Dear neighbors,

Right now, as we build the new 988 behavioral health crisis hotline and the services it will connect with, we have a unique opportunity to improve our behavioral health crisis response system. One of the most important parts of that effort is the work of the Crisis Response Improvement Strategy (CRIS) Committee, which will make recommendations to the Legislature for how we can change our laws and policies to make a better system a reality.

The CRIS Committee is seeking candidates interested in serving on its subcommittees to provide technical analysis and input to inform the recommendations. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, Nov. 3. These are the areas covered by the subcommittees:

  1. Credentialing and Training Subcommittee – to inform workforce needs and requirements.
  2. Technology Subcommittee – to consider technology needed to manage and operate the behavioral health crisis response and suicide prevention system.
  3. Cross-System Crisis Response Subcommittee – to examine and define complementary roles and interactions of specified crisis system stakeholders.
  4. Confidential Information Compliance and Coordination: To inform information-sharing guidelines to enable crisis call center hubs to actively collaborate with other system providers.
  5. Rural and Agricultural Communities: to seek input and address the unique needs of rural and agricultural communities.
  6. Lived Experience: to seek input and address the unique needs of people with lived experience and their family members.

If you are interested in serving on a subcommittee

  1. Please review further background information in the Subcommittee Overview & Member Criteria.
  2. Use the online form to submit a statement of interest by Wednesday, November 3 at 5 p.m.

Members will be appointed to subcommittees based on a process to review the subcommittee membership criteria and ensure balanced representation. For additional information, please see the CRIS webpage. Questions may be emailed to HCAprogram1477@hca.wa.gov.

Stay in touch

As always, please feel free to reach out to my office directly with any questions or concerns. Stay safe and take care.

Sincerely yours,

Sen. Manka Dhingra
45th Legislative District
Deputy Majority Leader