Pierce County Human Services

Dear taxpayers, partners, colleagues, and elected officials,

I have started writing this message many times over the last two years of my five-year tenure as the Pierce County Human Services Director. There has been a fair amount of press – mostly negative – in that time about the state of homelessness in Pierce County. Recent local coverage of this very important issue facing our community is missing two important things: context and balance.  I’d like to offer both.

First, let’s start with context:

• Addressing homelessness is one of the most important challenges facing our society today. While local governments bear some of the responsibility to respond, no jurisdiction alone can solve their community’s homelessness problem. We need our partners – including other cities and towns, the state government, local service providers, advocacy groups, and volunteers – to be working on solutions together. 
• There is no easy way to solve the crisis of homelessness. Individuals who become homeless often do so because of a breakdown in many other parts of their lives: family breakup, poor health or medical emergency, job loss or other economic problem, and lack of affordable housing. Each of these requires lots of effort to resolve, and often people sleeping on the streets and in shelters are dealing with more than one, or sometimes all, of these setbacks.
• Everyone has an opinion about how to address homelessness, and a LOT of people (elected officials at all levels, funders, advocacy groups) have requirements, best practices, priorities, and guidance we are compelled to follow. Being responsive to multiple leaders and drivers in this space can be hard to do, if not downright contradictory.
• Homelessness does not end at anyone’s borders, so it takes collaboration and partnership across the social service system network (first responders, libraries, businesses, medical providers, schools) and across jurisdictional boundaries. Pierce County Human Services (PCHS) works regularly with cities and towns to identify challenges and collaborate on solutions, and together we involve and amplify the voices of those with lived experience.
• By our common (but not perfect) annual Homeless Point-in-Time measure, homelessness has increased this year by 24% from last year (and 79% since 2019). As the crisis grows, the response has grown with it. Although Pierce County is only one of the funders of local homeless services, our investment alone has grown from $14.6M in expenditures in 2019 to $75.7M budgeted to be spent in 2024, which includes $23M in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)funds. Our primary goal when making public investments is to grow the system in a way that balances meeting the need along with our ongoing ability to fund the system we build.
• Despite the increased funding in recent years, the need is still greater than resources can meet. For example, we estimated in the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness it would take approximately $157M per year to fully fund a homeless response system. Until or unless we get to that level of sustained funding, our system will be insufficient to meet demand.

• To be successful in moving individuals from homelessness, we need more available, accessible, and affordable permanent housing. In Pierce County one-third of all residents are cost burdened. Over the past 10 years housing costs have far outpaced incomes. Housing costs are unaffordable to most low-income families unless they are publicly subsidized. The county is currently invested in approximately 1,500 new affordable housing units across Pierce County that are in various stages of development and will come online in the next two years, but according to the Housing Action Strategy, that is not enough.

“To meet the current and future demand of affordable housing, Pierce County needs to build at least 2,300 affordable housing units per year for over the next 20 years.”

-Pierce County Housing Action Strategy

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Next, I would like to offer a more balanced perspective of the homeless response efforts across our county. I am not suggesting we are getting this right 100% of the time, but our wins outweigh our losses in this area. Consider the following:

• PCHS worked with a steering committee to write the Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness (CPEH), which was then approved and supported by both the County Executive and the County Council in 2022. The plan lays out six goals to more effectively address homelessness in Pierce County. The County Council has allocated approximately $10M to work on implementation of the plan. You can find out more about the plan and our progress here.
• Pierce County routinely publishes performance data for a wide array of county delivered and funded services. There’s a page dedicated to our homelessness programs and investments where you can learn all about system and provider performance. We are also partnering with a national research group to study and improve our Eviction Prevention Program, to help families before they enter our homeless system. You can find more information on our research and evaluation efforts here.
• In the past five years, through the pandemic and as our homeless population continues to grow, we’ve explored and invested in several innovative initiatives: funding “cultural hubs” that provide customized homeless services to underserved minority populations; awarding funds to a provider to operate a one-stop, 24/7, county-wide shelter access hub; investing in multiple sites offering non-congregate shelter, including two hotel conversions; building an expanded pool of service providers by offering local funding and technical assistance; expanding medical respite beds so people experiencing homelessness don’t have to recover outside after surgery; and initiating cross-discipline efforts with our Veteran and Behavioral Health divisions.

