I have shown up perfectly zero percent of the time. One of my lifetime burdens is unlearning this desire for perfection. Perfect is not possible. This past week I have done some digging into trauma-informed care and am looking forward tomorrow’s day one of our Behavioral Health Summit for Kody Russell, MSW, Executive Director of…

June is pride month. My feelings about pride today come from knowing that Stonewall was a riot led by trans women of color. These people that I will never know putting their bodies at risk led to me being able to marry my wife, to file taxes as a single household, to grow our family…

  I am thinking about violence against people of color – violence from law enforcement and also violence from within the medical system. I am thinking about the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and so many others. I am thinking about our individual actions and also how working within the healthcare space…

COVID-19 has destabilized our world. People are more stressed, anxious, depressed, and simply tired than ever before. I know that we will see the impact of this on increased rates of alcohol use, drug use, and suicide rates as time goes on. We need our health care system to be able to handle this increased…

I have noticed that more and more of us are willing to talk about how we are feeling. This may be one of the more positive changes from the COVID-19 pandemic. So many of my meetings now start with an emotional check in – colleagues will report having an off day, an extra anxious day,…

We are living through a strange and stressful time. The word unprecedented, although completely accurate, has been a bit overused. Our usual lives seem far away. Like so many, Bree Collaborative staff are thinking about the huge need for behavioral health services that exists in our community and that has only increased due to this…

COVID-19 has altered all our lives. I continue to have conversations with loved ones about the increased stress we are all feeling and trying to remember that we do not always have to see the bright side to every situation. I can sit with the feeling that bad things are bad, understanding, that the discomfort…

Since joining the Bree Collaborative as the Implementation Manager this past Fall, I have been completely in awe of the breadth and scope of work the Bree Collaborative recommendations cover.  That said, the idea of trying to implement all 30+ recommendations around the entire state seemed like a daunting and impossible task that might never…

We know that acts of violence against others are rare. We also know that the vast majority of people with behavioral health conditions, including mental illness and substance use disorders, do not engage in violent behavior. Acts of violence are, however, hugely significant for those involved and therefore significant to society and for our health…

The Bree Collaborative is proud of our work in 2019 and thankful for our dedicated Bree Collaborative members and our many workgroup members who have donated countless hours to improve health care quality, outcomes, and affordability in Washington State. This last year we developed recommendations for palliative care, shared decision making, those at risk of…