WISe
WISe, short for Wraparound Intensive Services, provides a level of care between inpatient and traditional outpatient treatment. It’s designed to help families and youth who are struggling with complex behavioral health issues, such as suicidal depression, drug use or high conflict in the home.
The program’s goal is to get families out of crisis and help them stay together in the home while they learn tools and coping skills.
Eligibility
WISe is open to Medicaid-enrolled children from birth to age 21 and their families, who qualify through a screening.
Indications a youth might benefit from WISe include:
- Frequent trips to the ER for behavioral health-related concerns
- Increased occurrence or risk of youth harming themselves or others
- Involvement in multiple systems – such as mental health, juvenile justice, child welfare, special education – and those systems are struggling to support the youth
- Behaving in ways that are challenging for caregivers, teachers or others
- Traditional services alone are not helping
How to Access Services
Anyone in the community can refer a youth to the program. Youth and families may also self-refer.
To get started, call 360-373-5031 and request a WISe screening in your preferred language.
What to Expect
The program is voluntary – clients agree to participate and should be motivated to make a change. A core principle is client voice and choice. The youth and family choose goals and the issues they want to work on based on a family vision statement.
Families typically stay in the program six months to a year. Youth and families meet with each of the professionals on their team once a week, and with the whole team once a month.
From the start, the team is working to help families graduate from WISe and move from crisis management to working on underlying issues, such as trauma.
Care team members work with the family to build on their strengths. That includes identifying natural supports – such as extended family members, neighbors or members of their church – who can be a resource for the family after they move on from WISe.