• As the “collaborative applicant” (the fiscal and administrative agency) for our community’s Continuum of Care (COC), we’ve worked hard to bring more revenue and better outcomes to our homeless efforts. To improve our system, we and the CoC leadership sought technical assistance (TA) provided earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  The TA consultant gave us many good ideas including clarifying the roles of the collaborative applicant and the CoC Board to further streamline our work, making structural changes to increase diversity, improving transparency through better communication, finalizing a new governance charter with equity at the foundation, and drafting a five-year plan that aligns with the CPEH, many of which we are already beginning to implement.

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Homelessness is more than a social issue — it’s a political one. Policy and funding debates shape how we respond to homelessness, often feeling like a game of “political football.” When homelessness becomes campaign fodder, it’s easy to lose sight of the people we’re trying to help.

At PCHS, we are stewards of public resources, and take this responsibility seriously. Our small team works tirelessly to ensure that funds are used efficiently to help people move from the streets into stable housing. We strive for transparency, welcome feedback, and remain open to honest, constructive criticism.

At its core, this work is about people helping people.

County staff, nonprofit workers, volunteers, and CoC partners all bring compassion and dedication to this challenging work. They connect individuals to services, operate shelters, distribute supplies, and refer people to critical health care—all in the face of (often harsh) public scrutiny.

I encourage you to stay informed, get involved, and seek a balanced view. Solving homelessness requires a proactive, collaborative effort from all of us.

And while I have your attention, PCHS also provides other important services in our community, from free, high-quality early learning to home-based supports for seniors who need regular assistance.  Learn more here.

Thanks for your partnership, support and critical questioning. We are all better for it.

From one “good-hearted soul” to another — Heather

Greetings, partners!

I hope you are enjoying these late summer days. 2024 just seems to be flying by! As you likely know, life is busy here in Pierce County, and especially busy for us in the county government world: continuous procurements and contracts (always a crowd pleaser!), new opioid settlement funding, growing needs of our veterans, seniors, and individuals experiencing homelessness…oh, and an election of a new County Executive and a couple seats on the County Council. Busy times. 

Connecting in the Community

Amidst that craziness, the Human Services leadership team has not forgotten the importance of spending in-person time together, getting out of our daily comfort zones, and connecting with our valuable community partners. We’ve been going on site visits to see providers across the community. I personally have also been reaching out to connect one-on-one with some of our highest-funded partners so I can hear from them (you!) about what’s going on in the community, how services are being delivered, and what we can do to be better partners. I’m so grateful to have those conversations because they help me, and our department, improve our work. Here’s a taste of what I heard:

• Our partners appreciate the relationships they have with our staff, and in-person meetings are important.
• Despite the pandemic being over and the massive flood of emergency funding drying up, needs for critical services are still high in Pierce County.
• Providers are often struggling alongside their clients – too much work, insufficient resources, burned out staff, and disconnected communities.

A Big Thanks

And, as for those team site visits – I want to share a big THANK YOU to the following agencies for hosting our department leadership team, sharing a bit about their programs, and giving us a chance to be a part of the action!

• GoodRoots Northwest: Stacey and her team are transforming the way we address food insecurity. If you haven’t checked out GoodRoots in Bonney Lake, go!
• Tacoma Community House: Aimee welcomed us to use their conference room, and our whole leadership team volunteered in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class.
• Horses Guiding Humans: Sholeh and her crew showed us around their farm and let us hang out with some beautiful horses (and a donkey 😉).
• Next up…serving lunch at Tacoma Rescue Mission with Duke!

