Podcast host and licensed clinical social worker Kim Bjorn explores the challenges kids and their families face in the current U.S. mental health system. Kim’s guest is Joe LeRoy, CEO of HopeSparks, a Tacoma, Washington-based social services organization that is helping to transform pediatric care.

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HopeSparks - Family Services

With the population aging, first responders across the country are exposed to demanding and tense situations on a regular basis. But in Pierce County Washington, mental health workers Traci Krieg and Jennifer Sorensen explain to host Kim Bjorn that a community partnership forged a few years ago is reducing the strain on first responders, emergency rooms and jails.

Links: 

https://www.comprehensiveliferesources.org/mcirt

https://elevatehealth.org

Many U.S. communities, including Tacoma and other cities in Western Washington, are facing an explosion in homelessness. But Gerrit Nyland, a social services supervisor tasked with ending homelessness in Pierce County, says what many don’t realize is that roughly one-third of the unsheltered in the South Puget Sound are children, while many others are “working poor” families whose lives have been disrupted by job loss, unexpected injury, illness, or just bad luck.

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Physical violence is often just the tip of the iceberg in abusive relationships. In this episode of Elevate Health Podcast, two domestic violence experts in Washington state’s South Puget Sound Region explain that for many survivors, finding a “way out” can take time, patience and planning.

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More than one out of every six children in the U.S. between the ages of 3 and 17 is diagnosed each year with one or more disabilities. Doreen VanderVort, a Washington state-based advocate for families with special needs kids, says finding resources and services for such children can be overwhelming, especially for those who don’t know how and where to look for help.

Links:

https://wapave.org/

https://elevatehealth.org

Health practitioners across disciplines are beginning to recognize that service integration can be effective in saving time, money and stress for patients and the providers that serve them. Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, a veteran community care dentist in Tacoma, Washington, explains the benefits and the challenges.

Links: 

https://www.commhealth.org/

https://elevatehealth.org/ 

Today’s children encounter stressors dramatically unlike those experienced by their parents and grandparents. In this podcast, Pierce County Washington-based pediatric social worker Ashley Mangum describes how “asking the question” can help avert crises.

Links: 

https://kidsmentalhealthpiercecounty.org/

https://elevatehealth.org/

Host & Guest: Kim Bjorn, MSW, LICSW and Chelsea Amato, BSW, Tacoma Pierce County Opioid Task Force Coordinator 

Topic: Opioid misuse, including the stigma it carries as well as possible solutions