‘Critical and vital’ Whatcom County addiction, mental health program in peril
It’s not uncommon for law enforcement officers responding to 911 calls to be met with familiar faces. Oftentimes, community members — especially those dealing with addiction or behavioral health issues — come in contact with the criminal justice system multiple times.
Whatcom County has made various efforts to reduce recidivism over the years. In 2020, it introduced a new path to help keep people out of jail: the LEAD program.
LEAD, or Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, is a model of intervention that has been implemented across the country. Instead of sending people to jail, the LEAD program connects them with resources. The program also works with people referred by first responders and other community sources.
The program currently serves 140 individuals in Whatcom County. Its nine-member staff works with partner agencies in law enforcement, health care and the legal system.
Malora Christensen, manager of Whatcom County Health and Community Services’ Response Systems Division, said the LEAD program — which her division oversees — has been “extremely well received.”
Christensen said she’s seen LEAD program participants regain custody of their children, go back to school, enter addiction recovery and gain employment because of the program’s support.
However, Christensen said the LEAD program’s capacity to help members of the community would be significantly reduced if the state’s proposed budget is put into place.
The proposed budget would get rid of the state’s Recovery Navigator Program, which funds roughly half of the county’s LEAD program. Without this money, Christensen said Whatcom County Health and Community Services would have to lay off four or five LEAD program employees and “significantly” reduce their caseload.
She said they would continue to do their best to work with existing clients, but would not be able to take on any new cases until they made it down to the new capacity.
The Recovery Navigator Program was enacted in 2021 in conjunction with the Blake decision, which decriminalized drug possession in Washington. About 7,000 Washingtonians were enrolled in case management through the program in the 2024 fiscal year, according to the Washington State Health Care Authority.
Prior to the receipt of this money, Whatcom County’s LEAD program was funded by Department of Justice grants. Christensen said that in the current “budget climate” there is no way to replace the funds from the Recovery Navigator Program that would be lost.
Sen. June Robinson (D-Everett), the primary sponsor and lead of the budget, said in an email to The Herald that she’s “received a lot of feedback on the Senate operating budget regarding the elimination of funding for the Recovery Navigator Program.”
“I understand this program is important to local communities, and it will be reconsidered during the budget conference process,” Robinson said. “However, we face a significant shortfall in our operating budget and must reduce spending across all agencies and programs.”
Community partners
Law enforcement officers are some of the primary referral sources for the LEAD program.
Bellingham Police Department spokesperson Claudia Murphy said the program gives officers “another option” when it comes to interacting with people, particularly those with frequent contact with police.
“It would be a crying shame for us to lose that funding,” Murphy said. “Quite frankly, it feels like it is the exact opposite of what the state legislature demanded of communities” with the Blake decision.
Alexis Hahs, who serves on Whatcom County’s Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force, also raised the issue of the state’s emphasis on criminal justice system reform in recent years. Hahs also directs the Men’s Low Intensity Residential Treatment Program for Lifeline Connections, a nonprofit focused on substance abuse and mental health treatment.
Hahs spoke to The Herald as an individual, making clear that she does not represent the task force.
“The idea of (the LEAD program) going away as an option is pretty scary for our community members,” Hahs said.
Hahs said that LEAD program participants she’s spoken to have shared how helpful it was to have a single point of contact rather than attempting to navigate the system alone.
She called the program “critical and vital,” and said a decrease in the number of people it could help would be “a huge detriment to the community.” She said fewer people in the program also would likely mean higher rates of recidivism and reliance on hospital systems for mental health and addiction-related crises.
“Programs like LEAD give our legal system some hope that people can recover and people can find wellness,” Christensen said. “We know this type of intervention works.”