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King County, WA (Seattle)

Project Name

Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project 

Geographic Focus

King County, WA (Seattle)

Project Partners

The City of Seattle Human Services Department, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Division This link will open a new browser window.
(http://www.seattle.gov/humanservices/domesticviolence/)

Consejo Counseling and Referral Service This link will open a new browser window.
(http://www.consejo-wa.org/)

The King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence This link will open a new browser window.
(http://www.kccadv.org/)

New Beginnings This link will open a new browser window.
(http://www.newbegin.org/)

Seattle Counseling Service This link will open a new browser window.
(http://www.seattlecounseling.org)

Sound Mental Health This link will open a new browser window.
(http://www.smh.org/)


Overview

The King County collaboration is comprised of representatives from local government, a county-wide domestic violence coalition, a community-based domestic violence organization, a community-based mental health organization, and two organizations that provide mental health, chemical dependency, and domestic violence services. The latter two organizations specialize in services for the Spanish-speaking immigrant community and the LGBT community respectively.  As a recipient of the 2007 Office on Violence Against Women's Disability Grant Program, the collaboration formally adopted the name the Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project. 

The vision of the Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project is that domestic violence, mental health, chemical dependency and related organizations will be able to provide quality services to survivors of domestic violence who have disabilities in a manner that embraces their diversity.

The mission of the Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project is to facilitate sustainable systems change within and among the participating organizations to better meet the mental health, safety and self-determination needs of survivors of domestic violence who have been traumatized or whose existing mental health problems have been exacerbated by domestic violence. The participating organizations will strive to make services more accessible, holistic, and integrated, to work more collaboratively together, and to effectively utilize reciprocal consultation.

Since the King County collaboration partner organizations all provide either domestic violence or mental health services, or both, and since they identified a significant need for service improvements and internal changes related to survivors with mental health care needs, they decided to focus their efforts on creating change for survivors of domestic violence who have a disabling mental health problem as a result of trauma or whose existing mental health problems have been exacerbated by domestic violence, and who are accessing services at Consejo Counseling and Referral Service, New Beginnings, Seattle Counseling Service or Sound Mental Health. 
 
In order to effectively improve services and create change in their organizations, the King County collaboration took part in a planning and development process that included activities to:  strengthen their collaboration, identify their focus, learn about the needs and strengths in their organizations, and develop a concrete plan for addressing those needs. After successfully completing a strategic plan for how to improve their organizations' response to survivors with mental health concerns, the Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project has started to implement that plan. 

Planning For Change

This section contains files that document the King County collaboration's planning and development process, including their efforts to: strengthen their collaboration; identify their needs and strengths; and strategically plan for change in their partner agencies.

Strengthening Their Collaboration

As part of the planning phase of their grant project, the King County collaboration worked on strengthening their collaboration.  They collectively determined and agreed upon:  member roles and responsibilities; a vision and a mission; shared values; decision making and conflict resolution policies; policies on confidentiality; communications and work plans; and relevant definitions.  Their collaboration charter summarizes these decisions.  The Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project's collaboration charter is available in both a PDF version and a Text Version below. 

Identifying Their Needs & Strengths

After strengthening their collaboration and building a strong foundation to work from, the King County collaboration formulated a detailed plan for determining the needs and strengths in their organizations.  The collaboration then completed an in-depth organizational assessment process to determine the needs of survivors with mental health concerns.  The King County collaboration paid particular attention not only to the issues of accessibility and responsiveness of services for survivors with mental health concerns, but also the cultural competency of services for the Spanish-speaking immigrant community and for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer community.  Through these organizational assessments at each of their direct service provider partner agencies, they spoke to board members, leadership, staff and the individuals served in each of these agencies.  In total, the Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project engaged 197 people in their needs and strengths assessment process.  The King County collaboration subsequently created a report outlining their key findings. 

The Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project found that their needs and strengths assessment addressed three key questions regarding service provision: 1.) who can get in; 2.) do needs get met; and 3.) how can they do better.  Key findings with regards to "who can get in" identified needs surrounding:  service provider capacity to serve survivors with mental health concerns due to high demands placed on service providers and the complex needs of survivors with mental health concerns; accessibility of services including where providers excel and the areas where there is room for improvement; and the need to review screening processes as a one size fits all approach does not meet the needs of survivors with mental health concerns.  Surrounding the question of "do needs get met", key findings of service quality, including the need for an integrated, quality service system that supports a service recipient as a whole person, and barriers to collaboration (for example, philosophical differences) were identified.  With regards to "how they can do better" findings on how to share strengths, increasing knowledge and communication, and partner agency's readiness for change were identified.  The Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project's Needs and Strengths Assessment Report is available in both a PDF Version and a Text Version below.  Additionally, brief Project Summaries for both service providers and service recipients, including a version in Spanish, are included below in both PDF and Text Versions. 

Developing Their Plan for Change

Building on the strengths of their organizations the King County collaboration created a detailed plan to address the needs identified in their organizational assessment.  The Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project has committed to four immediate initiatives to create change in their organizations, as well as to exploring several long term initiatives.  Their short-term initiatives include:  1.) Integrating understanding of best practices in creating welcoming environments.  2.) Enhancing knowledge of domestic violence, mental health and related issues among staff or partner agencies on an ongoing basis.  3.)  Strengthening issue identification and response among partner agencies.  4.) Increasing collaboration and communication among partner agencies. All of the King County collaboration's change initiatives have something in common, they are all about building trust.  A service recipient who participated in their needs and strengths assessment asked of them, "Trust me like I trust you."  The Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration project hopes that the change initiatives are working on will result in service providers and recipients having greater trust for one another and reaping the rewards of improved services and greater stronger collaborative relationships.  By working together, they believe they can earn that trust.           

Enhancing Organizational Capacity

The Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project is currently in the process of implementing changes to enhance each of their direct service partner agencies' capacity to serve survivors with mental health concerns.  This section will contain links to the promising practices they are creating.  Please check back periodically for new information. 

Contact Information

King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Alison Iser, Project Director, Domestic Violence & Mental Health Collaboration Project
206-568-5454 (v)
alison@kccadv.org