If you want to connect, please reach out. I’m always open to your input and a visit, and I might even ask if the whole Human Services leadership team can tag along!

Regards – Heather

PS.  Our communications team made a video when we visited Horses Guiding Humans last month, showcasing their unique program of equine therapy. You can check it out here.

When was the last time you reflected on your ability to:

• Walk down a gravelly path at the park?
• Hear the voice of a friend?
• See an eagle flying in the air?
• Think through the process of baking a cake?
• Scratch yourself when you have an itch?
• Write your own name?
• Take a deep breath?
• Recognize your family members when they walk into a room?

Not frequently, I’m guessing. Given that these tasks come so easily for the most of us, we simply take for granted how fortunate we are to be able to complete them.

For 1 in 10 Pierce County residents these tasks are not simple, and some are downright impossible due to sensory, emotional, psychiatric, and physical disabilities. This means roughly 100,000 Pierce County residents have a disability that can make living in an environment for people without disabilities extremely challenging. And that’s just the number of people with a recognized disability. There are many more working through the challenging process to identify their disability.

It is so important that we, as public servants, take the time to actively learn about and consciously consider the barriers that a large portion of our population struggle with. This is especially vital when we are communicating with our customers; making policy, funding, and planning decisions; designing ways for our community members to connect with us or apply for services; deciding which agencies to contract with; etc. It is also crucial that we encourage people with disabilities to apply for positions within Pierce County and other jurisdictions, as well as serve on advisory boards and committees, to remind us of our responsibility to value and care for all members of our community.

July is Disability Pride Month, a perfect time to improve our awareness and engagement on the journey toward disability equity. On July 26, 1990 (only 34 years ago!), the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. This landmark legislation prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including employment, transportation, housing and access to various government programs and services. 

To celebrate this month, I will be working through the “21-Day Disability Equity Habit Building Challenge,” created by the ABA Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council in honor of Disability Pride Month, and I encourage you to join me! The challenge includes a syllabus of short assignments that only take 10-20 minutes a day and includes lots of helpful and educational resources. It is free and will assist in “learning more about the issues that are important to members of the disability community —many of whom are from other marginalized communities.”

I will also be displaying the Disability Pride flag on my email signature for the month of July (Heather-approved!), which will be my daily reminder to take moments to pause and reflect on the challenges people with disabilities face, as well as the incredible daily achievements they must make to navigate our “able-bodied” world.

One of my clients who needs a wheelchair once said, “I don’t mind being in a wheelchair, but I do mind how hard society has made it to be in a wheelchair.”

If you can’t commit to the 21 Day Challenge, here are some other ideas to celebrate Disability Pride month:

1. Read a book by an author with disabilities.
2. Host a movie night that features a film focusing on individuals with disabilities. (The Speed Cubers on Netflix is wonderful!)
3. Encourage the hiring of people with disabilities. As of 2024, 85% of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are unemployed. Of those who are employed, less than 20% get to enjoy workplace benefits or work more than 13 hours per week. 
4. Advocate for practices at your workplace that would enhance communication with residents we serve with disabilities.
5. Support or shop with businesses owned by people with disabilities.
6. Get involved. Find local organizations to volunteer, donate or advocate.

Before I go, I want to leave you with the description of the Disability Pride flag and what each color means.

The charcoal gray background commemorates those who have died due to ableism, violence, suicide, illnesses, etc. as well as a statement against the mistreatment of disabled people.

The colors are purposefully diagonal to symbolize cutting through the barriers that people with disabilities face.

The green stripe is for people with sensory disabilities. 

The blue stripe is for people with mental health disabilities. 

The white stripe is for people with undiagnosed disabilities who are still on their journey of self-discovery and acceptance, 

The gold stripe is for people with neurodivergent disabilities. 

The red stripe is for people with physical disabilities.

Thank you for reading.

