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Where mission
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Welcome to the December 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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This month, we are excited to share five new opportunities to dive into the DC:0-5. Whether you have taken the DC:0-5 training or not, there are opportunities for you. New offerings include trainings, communities of practice, and focus groups facilitated by national experts and Washington state leaders – all at no cost for Apple Health providers. Jump to the Events section of the newsletter to register today.
Health Care Authority (HCA) has launched new tools to help Washington’s health care providers and first responders learn about the life-saving power of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). MOUD like buprenorphine and methadone are an underused tool in the fight against the opioid epidemic; they lower risk of death by 50%, but are prescribed to less than 10% of patients. For pregnant patients, this is especially important - MOUD are considered the first-line therapy options, but are prescribed to less than half of pregnant patients with opiate use disorders.
From deep dives and quick tips, to stories from real Washington obstetricians and first responders, these tools provide opportunity to learn and leverage MOUD to improve outcomes for patients, including pregnant patients. Here’s a sampling of what’s inside, particularly for pregnant patients:
Maternal deaths in Washington rose between 2021-2022, and most pregnancy-related deaths were preventable, according to the Washington State Department of Health’s (DOH) new Maternal Mortality Review Panel (MMRP) Report. Behavioral health-related deaths – including suicide, homicide, and accidental overdose – accounted for nearly half of all pregnancy-related deaths. COVID-19 was the second leading cause. The report includes recommendations to address the root causes and systemic gaps behind these deaths.
The December Perinatal behavioral health webinar focused on supporting mental health during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The recording highlights perinatal anxiety and depression, behavioral health integration in primary care, ADHD during the perinatal period, maternal sleep and well-being, and maternal suicide risk assessment. Viewers can also learn about Washington state resources available to support parents, families, and providers across the perinatal continuum.
Legislative fact sheets provide key facts about different HCA programs at a glance. HCA has published updated fact sheets for the following programs that support prenatal–five behavioral health:
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March 16 – 18, 2025 | 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day | Clinical DC: 0 – 5™ training is designed to support mental health professionals in developing in-depth knowledge of the approach and content of DC:0-5™, understanding the multi-axial system, and utilizing the approach and system in their work with children from birth through age five.
January 8 – June 11, 2026 | Second Thursday of the month | 8 to 9:30 a.m. | This six-month virtual CoP is for mental health providers who have participated in DC: 0-5™Clinical Training, to expand on what was learned in the training and to foster relationships with other providers.
February 3 – 5, 2026 | 9 a.m. to noon each day | Have you attended DC:0-5 Clinical Training, but still have questions about how to use it? The IEC Assessment Training will provide clinical supervisors with a comprehensive framework and process for infant and early childhood mental health assessment.
Participants will also have the option to attend a follow-up learning collaborative, where participants will review case presentations and receive concrete tools. Spots are limited for the learning collaborative, so register soon!
February 24, 2026 | 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. | The IECMH-WC invites clinical supervisors who have completed DC:0-5 Clinical Training to participate in a statewide focus group event to connect with other supervisors and share about your experiences using the DC:0-5 in your work. Participants will receive a $50 gift card.
April 20, 2026 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. | The kind and quality of relationships that young children have with each of their caregivers can differ substantially. Understanding relational specificity is critical to using the DC:0-5, particularly Axis 2. This training will demonstrate the importance of understanding each caregiver’s perspectives of their child and themselves as parents. Illustrative case and video vignettes will be presented.
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As 2025 comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on this newsletter over the past year. Consider this our P5 Newsletter wrapped!
The Prenatal–Five Grow & Thrive Newsletter started out in 2022 as a monthly, informal email to around 200 individuals. The newsletter transitioned to a more formal GovDelivery style (with its own masthead!) in 2023, and it's now grown to reach ~5,000 subscribers each month.
Readers share that the newsletter helps them to find key information and stay updated on what’s going on. In 2025, around 30% of readers opened the newsletter each month (above the typical rate of 21%), and each monthly newsletter received about 700 clicks across all readers and links.
Our most 'clickable’ items in 2025 were:
We appreciate you all as readers, and we look forward to what’s next for the newsletter in 2026!
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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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