Seattle Children’s is offering the following class for families who are seeking mental and behavioral health services for children or youth under 18 and who are not familiar with the mental health system in Washington state.

Please share with your networks and the parents/caregivers you serve.

Learn more here.

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Finding Mental Health Care in Washington State: A Class on Where to Start

This class is for families who are seeking mental and behavioral health services for children or youth under 18 and who are not familiar with the mental health system in Washington state. The class is offered in both English and Spanish. Parents and caregivers consistently experience barriers in accessing mental and behavioral health care in Washington. We want to empower families to be able to take steps toward connecting to services on their own, knowing that many of the psychiatry services at Seattle Children’s have waitlists. For this reason, the class will focus on resources outside of Seattle Children’s, with the goal of helping families connect to care as quickly as possible. Due to capacity constraints, the psychiatry case managers leading this class will be unable to provide ongoing case management support outside of the class.

In this free, video-based class, participants will learn about:

• The various types of outpatient mental health treatment and providers
• Locating mental health resources based on insurance coverage — this class will cover resources covered by Medicaid and commercial or private insurance
• More intensive services and how to access them, as well as long-term care such as residential treatment
• Ways for caregivers to advocate for their child’s care

This class is offered live with the question and answer session (Q&A) on a secure Zoom virtual platform. Advance registration is required. Recordings of the class, without Q&A, will be available in English and Spanish. Live sessions are on the third Wednesday evening of each month from 6 to 7 p.m. Read how to use Zoom [Spanish].

Cost

This class is free of charge.

Class Details

2022 Schedule

• This class is held monthly on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 6-7pm.
• To register for upcoming dates, click “registration” below.
• Additional dates will be added throughout the year.

Registration

Materials to Complete Before and After the Class

Participation in the live class will include completion of a short pre- and post-survey. The survey will ask a few questions about your experience with and knowledge of Washington state mental health services for youth, what county you live in, race/ethnicity identification and your thoughts on the course. The leaders of this class will keep your information confidential, and it will only be used to improve the content and delivery of class material. We encourage you to complete all of the questions.

Resources

For a full list of resources and information, visit our Mental Health Resources Hub Page.

We will reference the following Seattle Children’s patient and family education materials during the class:

• Choosing a Mental Health Provider (Spanish) (PDF)
• Getting Help in a Crisis (PDF)
• Hotlines for Youth (Spanish) (Chinese) (PDF)
• Intensive Outpatient and Partial Hospitalization Mental Health Treatment Programs for Youth and Young Adults (PDF)
• Resources for Families (PDF)
• Teens and Privacy Rights (Spanish) (PDF)
• Washington’s Mental Health Referral Service (Spanish) (PDF)