Kris Dowling, Social Services Program Specialist

Kris Dowling is a Program Specialist with Pierce County Human Services Aging and Disability Resources, and her programs include Health Homes, Care Transitions, Family Caregiver Support, and Medicaid Alternative Care (MAC)/Tailored Supports for Older Adults (TSOA).  Kris has worked as a social worker for seniors and people with disabilities for 20 years. 

This guest blog was written by Stefanie Love, Human Services Coordinator for Pierce County Human Services.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility and belonging (DEIAB). These aren’t just abstract principles of workplace culture, but rather, these are values that we must prioritize in all our work across the Human Services Department. I love to cook so I’ll use this analogy: DEIAB must be baked into to everything we create.

My job is to lead our department’s efforts in accessibility and equity. I’m often in the community providing education and outreach so residents know who we are and what we do. I engage with community agencies and organizations to support current relationships and create new connections. A vital part of my work is to support internal collaboration and learning, so I lead Advancing Equity, an initiative focusing on specific efforts to eliminate structural and institutional racism in our department and community. I’m also helping to coordinate our outreach efforts to improve geographical equity and I’m working to support our department’s strategic plan goals related to demographic data collection and utilization. We are actively working to develop a language access plan and procedures, in hopes that all our staff will be confident in helping community members access our services in their preferred language.

Improving geographic equity around our outreach efforts is a vital component of our department’s Strategic Plan. We want to meet people where they are and make it easier to access services where they live. Connecting not just with potential clients, but also with potential providers, is something that we’ve focused outreach efforts on. To develop strong external partnerships that support the needs of the community, we need to be accessible as a partner regardless of providers size or experience with public funding.

So how are we making Human Services more accessible? Developed in partnership with the Equity Action Collaborative (hosted by the Tacoma Pierce County Health Department), the Human Services Language Library (see picture above) is our department’s first step toward language access. The Language Library hosts documents and information about our programs and services in the top 6 languages spoken in Pierce County – English, Spanish, Samoan, Russian, Vietnamese and Korean. We also offer online resources to support groups or agencies who may struggle with capacity to seek funding through grants, whether from us or other sources. The Grant Resources webpage offers information on grant funding, tips for submitting applications, grant searching tools and other resources.

I’m excited about our opportunity to serve more of our language-diverse neighbors and our plans to continue language library expansion as we learn more about our county’s needs. We will share more with you as we continue to evolve!

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Thanks for reading.

-Stefanie Love

Greetings, friends, and partners of Pierce County Human Services (PCHS),

Last month, March, was Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. We recognized this designation with an all-staff “lunch and learn” where providers, clients, and PCHS staff shared information and insights about supporting or being individuals with developmental disabilities. Although the month of recognition has now passed, I want to share with you some of what I learned:

The Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984 established much of the system we have today. The Act set a goal to enable people with developmental disabilities “to achieve their maximum potential through increased independence, productivity, and integration into the community.” The Act also created State Developmental Disabilities Councils in all states and territories that provide training to individuals, families, and service delivery systems. In 1990, President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Act expanded from the 1984 goals of independence, integration, and productivity toward interdependence, inclusion, and recognition of individual contributions. Today, we acknowledge that abilities come in many forms.

While our family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors with developmental disabilities are facing the same struggles we all face, they often experience them more significantly:

• Education Challenges: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted individuals with disabilities. Disruptions in education, employment, health care, and social services have been amplified. Parents often took on full-time caregiving roles while also stepping into new roles as special educators, speech therapists, and behavior therapists. This has been exhausting and frustrating for many families.
• Social Isolation: Many people with intellectual/developmental disabilities rely on public transportation and supports to help them get to work and access community activities. Lack of transportation, providers, and inaccessible community programs directly impacts individuals’ opportunity to work, make friends and participate in the activities that they want.
• Health Inequities and Coexisting Conditions: Persons with disabilities have twice the risk of developing conditions such as depression, asthma, diabetes, stroke, obesity, or poor oral health. Accessibility barriers, negative attitudes, lack of assistive technology, and inadequate healthcare contribute to these inequities.
• Economic Challenges: Washingtonians with disabilities experience high rates of poverty compared to those without disabilities; approximately 19.5% of people with disabilities have incomes below 100% of the poverty level, and 43% fall below 200% of the poverty level.
• Housing Insecurity: More than 37,000 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Washington State face housing insecurity. This estimate includes adults living with elderly family caregivers aged 60+ and those living independently or with roommates.
• Limited Access to Post-High School Programs: Programs beyond high school for adults with developmental disabilities are scarce. Limited hours, a lack of providers, and difficulties in finding services pose barriers to accessing necessary support.

