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Where mission
and heart meet behavioral health, from the very start. |
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Welcome to the June 2025 issue of Prenatal - 5: Grow & Thrive - HCA’s monthly newsletter about our behavioral health work in the early years of life. We hope that this newsletter helps build shared awareness of HCA’s efforts in this area and provides a centralized place to stay up to date on what’s new and happening. |
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Mental health parity is a term that means health insurers must cover services for mental health and substance abuse disorders the same way as they do for medical and surgical services. In Washington state, many private health insurance plans must follow the Washington State Mental Health Parity Act.
Washington House Bill 1432, signed by the Governor on May 12, updates the Washington State Mental Health Parity Act. One change is that the definition of mental health disorders now includes the DC:0-5. The DC:0-5™ (Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood) is a federally recommended diagnostic manual for infants and young children.
State law already required the use of the DC:0-5 for young children enrolled in Apple Health (Medicaid). The passage of HB 1432 is an important step towards making sure young children and their families have access to mental health care, regardless of insurance type.
The People Powered Workforce project is a legislatively created initiative to design a cohesive strategy to expand, diversify, train, and retain the Infant and Early Childhood workforce in Washington State. The final report has now been published, centering the voices and lived experiences of those working directly with children and families.
Visit the interactive website to explore the findings, listen to the stories, and take part in advancing the bold ideas shared by the workforce to transform the field
Washington Thriving is working on a plan to make Washington State's behavioral health system work better for pregnant people, babies, kids, teens, and young adults (ages 0-25) and their caregivers and families – so they can get what they need when they need it and thrive.
The third survey in the Washington Thriving feedback survey series is now live. This survey focuses on expanding comprehensive offerings for prenatal-through-age-25 Washingtonians, their caregivers and families. The 20-25 minutes you spend today on this survey could improve services and supports for Washington families for many years to come!
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July 24, 2025 | 11 a.m. to noon: Join HCA at our next virtual IECMH Office Hours to hear about updates about HCA's past, present, and future IECMH work, and to celebrate the many community partners who made it possible. Please note that this event will be recorded.
Can’t attend? Read the IECMH at HCA brief to learn about our updates.
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June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and while we often think of mothers with perinatal mental health challenges, we know that at least 1 in 10 fathers will experience challenges as well. Perinatal Support Washington recognizes the often-overlooked needs of dads in our community, through our commitment to inclusive care.
Our Warm Line Dad Specialist, Nathan Friend, offers a supportive, confidential space for fathers through his weekly Dads Support Group, and by assisting callers on the Warm Line, our entry point to services.
Nathan shares themes he sees amongst the dads that he serves: "First, I’ll say that the dads that I work with are all trying really hard -they are facing serious challenges, but they all want to be good dads; the effort and the commitment are so strong. Second, many are struggling in their relationships with their spouse or partner. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders are extremely hard on relationships, and the increased stress and decreased sleep lead to a lot of challenges in communication and understanding. Finally, I’d say that these dads are experiencing a lot of sadness and grief and isolation. Because of so many of the lessons about manhood that we’ve been taught in the US, their grief becomes self-destructive and it shows up as anger, resentment, and social withdrawal. So, a lot of my work is helping dads get to the sadness underneath –sadness that parenthood isn’t what they expected, sadness over a lack of control or a loss of self, etc."
If you or anyone you know is in need of help with the emotional transition to parenthood, please call or text 1-888-404-7763, or join PS-WA’s Dads Support group, which meets virtually every Tuesday from 8-9:30pm.
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June marks Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and this month’s Spotlight is about perinatal mental health for dads, so our question is:
How do you support dads in your life?
To participate, click the link below, which will take you to a Menti poll site. Once you’ve completed the poll, you can click ‘View the Results’ on the next screen to see how other readers voted. Tune in next month to see the final results!
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You can find earlier editions of this newsletter on our IECMH webpage, under IECMH updates.
Prenatal – 5: Grow & Thrive is also a spin-off newsletter of HCA’s Prenatal – 25: Thrive newsletter, which focuses on behavioral health for the entire age span of pregnancy to early adulthood. If you missed it, check out the most recent edition of the P-25 Thrive newsletter.
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If you have any questions about this newsletter, please email us.
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