Mental health, treatment and other behavioral health providers will gather Friday for a free community, and professional resource fair.
Ryan Chaffins, is the cofounder of SONG, Spokane Outreach Networking group, a coalition of local mental health and substance use professionals. He said the event will have opportunities for people struggling with behavioral health or substance abuse, or their family members, to meet with different providers.
After the event, those providers will also work together to create a free, comprehensive local mental health resources guide. Chaffins said it will have detailed information about what insurance different providers take, and specifics on the level of service they offer.
“What levels of care do you offer, do you offer a medical detox, is it just inpatient, is outpatient, do you offer mental health services, do you do primary mental health,” Chaffins said, “There's a lot of different barriers, with someone who's struggling, we want to make the process as easy as possible for individuals.”
The event will also have several speakers including law enforcement talking about mental health and substance use in their work, and mayoral candidate and former director of the Washington Department of Commerce, Lisa Brown.
Chaffins said the event is also designed to help mental health and treatment providers to recruit. He said there will be a job fair available as well. The event is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at the Spokane Convention Center downtown.