Evolution of the social model of disability highlights the importance of universal design. Building and promoting community spaces and programs that support access and engagement of people of all abilities significantly reduces the disproportionate impacts referenced above. We all benefit when we create opportunity for belonging! Considering the important and growing need for DD services in our community, we recently reorganized our staff to give them more prominence within our department. I’m proud to share that Malissa Adame has recently accepted the position of managing our newest division, the Developmental Disabilities (DD) Division. Malissa and her team will continue to provide comprehensive, quality services to our DD community, now with the additional attention and visibility this work deserves. FUN FACT: every member of our DD team has either directly provided the services we fund or has a family member who’s benefited from them; they know their stuff!

The Developmental Disabilities Division is responsible for local planning and administration of a variety of programs that support individuals with developmental delays or disabilities and their families across the life span. All of DD’s programs are designed to support full inclusion of individuals with developmental delays and disabilities in their local community.  Direct services are provided by contracted providers. Services include Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT), Supported Employment, Community Inclusion, and Community Information and Outreach. In 2023:

• Our Employment and Community Inclusion Services provided Job Coaching and Retention support for 631 participants who worked in community-based employment settings earning minimum wage or higher.
• The department provided 188 individuals with Discovery, Assessment, Job Preparation and Job Development support as part of their pathway to employment, and 153 individuals received Community Inclusion services.
• The School-to-Work Program supported 72% of participating transition students to obtain a job.
• Our Early Support for Infants and Toddlers Program responded to 2,189 new referrals and provided developmental therapy and educational services to 2,805 infants and toddlers in their homes, childcare, or community- based settings.

Please check out our DD webpage for more information about the programs and community engagement opportunities; or check out one of these other sites to learn more:

• Developmental Disabilities | Pierce County, WA – Official Website (piercecountywa.gov) 
• ‘Nothing about us without us’ act would require more representation on legislative task forces, workgroups | king5.com – Our DD Advisory Board Co-Chair, Ivanova, is featured in this story!
• Myths & Facts about Inclusionary Practices (ospi.k12.wa.us) – From our State Superintendent of Public Instruction
• Informing Families | Navigating the future – Information for families about DD programs and navigating them
• Birth to Three Growth and Development Checklist

Our vision for Pierce County citizens with developmental disabilities is the same as for all citizens: vibrant communities with happy, healthy people. We have more to do here, but we have a strong team and partners dedicated to that vision.

In partnership,

Heather

Dear Partners and Colleagues –

THANK YOU!  In late January, Pierce County Human Services successfully conducted our annual Homeless Point-in-Time Count for 2024.  We could not have done it without our partners and volunteers.

The Point-in-Time Count is required each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Washington State Department of Commerce to collect data, identify trends, track historical data, and educate and engage our community. With the help of over 350 volunteers we were able to successfully survey and provide resources to our community’s most vulnerable individuals who are living without a home.

