Pathways to Wellness: Integrating Refugee Health and Well-Being is a project that brings together multiple systems to better serve newcomers to our community with health, mental health and social services.
Proven Success
The vast majority of resettlement in Washington is in King County. Most refugees come from a dire situation and are vulnerable to mental health struggles. Pathways recognizes that mental health is an essential part of overall health. It is an innovative model to screen refugees new to King County and connect them to the support they need. All refugees must have a health screening within 90 days of entering the US. Pathways is partnering with Public Health Seattle & King County to incorporate mental health assessments into its current screening program. They are training all public health interpreters on how to use the tool, what the thinking is behind the tool and what are the cues that could indicate a mental health crisis.
Pathways worked with the community to develop a screening instrument and validation tools. There are not many existing tools to monitor depression in the refugee community. They explored the cultural appropriateness of what questions to ask and how to ask them. They are now focused on evaluating the effectiveness of the mental health treatment and seeing whether the referral process is working and sustainable.
Sustainability
Robert Wood Johnson is investing $480,000 over three years in this program. Local matching funds have come from the Gates Foundation and other local funders. The third year of the projected started July 1, 2011. The focus of year three is to expand the Refugee Health Screening into other languages and review tools and work on replication.