King County announces operator for third crisis care center
Local nonprofit MultiCare Behavioral Health will operate a future mental health crisis center in South King County, the county Department of Community and Human Services announced Thursday.
A location has not yet been determined for the center, which will cover the geographic area of Auburn, Covington, Kent, Federal Way and Renton.
The center will be part of a network of five walk-in mental health centers that are the keystone of King County's plans for an expanded behavioral health system. Anyone can receive care for urgent mental health or substance use needs at the centers, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay for care.
One center is open now, in Kirkland, and a second is planned for Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Connections Health Solutions, an Arizona-based private behavioral health company, operates the Kirkland center and will operate the future Seattle center.
MultiCare is a nonprofit health care provider based in Tacoma that runs a number of hospitals and clinics throughout the state, including Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue, Tacoma General Hospital and Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. In South King County, it operates MultiCare Auburn Medical Center and MultiCare Covington Medical Center.
The company already provides a range of mental health and substance use disorder care and operates the Wellfound Behavioral Health Hospital in Tacoma. It's also affiliated with Navos Behavioral Health, which operates an inpatient mental health center in West Seattle and outpatient centers in Burien.
Choosing MultiCare to operate our Crisis Care Center in South King County ensures that residents in one of our fastest-growing regions have a therapeutic place - and a provider they already trust - when they need help most, interim DCHS director Susan McLaughlin said in a news release.
MultiCare will partner with local jurisdictions to find a location for the center, a news release said. The operator will also be responsible for community outreach as planning moves forward - a process King County was criticized for by some Capitol Hill community members and businesses, who said the county didn't sufficiently engage with them as it planned a center in a busy urban area.
Once a location is chosen for the center, MultiCare will also establish a Good Neighbor Policy and create a community advisory board.
The county is seeking bids for a provider to run a crisis center in East King County, a region including Bellevue and Redmond and stretching east to Snoqualmie Pass. It will open another round of procurement later this year to select a provider for a center that will focus on serving youth.
The county plans to have all five centers open by 2030.
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