Grantee: Living Well Kent
Timeframe: July 2024 – June 2027 | Amount: $594,000
- Year 1: July 2024 – June 2025 | Amount: $200,000
- Year 2: July 2025 – June 2026 | Amount: $194,000
- Year 3: July 2026 – June 2027 | Amount: $200,000
Living Well Kent’s project supports community-driven behavioral health prevention and early intervention for immigrant and refugee communities in Kent and South King County. The project focuses on Somali, Iraqi, Afghan, and Latinx communities to increase access to care, reduce stigma, and improve health outcomes.
Navigators strengthen their skills through trainings on motivational interviewing, care coordination, overdose prevention and naloxone administration, dementia awareness, and prescription medication safety. They have facilitated community-centered workshops on dementia awareness, overdose prevention, mental health first aid, youth bullying, stress management, health insurance navigation, and behavioral health referrals. Participants reported increased confidence, reduced stigma, and greater willingness to seek support.
Navigators have made referrals to behavioral health and substance use disorder providers, including Sea Mar, VMFH, Swedish, Consejo, King County Recovery Navigator Program, Tacoma Detox, Crisis Connections, Free by the Sea, and Rahma Recovery Center. Partnerships with the Washington Poison Center and Rahma Recovery Center deepened, supporting culturally responsive care coordination and curriculum development.
In Year 2, the program established a Latinx cohort while continuing to support active Afghan, Somali, and Iraqi cohorts. Across all four cohorts, Navigators are seeing meaningful shifts in how community members discuss and seek support for behavioral health needs. Participants who once hesitated to discuss anxiety, depression, substance use, or family needs are now more willing to ask for referrals, seek guidance, and follow through with care. At mosques and other community gathering spaces, conversations about substance use and mental health have become more open and proactive. These changes reflect growing trust, reduced stigma, and stronger pathways to care.
For Year 3, the project will formally focus on the four active cohorts: Somali, Iraqi, Afghan, and Latinx. These cohorts continue to demonstrate strong participation, deepening trust, and consistent outcomes. LWK will continue to focus on engagement and improve the quality and consistency of training, coaching, and curriculum development.
The core model follows LWK’s three-pronged approach: Initiate, which equips Community Navigators with ongoing behavioral health training from peers and clinical partners; Cultivate, which supports Navigators in adapting these topics for cohorts of community leaders using culturally and linguistically specific approaches; and Integrate, which brings this learning into daily community life as trained leaders support community members and connect them to behavioral health resources.
In Year 3, Navigators will continue monthly behavioral health trainings, convene culturally specific cohorts for learning and dialogue, and support leaders as they integrate these practices into their communities. The Health & Wellness Manager will provide coaching, co-facilitation, and quality assurance, while LWK maintains partnerships with behavioral health providers to ensure accurate, culturally grounded content. Biannual convenings will continue to bring cohorts together to share adaptations, strengthen shared language, and deepen cross-community learning.
ABOUT OUR GRANTEE
“Living Well Kent’s mission is to provide public spaces and initiatives that encourage healthier lifestyles and better living.”
”Living Well Kent is a wellness hub for all King County (primarily South King County) residents to become as healthy as possible in a culturally relevant setting. Our Health and Wellness Program provides a wide variety of wellness services and activities, from system navigation like referrals, to access to health screenings and baby items. We hope our time and dedication will enable us and members of our community to positively influence policy change in the greater community.”
