Title
A MOTION requesting that the executive utilize an existing task force convened to develop sustainable solutions to the psychiatric boarding crisis, to review and recommend short- and long-term sustainable solutions for prevention, early intervention and least-restrictive alternatives for individuals in mental health and substance abuse crisis.
Body
WHEREAS, the personal and public tolls related to individuals experiencing mental health and substance abuse crises are growing each year, and
WHEREAS, the boarding of psychiatric patients in hospital emergency rooms and acute care centers because space is not available at certified psychiatric treatment facilities is a major problem in King County, with over sixty-four percent of involuntarily detained individuals held on single bed certifications in 2012, and
WHEREAS, Washington state has broadened the criteria for involuntary commitment of people with mental illness, while simultaneously closing hospital wards, cutting state funding for mental health treatment and failing to fund bed space for inpatient psychiatric treatment, and
WHEREAS, since 2007 the caseload for King County's involuntary treatment court has grown faster than any other category of superior court cases, increasing by fifty-four percent according to 2013 data, and
WHEREAS, Washington state ranks near the bottom of the country for psychiatric treatment beds per capita, ranking forty-seventh of all states, and
WHEREAS, on August 7, 2014, the Washington state Supreme Court ruled that hospital boarding of individuals in mental health crisis, absent medical need, is unlawful, and
WHEREAS, through policy, programs and services, including the programs and services funded in part by the mental illness dependency sales tax, King County is taking action to increase mental health and substance abuse treatment capacity to prevent mental health and substance abuse crises from occurring and to provide treatment in the appropriate setting,...

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