The Mental Health Project is a Seattle Times initiative focused on covering mental and behavioral health issues. It is funded by Ballmer Group, a national organization focused on economic mobility for children and families. The Seattle Times maintains editorial control over work produced by this team.

If someone is having a mental health crisis, it’s crucial for help to arrive as quickly as possible.

In King County, that hasn’t always happened. But thanks in part to a new initiative by the county’s behavioral health agency, wait times for those in need of mental health evaluations have rapidly dropped, allowing mental health professionals to respond more quickly.

The county last week voted to fund six full-time “Involuntary Treatment Act screeners,” mental health professionals who condu

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