Youth Friendly Care Certification

Youth Friendly Care Collective: Strengthening Providers' Care for Teens and Young Adults

The Department of Health is teaming up with partners and young people in Washington to develop a Youth Friendly Care Collective that will launch in summer 2025. This program will bring together and support medical and behavioral health clinics and practices who want to establish, enhance, or be recognized as experts for youth friendly care practices.

Why youth friendly care matters!

Young people want more access to high quality, inclusive, age appropriate and culturally relevant health care that centers their needs and experiences and are:

• Trustworthy, safe, and inclusive
• Non-judgmental and compassionate
• Responsive to young people’s needs
• Transparent about health concerns and confidentiality
• Supportive of ongoing youth engagement in improving healthcare services

Teens and young adults may see a variety of providers and in different environments. Young people experience barriers in the healthcare systems, including privacy concerns, the need for culturally relevant or sensitive care, lack of age-appropriate communication, and feeling dismissed or not taken seriously. Equitable, accessible, and youth friendly care no matter the provider or the environment is essential for adolescent health. Teens and young adults need support from trusted adults to guide them through important (and sensitive) health discussions, provide and educate about preventive care, and identify health needs and behaviors that require more support.

To learn more about our conversations with young people in Washington, check out the Youth Advisory Council.

What is the Youth Friendly Care Collective?

The Youth Friendly Care Collective is a membership-based collective that recognizes and designates youth-serving outpatient medical and behavioral health clinics or practices that are committed to supporting, promoting, and enhancing youth friendly care practices in their work.

The Youth Friendly Care Criteria that will guide the Collective was defined by DOH's Youth Advisory Council and focuses on four domains:

• Welcoming Environment: Creating physical and online spaces that are welcoming, warm, and youth-centered, and are inclusive, promote privacy, and are accessible to people with all types of abilities.  
• Positive Interpersonal Interactions: Ensuring staff and providers interact and communicate with young people in ways that emphasize the comfort, well-being, needs, and agency of young patients.
• Confidentiality and Minor Consent: Prioritizing and protecting young people’s understanding of and ability to exercise their rights to privacy, confidentiality, and confidential services. 
• Essential Knowledge and Training: Integrating provider training and youth-centered policies that ensure substantive and equitable health care delivery to young people. 

What does membership mean for your clinic or practice?

Membership means joining a collective of like-minded providers and professionals who are taking steps to learn about and provide equitable, youth-centered care and services in ways that make sense in their clinic, practice, and community.

In return, your clinic or practice will be officially designated as a member of the Youth Friendly Care Collective and will receive access to support, tools, resources, and communication materials to help you establish or enhance youth friendly care in your community. In addition to becoming more youth friendly, joining the Youth Friendly Care Collective may help your health care practice or clinic:

• Network with other youth-serving clinics and practices
• Build trusting relationships with young people
• Support and engage parents and guardians around one-on-one time and confidentiality 
• Learn more about confidentiality best practices and minor consent laws in Washington
• Learn more about youth engagement and integrating young people's feedback into your practice or clinic

How can my clinic or practice join?

We recognize that every practice or clinic that wants to participate is starting from a different place when it comes to youth friendly care. Using a strengths-based approach, any outpatient medical or behavioral health clinic or practice that is serving teens or young adults can apply to be a member of the Youth Friendly Care Collective.

There are four steps to becoming a member:

• Meet the eligibility requirements:

  • Provide relevant outpatient medical or behavioral health services to teens or young adults in Washington State in primary care, family medicine, pediatric care, family planning, school-based health centers, mental health services, or substance use treatment.

  • Your practice or clinic and all youth-serving provider licenses are in good standing.

  • Have a clinic or practice "champion" who can complete the application to join, participate in check in meetings and communities of practice for your clinic or practice, and engage youth-serving providers and staff in youth-friendly care improvement activities

  • Clinic or practice leadership is committed to integrating and sustaining youth friendly care.

  • Young people in your community can testify to or vouch for youth friendly care in your clinic or practice

• Complete an online application: Beginning in summer 2025, applicants who meet all eligibility requirements can complete an online application highlighting current youth friendly practices, successes, challenges, and areas for improvement within each domain. Stories, photos, and testimonials from youth and partners are encouraged. 

• Get your membership level: Applications are reviewed and scored by DOH staff based on how your practice or clinic is currently meeting the Youth Friendly Care criteria and considers capacity, ability, funding, locale, and experience. Based on the determined level of readiness, clinics and practices will be placed in one of the following membership levels:

  • Level 1: Establishing youth friendly care

  • Level 2: Enhancing youth friendly practice

  • Level 3: Experts in youth friendly care

• Establish, enhance, or promote youth friendly practices: With support and guidance from DOH and the Youth Advisory Council, members are expected to:

  • Actively work on integrating DOH's Youth Friendly Care criteria into their practice or clinic and care for young people

  • Post provider bios online so young people can learn more about providers before they see them 

  • Participate in periodic check ins with DOH Adolescent Health staff, like site visits or virtual meetings to share how youth friendly care is going and identify needs for support

  • Actively engage with young people to ensure young people's perspectives are represented in your practice or clinic

What do I get if my clinic or practice joins?

Youth Friendly Care Collective members will receive access to the following supports to enhance or sustain their youth friendly practices:

• Invitation to community of practice of other certified clinics and practices

• Access to free support and technical assistance on youth friendly care, confidentiality, and youth engagement

• Access to a curated library of tools, resources and training on relevant adolescent health topics including explainer videos and How To guides for teens and young adults, and tools made just for adolescent health providers, like the University of Michigan Adolescent Health Initiative’s SPARKS trainings and University of Minnesota’s TALK tools

• Listing as a member on DOH’s Teen Health Hub WA webpage so young people can find you

• Free Youth Friendly Care Collective promotional materials to showcase your certification, including window decals, digital graphics, stickers, and posters

Want to get involved or learn more?

If you have any questions or need more information, contact us at adolescenthealthunit@doh.wa.gov