snoqualmie Pass,
just north of I-90,
and we go all the way down to the lovely Enumclaw space,
so everything in between in that region.
It's a real honor to serve.
I just, I want to give my deep gratitude
to hearing Juju and Hussein and Rocket,
and certainly Karen,
in your public-private partnerships in the county.
And you're telling your stories, your journeys,
and making sure that we're hearing the humanness
behind every number that we see,
every budget line that we try to move forward.
And every aspect of what we think from the legislature
makes sense needs to be seen
and told by the lives of the people
that are experiencing systems that we're
either funding or not funding in every way.
So just deep gratitude to you all who came up and did that,
and to each and every one of you
that are here in the room tonight.
You are bringing the human factor, the humanness,
to all of this work.
I serve on Appropriations in the House.
I serve on the capital budget in the House,
and I serve on the K-12 committee,
and I have served on the Human Services Early Learning space.
I chair,
co-chair the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Work Group,
which has been a deep passion of mine.
So one of these areas, you know, I'm hearing very loudly,
right, recovery is not linear,
that help cannot be a one-size-fits-all.
Certainly, help isn't help if it doesn't look and feel like help
and isn't accessible to help.
And that care has to be delivered with compassion
and cultural understanding.
These are all elements
that I've heard from each one of you tonight.
My work this coming legislative session
will be to continue to move forward
the behavioral health needs of our youth and children.
We rank by, I think, it's in Washington State.
[ Applause ] Thank you.
We rank fourth in the nation for child health.
We rank 48th in the nation for youth flourishing,
which is physical health, behavioral health,
our relationships,
and our education and cognitive well-being.
We -- That's a number.
That's a number that none of us want to hear or be at for sure.
And what we need to do to move forward
and make a difference in that is to make sure
that we're connecting all the dots,
all the disconnected spaces of where we're treating
and working, and supporting behavioral health.
How does a child from the -- you know, from the moment it's born,
how is that child,
and how even the predisposition of that child
from pregnancy all the way through the transitioning
into adulthood to the age of 25?
We have a new framework that we've been working on,
built off of and heard from,
and really defined by those that are living
and experiencing our system called Washington Thriving.
It just came out a week ago
and it is just the beginning of where we need to go
and it really describes what we need to do in Washington State,
and one of those components is really building
on the structures of how the state shows up for the counties,
the counties show up for our communities,
how all of us are showing up for the individuals.
And so I'm going to be moving bills forward
that specifically put that into law,
that that's the direction we need to go,
and we need to speak together,
and we need to swim in the same direction,
and make sure that these services are there.
-Good evening, everyone. My name is Lauren Davis.
I represent the 32nd Legislative District,
which is -- oh, thanks.
[ Applause ]
Northwest Seattle, shoreline,
and then up into Snohomish County.
You know, I stand on the stage tonight, really,
standing on the shoulders of giants, one of whom
we celebrated tonight, my longtime friend Nancy Dow,
who I affectionately refer to as the OG peer.
And one who is no longer here,
who has a profound legacy of behavioral health in this state,
which is the late former Speaker of the House,
Frank Chopp, whose hands and heart have shaped the system.
[ Applause ]
This is the first legislative forum we've had without him,
but his legacy will continue to live on.
Turning to next year,
I'll just mention four priorities very briefly.
We heard about the need to preserve and stabilize.
In many ways,
our behavioral health programs and infrastructure
that King County relies on have been under attack,
so to speak, because of the state budget shortfall.
One program that I'll mention in particular,
which is the Recovery Navigator Program,
the statewide expansion --
[ Cheers and applause ]
The statewide expansion of the lead model,
but that is primarily and soon
to be exclusively state-funded program.
We nearly lost it last year.
The Senate budget actually eliminated the program,
and we were fortunately, thanks to the heroic efforts of Rep.
Macri up there in the front row, we were able to preserve it.
But that's concerning.
And so we need to help collectively educate
and make sure lawmakers understand the importance
of these programs.
You heard a lot about the need for revenue in general
and progressive revenue.
I'm also interested in targeted revenue,
so things like an opioid impact fee,
which has been passed in other states,
where we use a per milligram morphine equivalent fee
that's levied on opiate manufacturers, for example,
to generate targeted revenue for these services.
I was reminded tonight about the urgent need to continue work
to address the scourge of high-potency cannabis.
I met a mom tonight, one of many moms that I've met,
who has an adult child who had a THC-induced psychotic disorder
and now lives with schizophrenia.
I think you're all aware, a diagnosis
for which there is no cure.
So, continuing work on that.
And then finally,
I do think our state's
Involuntary Treatment Act needs some continued reforms.
And most pressingly,
I just received data actually from this county
that of 800 attempted detentions in the community,
so not in the emergency department, 380 of them,
nearly half, were not able to be effectuated
because of concerns about coordination
with law enforcement.
And that is not because law enforcement is not very eager
and willing to help.
