Senator Murray: “For me, that work starts and ends by taking the stories and perspectives of the people facing this challenge in Washington state, and making sure your voices are being heard.”
***LISTEN TO SENATOR MURRAY’S ROUNDTABLE HERE***
***PHOTOS OF SENATOR MURRAY’S VISIT AVAILABLE HERE***
(Vancouver, WA) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, toured the Family Solutions facility in Vancouver, Washington. Family Solutions is a nonprofit, community mental health agency that provides mental health services to Medicaid-eligible children and their families. Senator Murray then hosted a roundtable with Family Solutions Executive Director Lisa Carpenter, Family Solutions Clinical Director Tracey Arney, and others.
“All of you here today are on the frontlines of these crises, working every day to ensure people struggling with their mental health have a safe place to turn—getting them help and treatment. We know that mental health care is health care and the work you’re doing here saves lives, really,” said Senator Murray. “And for me, my work starts and ends by taking the stories and perspectives of the people facing this challenge in Washington state, and making sure your voices are being heard, and concerns are being addressed in the other Washington. That’s why I am working so hard to secure federal funding for Family Solutions and to pass a major bipartisan package that will help us tackle the mental health crisis in this country.”
“Behavioral health needs for children and families have increased dramatically in recent years. Family Solutions is working to expand our capacity to meet these needs in Southwest Washington. Our vision is to provide whole-child, whole-family care onsite at our new facility,” said Lisa Carpenter, Executive Director of Family Solutions. “We can achieve this goal by collaborating with healthcare and community partners such as primary care to strengthen overall care coordination for clients and their families and address disparities and gaps in services resulting in better health outcomes, cost-effective services, and improved access to care.”
“We appreciate Senator Murray’s interest and investment in children’s mental health. Her support is essential for us to attain our vision for whole child and whole family care,” said Tracey Arney, Clinical Director of Family Solutions. “The need in our community has never been greater. Recent data from a survey conducted by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing indicates the unmet demand for mental health care is more than double the unmet demand for physical healthcare. Our team members save lives every day. Our ability to increase access and offer a broader array of treatment options for our youth allows us to continue our mission of stewarding the health and wellness of our community.”
“Addressing the youth mental health crisis requires a multi-system approach. This includes not only increasing the availability of mental health services but also addressing the root causes of trauma which are frequently what precipitates children needing services,” said Christine Smith, Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at Family Solutions. “Poverty, homelessness, and addiction as well as lack of access to reproductive services are some of these root causes.”
“With the increased awareness of the need for mental health support for our young people, we have prioritized placing mental health therapists in our schools. Bringing those services into our school buildings improves access and removes barriers, especially in our rural communities,” said Deb Drandoff, Director of Prevention and Youth Services at ESD #112. “The federal COVID relief grants enabled us to initiate these crucial services, yet we still have work to do to simplify and streamline the funding, and make these services available to all youth, regardless of insurance coverage.”
“With children, youth, and families facing a multitude of challenges, our communities across the state have seen a sharp increase in both acuity and complexity in mental health needs among children and youth. The demand on behavioral health professionals is greater than it’s ever been. This, among other factors, has led to a large workforce crisis,” said Theresa Ortiz, Site Director of Vancouver-Salmon Creek Catholic Community Services. “The struggle to recruit and retain an adequate amount of behavioral health staff has resulted in youth insured by Medicaid waiting for treatment, a lack of options or delays in transition to another provider and level of care, and struggles with staff retention as professionals are experiencing fatigue and burn out at incredibly high rates.”
“Senator Murray has always understood the need to prioritize children and families. We are fortunate to have her strong voice in the Senate advocating for the services that are so critical at this time. Access to behavioral health care is crucial to ensuring we support and maintain healthy families and communities beyond the pandemic,” said Annette Cleveland, Development Director of Family Solutions. “Senator Murray’s support for Family Solutions means expanded behavioral health services and increased ability to partner with the many other providers in our community working so hard to care for others.”
During the roundtable, Senator Murray announced that she is fighting to secure $800,000 in direct federal funding for Family Solutions’ current expansion through Congressionally-directed spending. In the last government spending package, Senator Murray secured more than $116 million in direct federal dollars for local projects across Washington state.
Senator Murray has been a long-time advocate of youth mental health and substance use disorder services. Senator Murray helped secure critical resources in the American Rescue Plan for Washington state K-12 public schools that can be used to meet students’ social, emotional, and mental health needs.
Murray has consistently spoken out about the need to address the mental health and substance use disorder crises that are hurting people all across Washington state. She has championed efforts in Congress to provide more support for communities responding to the mental health crisis and secured an increase of more than $362 million for federal programs that address mental health and a $300 million increase in federal funding to address substance use disorders in the bipartisan government funding bill she helped pass in March.
As Chair of the Senate HELP Committee, she is currently working on a bipartisan package to strengthen mental health and substance use disorder services for children and youth, continue improving suicide screening and prevention to save lives, make it easier for people to get mental health care, and much more. Senator Murray has held two hearings this year focused on addressing the crisis, and at a recent hearing on President Biden’s budget request pressed Secretary Becerra on the administration’s plans to tackle the crisis.
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