Behavioral Health Support for Providers

Residential Care Services (RCS) has developed the Behavioral Health Support Team (BHST), offering provider support and training for staff in every part of the state. Our mission is to support the Long-Term Care (LTC) community through training, resources, and guidance that integrates mental health expertise and regulatory knowledge. We offer support to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult family homes, supported living and SOLAs. The goal of the RCS Behavioral Health Support Team (BHST) is to help providers achieve long term success and improve care quality as they serve residents with challenging behaviors in their facilities.  Our support is voluntary, free, and available statewide.  Although we are part of RCS, we are not complaint investigators, surveyors or licensors.  However, we are part of DSHS and as such, are mandated reporters. 

Behavioral Health Support Team Services

• Training: The BHST training specialist has a unique blend of behavioral health and regulatory expertise. In each 1–2-hour training, you will learn techniques and strategies to respond effectively to a variety of challenging behaviors while remaining in compliance with facility-specific regulations.  
• Provider Support: In this one – to- one meeting, BQICs will focus on the LTC provider’s area(s) of interest related to behavioral health, care, and/or regulatory topics.  Our support will provide a unique blend of behavioral health and regulatory expertise to give providers a new way to understand and approach care.
• Open Office Hours: Every month BQICs will offer “office hours” for each facility type, to include AFHs, ALFs, NHs and CCRSS. This is an opportunity for facilities to attend an online, informal meeting to ask questions about various topics. These topics will be chosen based on responses from LTC providers who have participated in open-office hours surveys. To register for office hours, please see the training calendar on our website.

How to Select the Right Service for You

Providers Found our Services Worthwhile:

• “Feedback was very helpful to get our staff to understand behaviors and how best to address them.”
• “Having one-on-one conversation with behavioral support team to assess all the challenging situations I was facing allowed me to gain a clearer perspective and develop a more focused strategy for tackling them head-on.”
• “All materials provided to me are important, but I have found Best Practices and Regulatory Information packet extra useful in day to day running of the Adult Family Home.”
• “Having the additional resources, support, and experience the Behavioral Health consultant provides us has positively impacted our facility and we recommend them to everyone struggling with behaviors.”
• “The consultant understood me and offered practical strategies that directly addressed my concerns. This personalized approach had a significant positive effect on my situation.”

Ready to get started with our Provider Support Service?  Just click the button below:

You can also make a referral via email: rcsbhst@dshs.wa.gov 

For all email referrals, please include:

• The name of the facility requesting support.
• Best point of contact for the facility, including an email and/or phone number.
• If you are NOT employed by the facility, provide indication that the facility has requested support from the BHST.

Provide us with a few topic areas the facility would like their BQIC to cover during their meeting. (For example, dementia-related behaviors, psychosis, or exit-seeking concerns.) Please note, a list of frequently requested topics is located on the referral form here.

To Access BHST Monthly Trainings

• To access our monthly scheduled trainings, please use this link Behavioral Health Support Training Calendar | DSHS (wa.gov). 
• To register for a training, please click the link under the course you are interested in, on the training calendar that says, “click here to register.”
• Once you register, a link for the training will be sent to you!  

Email questions or concerns to: ALTSABHSTTraining@dshs.wa.gov

Crisis Supports

• Local Crisis Line Lookup
• Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255
• 988 Lifeline