Behavioral Health Catalyst September Learning Session: Update on Washington Thriving and Key Partnerships to Advance First Initiatives
On September 24th, 2026, Behavioral Health Catalyst (BHC) convened a learning session for funders to share updates on the systems change effort, Washington Thriving. BHC is currently supporting this public-private partnership to transform the behavioral health of children, youth, young adults, and families in Washington state, and its statewide implementation since the Strategic Plan's passing in the Washington State Legislature in early 2026.
This session was focused on the first initiatives of Washington Thriving’s implementation and mobilization of the resources needed to support them. This included sharing about early work with partner organizations, such as Bloom Works. BHC hosted guest speaker, Alyssa Fogel, from Bloom Works, to update the group on early research efforts around the first initiatives; as well as special guests Representative Lisa Callan, co-chair of Washington Thriving, and Senator David Frockt, Deputy Policy Director for Governor Ferguson, Healthcare, Housing, and Public Safety.
Washington Thriving has partnered with Bloom Works to do deep dive exploratory research into key topical areas connected to the first initiatives, an effort that is generously funded through Ballmer Group. This builds from work previously done with Bloom Works in the Strategic Planning process, and is thoughtfully integrating with other systems-level efforts.
Bloom Works
As Bloom Works states, “Washington’s behavioral health system isn’t working effectively towards a common vision, in part because there is no shared understanding of what’s necessary, what should happen first, or who’s responsible for coordinating efforts. In a system with so many nodes, there are many possible intervention points, but they aren’t all equally likely to be impactful.”
Washington Thriving, in partnership with Bloom Works, is working to change that status quo, starting with insights into areas such as K-12 student behavioral health and perinatal well-being, that will help shape the first initiatives. During the session, Alyssa highlighted key elements of Bloom Works’ early thinking and research. She also shared how Bloom Works is planning to develop insights and identify specific opportunities for action within the behavioral health system that will be considered for deeper exploration and evaluation in the coming phases of the work.
Stay tuned for further blogs on Bloom Works’ progress in this area soon!
Co-Investment Opportunities
In addition to hearing from Bloom Works at the session, the BHC team provided an update on co-investment opportunities for philanthropists to support Washington Thriving’s first initiatives.
Thus far, the funder collaborative has generously supported the hiring of the upcoming Washington Thriving Director in the Governor’s Office – pledging $450k to support the position. The Governor’s Office is in the process of hiring the Director now, with plans to start onboarding this Fall. We are endlessly grateful to our network for their support of this effort!
In addition to this role, our team reiterated opportunities for the funder collaborative to support additional key Washington Thriving infrastructure priorities.
These include funding workstreams focused on developing:
Clear outcomes and a dashboard to enable cross-agency understanding and implementation
A deeper understanding of workforce needs and an investment roadmap to address them
A fiscal “map” demonstrating where funding exists and how it can be best leveraged
For more information about these or other specific opportunities for philanthropy, please reach out to BHC at info@bhcatalyst.org.
Thank you to our speakers, collaborators, and network for making this session — and our exploration of these issues more broadly — possible.