Deputy Director - Policy

The Behavioral Health Catalyst aims to improve behavioral health outcomes for children, youth, and adults by leveraging funding to create impact at scale. We work to ensure people who have – or are at risk of – behavioral health challenges thrive.

We accomplish this by catalyzing investment both from philanthropy (philanthropy program) and governmental sources (policy program).  This job description aims to outline the responsibilities and qualifications for the person who will lead our policy program, and specifically our efforts to support governmental decision making about behavioral health.

The Deputy Director will be based in Seattle and report to, and work closely with, The Behavioral Health Catalyst’s Director.  The successful candidate will have:

• Excellent facilitation skills

• Strong organizational and management skills (including of volunteers)

• Ability to engage a diverse community of stakeholders, including those with lived experience

• Strategic ability to support prioritization of recommendations from a system perspective

• Ability to develop advocacy collateral and other tools to support member advocacy

Note: This opportunity has a designated two-year time frame (project based); funding and official sign off for this project are currently pending.

Key Responsibilities

Meeting Support and Facilitation

• Facilitate five monthly subcommittee meetings (and other related meetings as they arise) with the goal of identifying and determining priorities for the WA State Legislature

o Develop meeting agendas (working in close partnership with subcommittee co-chairs & the lead policy staff) and coordinate presenters and other external and internal participants

o Create slide presentations and other necessary meeting materials for each meeting (based on strategic thinking and analysis) (polished and well edited using PowerPoint, Canva, or Google Slides)

o Follow up on meetings with meeting notes, action items, and other relevant next steps

• Actively cultivate diverse perspectives and engagement from parents, providers, advocates, and those with lived experience engagement in activities and discussions

Organization

• Create an annual project plan, including meeting cadence, in close collaboration with subcommittee co-chairs and the lead policy staff (continue to update it as needed)

• Oversee all aspects of project management, including invitations, roster, attendance, notes, google drive, etc. 

• Manage in house administrative staff dedicated to project

• Manage project budget and report annually to funder(s)

• Develop and administer a survey of subcommittee members to evaluate experience and impact of added capacity

• Work closely with BH Catalyst Director and brief Co-Chairs on a regular basis

Communications 

• Support member communications

o Regularly communicate with members via email to share resources and relevant announcements to help build community among participants (including meeting reminders, meeting notes, and other resources/materials)

• Share survey tools and seek input on key decisions from members 

• Respond and follow up on member or community requests for information in a timely manner

• Actively develop opportunities for connection and belonging among members via monthly meeting participation and other communications

Stakeholder Member Outreach and Support

• Enhance the inclusion and engagement of diverse community leaders in subcommittees and other processes, with an emphasis on people with lived experience

• Support stakeholder outreach and inclusion by helping leads identify and reach out to those who are currently not represented within a subcommittee, including parents/caregivers and emerging adults with lived experience

• Work with HCA staff, subcommittee leads and community partners to identify and address common barriers to inclusive engagement

• Support subcommittee members as needed and determined in partnership with the leads

Support with Legislation

• Empower and equip subcommittee members to advance legislative priorities

o Provide staffing to help sub-committees create, vet and advance legislation priorities (within and across each sub-committee) 

o Encourage members of the subcommittees to leverage their own organizational strengths and support members in their advocacy work, particularly parents/caregivers and emerging adults

o Develop simple tools to enable alignment

o Drive content development needed for successful advocacy 

o Leverage internal and external resources to develop briefs and other collateral in partnership with the lead staff and key partners (including necessary iteration based on feedback)

 Interview key partners or experts to collect key information for recommendation briefs

 Draft and iterate briefs and other collateral as needed using content from past subcommittee materials, scientific research, key interviews, and partner publications

 Help with desk research on policy impacts and implications (including national examples)

o Develop supplemental materials, including one-pagers, fact sheets, presentations, and other advocacy collateral 

o Partner with the BH Catalyst Director to ensure recommendations and advocacy are informed by relevant local, state, and national efforts

o Manage contract writer to support these efforts

• Develop tracking and communication process to provide timely updates on legislative priorities (within and across each subcommittee)

• Meet weekly with Leads, Co-Chairs, and HCA representatives during the Legislative Session 

Key Qualifications

• Significant track record convening and facilitating complex meetings, ideally of with a range of stakeholders across domains (e.g., government, nonprofit, academic)

• Demonstrated management and organizational skills (e.g., program management, stakeholder management)

• Track record of engaging a diverse community of stakeholders, including those with lived experience

• Understanding of complex systems (exposure to behavioral health a plus)

• Strategic ability to support prioritization of recommendations from a system perspective

• Ability to create effective presentations and other advocacy content, collateral and tools

• Proficient in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Google Drive, Canva, Google Slides and Survey Monkey   

• BA required; MA preferred