It is because our statutes have been very unclear
about what direction we were to give law enforcement
and what support and protection
we will provide them when we ask them to step in and save lives.
And there have been some really tragic outcomes
as a result of those non-detentions.
So hoping to work on that as well.
Thank you.
-I'm Senator Bob Hesegawa from the 11th Legislative District,
which is Tukwila, Renton, Kent,
and parts of Unincorporated King County.
So first, I guess,
I want to thank Hussein for putting a spotlight
on culturally appropriate access to services and provision
of services because, you know,
my wife, I got to give it to her.
She hammers me about this constantly.
She spent decades serving
in the behavioral health administrative services
in San Francisco and Pierce County and Benton,
Franklin County, Human Services, and all that.
So I am not an expert.
Believe me, she is, so you all are in good hands
because she controls the strings.
What I wanted to talk about a little bit was,
you know, you want to know what I'm thinking about.
What I'm thinking about is the fabric of society
seems to be ripping apart right now.
And what happens when that, to all of our families,
to us as individuals,
when the pressures of society continue to build
and build and build,
we're going to see increases in the need
for behavioral health services
because we're all trying to adapt and figure out
how do we live in this new changing world
where there's so much insecurity around where am I going to eat,
where am I going to sleep,
am I going to be able to go to the doctor if I need to?
You know, there's so many insecurities
that are piling on top of each other.
It's going to see a huge,
I see, increase in behavioral health services
needs until we actually get this ship turned around.
But there's hope.
We need because these crises also provide us
the opportunity to look at systems changes,
to really prioritize those things
that are most important to us.
And behavioral health services help us be
the best people we can be.
It's a basic human need to try and allow all of us
to become the best people we can be.
If we're not living our best lives,
you know, there's something wrong with society.
And that's what behavioral health services needs to provide
is access to those things that we can lead our best lives.
But that requires funding, right?
And I thank you for acknowledging
that we're in a difficult budget year,
so that you don't have
multi-hundred-million-dollar asks for this budget cycle,
this supplemental budget.
But the money is out there. Let's face it, we're in one
of the wealthiest cities and regions in the country.
The money is out there.
But society has become -- has shifted.
Our values seem to have shifted
where we're idolizing billionaires
and trillion-dollar corporate.
Elon Musk just signed a trillion-dollar wage package.
Can you believe that? A trillion-dollar wage package.
Money is there, but they forget who made that money for them.
It's all of us sitting here, and many of us
who are suffering because we're carved out of that system.
So when we think about funding,
we need to consider comprehensive
progressive tax reform, including, I would say,
an income tax, a progressive income tax.
That is considered the deadly third rail of politics.
[ Applause ]
They talk about that
as being the deadly third rail of politics,
but let's face it, what we got isn't working.
And unless we take a systems change view of this,
we're going to continue on this downward spiral.
So we have to do something,
but the good news is the opportunity is there now
for us to do something.
So I'm going to make an ask of all of you out here.
This is a call to action.
We can't do it as legislators by ourselves.
We need the political will of the people to make this change.
So go back to your organizations,
your community-based organizations, and say,
"We have to raise new revenue,
not from the poorest who can least afford it,
but from those who are gaining the most out
of what society has to offer,
and turn that back into society
so that all ships rise at the same time."
So that's my ask of you all.
I hope you make a commitment to go out there,
get involved with your other organizations
that you are linked with, networked with,
and start talking about the need to start reforming
our revenue systems.
So those who can best afford to pay do pay the most.
Thank you.
-So I want to close with this, just one thing.
Those who know me well know
that I absolutely love musical theater.
Typically, at this time,
I'd probably pull out some pithy quote from the musical Hamilton
because I firmly believe
that there is a Hamilton quote for everything
that happens in life.
But this year I had the privilege
to see a musical called "Suffs".
It's about the suffragist movement
and the trials and tribulations
of fighting for a woman's right to vote.
But even as the suffragists -- spoiler alert here --
actually achieved the right to vote,
they realize that the work doesn't end,
and there is still so much more to be done.
It's that theme in the last song of the musical
that has really stuck with me throughout this year
since I've seen it, and as I reflect on what's happening,
on how far we've come, and how much further we have to go.
In the very last song,
they remind us that when you're trying to create change,
the path will be twisted and risky and slow.
That we may at times fail,
at other times we will prevail,
and there is so much to learn from both our successes
and our mistakes.
And especially they remind us, and I quote,
that "progress is possible, not guaranteed."
It will only be made if we keep marching on.
And that is what I implore all of you to do tonight
and going forward.
Change will only happen
if we continue to work together in partnership,
advocating for the change that we seek, and not stopping,
even in the face of what feels hopeless and insurmountable.
Thank you all again for joining us for this fabulous evening,
for affirming that recovery is always possible,
for speaking up, for listening,
and for working together to protect
and improve behavioral health for all of King County.
And remember that progress is possible,
but it is not guaranteed.
So let's all keep marching on together.
[ Applause ]