MultiCare INW anniversary: Behavioral health leader talks access and plans for next five years
Editor’s note: This piece is part of an ongoing series highlighting MultiCare’s impact in the Inland Northwest over the last five years through profiles of our team members, providers, patients and volunteers.
As demand grows for behavioral health services in the Inland Northwest, Samantha Clark is confident the region has the right attitude and skills to make a difference in our community.
“The behavioral health industry is accepting that we really have to do things differently if we want to meet the community’s needs,” says Clark, MHA, assistant vice president for strategy and business development with MultiCare Behavioral Health. “We’ve got to innovate how we provide access and grow in areas we haven’t.”
Clark joined the MultiCare team in Spokane four years ago — about one year after the organization moved into the region. As part of the systemwide behavioral health network, she plays an integral role in growing and enhancing MultiCare’s behavioral health services in the region. This includes opening new clinics and programs; optimizing practices and adding services to fill gaps; and making sure patients are getting the right kinds of services in the right kinds of ways.
The Inland Northwest is no exception when it comes to Washington state’s low national ranking for mental health access, Clark says. Pre-pandemic access challenges have only escalated, with many people suffering at even greater numbers the past few years.
“We have a lot of opportunity to integrate behavioral health into all of our medical practices,” she says.
Clark’s team is also focused on expanding access to areas in the region with limited resources, working with schools and community partners to provide more access points, partnering with universities to grow the provider pool, and coordinating efforts with regional hospitals and emergency departments to get resources to patients no matter where they’re treated.
Although there’s still a lot of work to be done, Clark says she’s proud to work for MultiCare and be part of such a welcoming and collaborative community. A perfect example of that collaboration is the planned 2023 opening of a new behavioral health clinic in the Hillyard neighborhood.
“Hillyard is one of Spokane’s most socio-economically challenged regions,” Clark says. “Highest rates of domestic violence, highest rates of mental health needs and some of the lowest local access to services.”
MultiCare plans to turn the former Hillyard public library into a behavioral health center, in partnership with The ZoNE — a collective of more than 50 organizations working to reduce disparities, open doors and create change — and the Northeast Community Center (NECC), an integrated campus dedicated to providing barrier-free access to care and support.
When fully staffed, the new center will have a team of 30 clinicians providing services such as mental health and substance use treatment for adolescents and adults.
“Getting to work with [The ZoNE and NECC] to create a mental health clinic on campus, and with our other partners like Avista Utilities and Spokane Public Schools, it’s been such a team project already and we’re so excited,” Clark says. “We’re excited to serve that region, but also to serve people more broadly with in-person and virtual options.”
Clark personally understands the importance of behavioral health access, and she leans into that as the driving force behind the work she does each day in our region.
“We all have a personal tie to behavioral health,” Clark says. “I have several generations of family before with many people severely affected by untreated mental illness and substance abuse.
“I feel incredibly grateful to be the first generation to go to college and the first generation who had the opportunity to create the resources that probably would have saved a lot of lives in my family,” she continues. “This work is very fulfilling and healing.”
Clark says she recognized that to have a significant impact on the community, she needed to be in a role like she is now. While attending Western Washington University, she spent time working in foster and adult care services and witnessed firsthand what health care looked like for people when abuse, mental health and addiction needs went unmet.
When she met the MultiCare behavioral health leadership team, Clark was inspired by their personal passion and sense of accountability for helping these marginalized communities.
“It matters to them, and it matters to me, what we do,” she says.
As the MultiCare Inland Northwest region celebrates its fifth anniversary, Clark says she is excited to see the way our teams will continue to challenge, grow and innovate through increased access, support of training programs and continued community partnerships.
“I’m confident that in the next five years MultiCare will have made significant progress in meeting the behavioral health needs of our Inland Northwest communities,” she says.
