Links: lifegiving integrated network of key supports - educational service district (ESD) 112's proposed project, lifegiving integrated network of key support (links), would create a comprehensive…

Links: lifegiving integrated network of key supports - educational service district (ESD) 112's proposed project, lifegiving integrated network of key support (links), would create a comprehensive system of care to serve children, youth, and young adults aged birth to 21, in a six-county region in southwest washington state who have, or are at risk for, serious emotional disturbance (SED) and their families. According to the washington healthy youth survey (2021), the youth in ESD 112's region have high rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and adverse childhood experiences. Moreover, youth who experience these problems are disproportionately bipoc, not cisgender, lgbtq+, and more likely to have food insecurity compared to all youth in the region. The specific goals of the implementation of the links project are: 1. Create a comprehensive system of care that meets the varied needs of children, youth, and young adults at risk for or with SED and their families and caregivers. 2. Increase access to and connect youth with or at risk for SED and their families to the full spectrum of evidence-based, trauma- and grief-informed, and culturally appropriate mental health and related services. 3. Reduce disparity in services provided to youth with or at risk of SED from underserved and minority populations. 4. Prevent the occurrence of suicide among youth with or at risk for SED. To achieve these goals, the project will create a system of care governance board and a family & youth advisory council, provide comprehensive trauma- and grief-informed mental health and related supportive services to youth with or at risk for SED and their family members, develop collaborative partnerships with community-based organizations, conduct outreach with underserved populations to reduce disparity, and implement suicide prevention/intervention/ postvention strategies to reduce the occurrence of suicide among the region's youth. The project plans to provide mental health and related supportive services to approximately 2,700 children over the four years of the project.