Yates for commissioner in District 5

Recently 3 supporters of Maggie teamed up to write an LTE in the Spokesman Review. Read it here:

"Over the course of the pandemic, the number of people reporting behavioral health concerns locally increased while Spokane County’s spending on behavioral health per capita plummeted. Fentanyl-related deaths skyrocketed. Youth mental health declined with increased rates of depression, anxiety, psychosis-like experiences and suicidal behaviors. Substance use continues to broadly impact the health of our community. Behavioral health concerns rarely exist in isolation, particularly without proper intervention. People with substance use disorders and mental illnesses have increased physical health problems, high mortality rates, increased rates of homelessness and are disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system.

Current county leadership has failed to adequately ensure that critical, effective behavioral health interventions are funded, and that the behavioral health workforce is appropriately supported. In fact, the county hasn’t even identified behavioral health as a priority investment for the millions of available American Rescue Plan dollars. Innovative and effective interventions like recovery support and early interventions for young people with psychosis could be expanded with effective County leadership.

We are mental health clinicians and researchers with over 40 years of collective experience improving behavioral health and addiction treatment. We’re supporting Maggie Yates for county commissioner in District 5 because she understands that behavioral health is a critical component of public health and community resilience, resulting from her over a decade’s worth of experience working on issues related to behavioral health in the criminal legal system."

- Liat Kriegel, Ph.D., MSW

- Michael McDonell, Ph.D.

- Oladunni Oluwoye, Ph.D.

View the letter in the Spokesman Review here