On behalf of Pierce County Human Services, I would like to thank our community partners who came together to make this event a success:

• The City of Tacoma offered critical outreach information and allowed United Way access to the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.
• County Executive Bruce Dammeier, the Pierce County Councilmembers, and several other elected officials and leaders from across Pierce County joined in our count. Participants included City of Tacoma Councilmembers, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, and State Representative Mari Leavitt.
• The United Way of Pierce County centered its Martin Luther King Jr Day of Service Event on convening nearly 150 volunteers to gather and create 3,000 hygiene bags distributed during the Homeless Point-in-Time Count.
• Many additional organizations and concerned citizens provided volunteer hours and donations, including food and cold-weather clothing, for the count:
  • Catholic Community Services of Western Washington
  • Multicultural Child and Family Hope Center
  • Tacoma-Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • Emergency Food Network
  • New Hope Resource Center
• Pierce County professional outreach staff scouted sites in advance and led teams of volunteers during the count.
• Officials from the Seattle regional office of Housing and Urban Development joined us in person Thursday so they could experience a local count firsthand.
• And of course, our 200 VOLUNTEERS for the Thursday afternoon count, the Thursday night overnight count, and the Friday count. All individuals in emergency shelter are accounted for through the Homeless Management Information System.

Following the investments of County Executive Dammeier and the Pierce County Council, we are pursuing the initiatives in our 2022 Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness (Comprehensive Plan to End Homelessness | Pierce County, WA – Official Website (piercecountywa.gov)) to ensure that homelessness in our community is brief and one-time.  Until we reach that goal, this annual count is critical so we receive the resources needed to help our neighbors without shelter.

Thanks again for another successful year of collecting important information and distributing essential supplies; this event could not happen without our partners. I’ll reach back out when we have data to share…probably in April or May of this year.

Heather Moss, Director

Dear Partners,

Since 2017, I’ve served as a Trustee for Bates Technical College in Tacoma.  It’s been such an amazing opportunity to support and advocate for one of our community’s educational institutions.  I have been humbled as I learn about the importance of technical college in our workforce pipeline and observe the passion and commitment our students have for their coursework.

This fall, I had the opportunity to represent Bates Technical College on a visit to China.  My husband, Scott, joined me and Bates’ Dean of Instruction, Yifan Sun, for a 12-day tour of Beijing and Zehngzhou, with a quick 2-day layover in Seoul, South Korea.

With a population of 1.4 billion, the scale of China is hard to wrap your head around.  Bicycles, people, geography – it’s all massive.  Beijing is home to over 20 million, and Zhengzhou is a “small” city of 10 million people.  Almost 1 in every 5 people on the planet is from China, and their recorded history goes back thousands of years.  There is so much to see in (and learn about) China, and we managed take in a few of the highlights:

• We saw Tiananmen Square, but it was blocked off for the world leaders attending the “Belt and Road Initiative” international summit. Lots of diplomatic cars and military troops.
• We toured the Forbidden City, along with a few thousand Chinese tourists (we didn’t see many foreigners).  The scale, construction, and elaborate design were all impressive.
• We walked on the Great Wall, which exists in multiple pieces rather than it’s original 2000+ miles.  Imagining what it would take to build such a structure hundreds of years ago, on the crest of a mountain range, is remarkable.
• We visited Shaolin Temple, an active monastery and the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and Kung Fu.  As we marveled at the young Buddhist monks demonstrating their kung fu skills, I wondered at the sacrifices they and their families made.
• The food deserves recognition on its own. We ate so many unique and special foods.  I estimate we tried over 50 new dishes in our short trip (fish, duck, seafood, tofu, pork, chicken, beef, and, oh! the vegetables), and they were all so wonderful. Wow. The only food I was not a fan of was fried chicken feet and lotus root. 

The primary purpose of our visit was to develop and nurture partnerships Bates has or would like to establish with private high schools and universities in China.  We visited 5 schools and met with agents who coordinate between schools in China and schools like Bates in the U.S. and other countries.  The Bates President, Lin Zhou, has worked hard to develop ‘study and teach abroad’ opportunities for our students and for Chinese nationals who want to learn here.  These opportunities are a great way for students and faculty to experience a new culture and develop a world perspective.  While we were in Beijing, Bates had a small group of students touring and studying in Shanghai, and we hope to continue and build on these visits.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that I will always treasure.  It made me reflect, though, on what I love about our own country. Despite its messiness at times, we are free to live wherever we want, everyone has the opportunity to succeed in life, when we see injustice, we can speak out, and our elected officials are accountable to voters. 

