Pacific Advocacy Center NW
About
Pacific Advocacy Center NW (PAC-NW) is an organization dedicated to transforming how communities respond to individuals with complex behavioral health and legal needs by encouraging cross system collaboration, communication and integration of services while focusing on the voice and choice of the client.
Phase 1: of PAC-NW is about starting small and building from the ground up. Our focus is on developing genuine relationships with community partners, listening to what is already working and where support is needed, and establishing contracts that allow us to fill meaningful gaps without duplicating existing services. This phase gives PAC-NW the opportunity to grow alongside the communities and systems we hope to serve—building trust, learning from the people closest to the work, and creating a strong foundation for thoughtful, sustainable growth.
Phase 2: builds on the relationships and experience developed during our early work by expanding PAC-NW’s role as a collaborative community partner. During this phase, we will invest in workforce development and training, provide consultation and technical assistance, participate in policy and systems advocacy, and work alongside community partners to identify practical opportunities for improvement. Just as importantly, we will continue listening, gathering data, evaluating outcomes, and learning from the people who interact with these systems every day. The goal is not to grow for the sake of growth, but to build the knowledge, partnerships, and infrastructure needed to ensure that what comes next is responsive to real community needs and grounded in what we have learned together.
Phase 3: brings together the relationships, experience, data, and community feedback gathered throughout the first two phases to develop and launch PAC-NW’s comprehensive service model. Rather than beginning with a predetermined program and asking the community to fit within it, the model will be shaped by the needs, strengths, and service gaps identified alongside clients, providers, courts, and community partners.
PAC-NW’s approach will draw from established frameworks including the Sequential Intercept Model, Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT), Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR), and other evidence-informed behavioral health and forensic interventions. These frameworks will guide an integrated, person-centered model that addresses needs across the continuum—from basic stability, treatment, and recovery to legal-system navigation, competency-related support, community integration, and long-term independence.
Phase 3 will also include establishing PAC-NW as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and developing the organizational infrastructure, multidisciplinary workforce, funding partnerships, and outcome-measurement systems necessary to sustain and continuously improve the program. The goal is to build a program informed not only by research and best practices, but by what our community has told us it actually needs.
PAC-NW seeks to become a recognized regional leader in integrated behavioral health and justice services, systems coordination, workforce development, applied research, and public policy.
“Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Our Mission:
PAC-NW exists to transform how communities respond to individuals with complex behavioral health and legal needs through a direct integrated forensic behavioral health model of care, work force development, education, policy and legislative advocacy.
Our Vision:
We envision a community where systems work together seamlessly so that no individual falls through the cracks. We strive for a future where coordinated systems and proactive care replace reactive fragmented responses, individuals have equitable access to the support they need, and communities are healthier, safer and strengthened through collaboration, accountability and innovation.
Get Involved
We’re looking for members of our community to support with the ongoing the development of PAC-NW.
If you have experience in the mental health field, substance use treatment, law, the criminal justice system, medical services, development, fundraising, or other relevant fields or lived experience accessing mental health services we want to hear from you.
Ideally we would love to partner with others who are able to dedicate a couple hours a week to research, document review, program development, and networking.
If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.
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PAC-NW 