Oh, and pizza – I love that, too. 

Lastly, those who live in freedom will always be grateful to those who helped preserve it. Veterans – thank you for your sacrifice, bravery, and the example you set for us all. I hope everyone has a happy and proud Veteran’s Day and if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, check out these events in Pierce County:

• Nov. 11 at 10:45 AM – JBLM Veterans Day run https://bit.ly/47pPKr6
• Nov. 11 at 11 AM – Auburn Veterans Parade https://bit.ly/3udk61n
• Nov. 11 at 11:30 AM – Gig Harbor Veterans Day Celebration https://bit.ly/49tiPU5
• Nov. 12 at 2 PM – Puyallup Veterans Celebration and Concert https://bit.ly/463RnJW

Best,

Heather Moss

September is National Recovery Month! The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) started the National Recovery Month in 1989 to bring awareness to mental health and substance use disorder treatment. This year’s focus is Recovery is for Everyone: Every Person, Every Community, Every Family.

Recovery is for everyone seems a fitting theme for 2021. The pandemic has brought behavioral health issues to the forefront as more of us are feeling the impact of mental health and substance use disorders in our families and communities.

According to the Washington State Department of Health, as many as 2 million Washington State residents reported increased stress and anxiety, and almost 1.5 million experienced depression during the first year of the pandemic. The younger a person was, the more likely they were to experience these symptoms.

Despite the dramatic increase in the need for behavioral health treatment, less than half of those wanting help accessed care. Access to behavioral health treatment is an issue that affects all of us. Families and communities often carry the emotional and financial burden of untreated behavioral health disorders. The good news is there are effective and evidence-based prevention and treatment programs available.

Here are a few steps we can take during Recovery Month to celebrate the gains made by those in recovery:

Fight stigma

Behavioral health stigma occurs when we negatively view someone because they are experiencing a mental health or substance use disorder. Stigma harms those suffering and their families, and often discourages people from getting help because they assume their behavioral health concern means something negative about them as a person.

One way to fight stigma is to educate yourself on mental health and substance use disorders. Instead of falling for the stereotypes found in online media and entertainment, learn how prevalent behavioral health disorders are, what treatments are available, and how they impact individuals and families.

Get help for yourself and your loved ones

If you or someone you care about is experiencing depression, anxiety, substance use issues, or other concerns, get help from a qualified professional. Asking for help takes courage but it is the first step in the journey toward recovery. Find local qualified providers using our Behavioral Health Services Locator.

Tell your story

Sharing your recovery story gives hope to individuals and families facing similar problems. Someone might read your story and be encouraged in their own recovery. Others might seek help for the first time.

To celebrate recovery month, we are asking the community to share their stories with us to be featured on our website and social media channels. If you have a one to share, or know someone who does, please use this link to share your story.

You can read recovery stories from previous years on our website at www.piercecountywa.gov/recovery. Please know that your submission can be anonymous, and you have the option to share as much, or as little as you like.

If you need ideas to get you started, try these:

• How were you or a loved one affected by mental illness or substance use?
• What happened before you or your loved one received help?
• What helped you or your loved one on their path to recovery?
• How are you different today and how are you experiencing recovery?
• What else would you like others to know about recovery?

Remember, recovery is for everyone. No matter who you are or what you are facing there is hope for recovery and help is available. Our website has resources for families and providers, including maps that detail the local crisis system, should you or someone you know need to access these services. Lastly, please join us on August 31 via Zoom for the 3 p.m. Pierce County Council meeting, where they will proclaim September 2021 as Recovery Month.

If you are someone you care about is in crisis, please contact the Pierce County Crisis Line at 1-800-576-7764 or text 741-741. If you have a life-threatening illness or injury that needs immediate assistance, please call 9-1-1.

Thanks for reading.

Richard VanCleave, Behavioral Health Manager
Pierce County Human Services