Youth Friendly Care Network

Welcome to the Youth Friendly Care Network

The Youth Friendly Care (YFCN or Network) is a statewide initiative to promote care that is welcoming, respectful, and responsive to youth ages 10–24. The Network is designed to enhance participants' knowledge and skills of youth-centered practices, strengthen connections between youth-serving providers and professionals, and center young people’s voices in health care delivery.

Medical and behavioral health providers and professionals are invited to join the Network. Participants get tools, training, and a supportive community to help adopt youth-friendly care rooted in trust, accessibility, and respect.

Join the Network

Request to join the network

All young people need accessible and youth-friendly care no matter where they seek care or who delivers it. They need support from trusted adults to guide them through important and sensitive health discussions and decisions, provide and educate about preventive care, identify health needs and behaviors that need more support, and help develop their health literacy skills.

Any health care provider, professional, clinic, or practice serving teens and young adults in Washington can join the network. Those working in primary care, mental and behavioral health, sexual and reproductive health, and school-based health are strongly encouraged to join.

You or your clinic might be a good fit if you and your colleagues want to:

Learn more about what young people and experts in adolescent health say about youth-friendly care
Learn concrete strategies and examples to implement youth-friendly care in health care settings
Prioritize young people's experience in your care
Network with and learn from other providers and professionals

Please note: Requests are processed in 1-2 weeks. Information included in requests is not shared without permission but is subject to Public Records Disclosure laws. If you are a provider located in a neighboring state but serve Washington youth, you are welcome to request to join the Network as long as you explicitly serve Washington youth.

Program Goals and Activities

The goals of the Youth-Friendly Care Network are:

Build a statewide network of youth-serving clinics and practices committed to youth-friendly care
Enhance provider and professional knowledge of youth-friendly care practices and principle in clinical, academic, and organizational settings.
Support and facilitate integration of youth-friendly care practices and principles in youth-serving clinics and practices
Support trust building between young people and their providers to increase use of preventive care visits among teens and young adults

To help us reach our goals, participants engage in the following activities:

Participation in a community of practice comprised of other network participants to discuss youth-friendly care practices, recommendations, and strategies. CMEs and CEs will be included in 2026.
Training on principles of youth-friendly care, including those defined by Washington youth and with realistic and concrete strategies to implement in practice
Access to a curated library of resources, tools, training, and guidance on youth-friendly practices and adolescent-centered care
Consultation with DOH's Adolescent Health Team or the Youth Advisory Council on topics like youth-engagement, social media for youth, youth-satisfaction, and youth-friendly care practices
Networking with youth-friendly care providers and professionals to build peer-to-peer connections and increase referral networks for youth
Access to free, youth-friendly print and promotional materials for Teen Health Hub WA and other youth-friendly communications
Optional listing as a participant on Teen Health Hub WA so young people can more easily find youth-friendly care and services

What is youth-friendly care?

The World Health Organization defines adolescent-friendly health care services are those that are appropriate, accessible, acceptable, equitable, and effective.

The Youth Advisory Council defines youth-friendly care as high-quality, age-appropriate care that centers young people's needs, voices, and experiences. This includes care that is:

Trustworthy, inclusive and non-judgmental
Easy to access
Responsive to young people's needs
Grounded in science
Transparent, clear, and factual about health concerns and confidentiality
Fosters parent engagement when appropriate
Engages youth on quality improvement

Why is youth-friendly care important?

Youth-friendly care is important because it meets young people where they are and is:

Designed to meet the unique needs of young people - and what young people say they need
Grounded in evidence and best practices—
Support their growth, development, and autonomy
Provide guidance through key milestones including the shift from adolescence into adulthood

This approach helps young people build trust in the health care system—and take charge of their health now and in the future.

Check out these resources to learn more about adolescent health needs:

World Health Organization: Adolescent and young adult health Principles of Adolescent and Young Adult Friendly Care
The Adolescent Champion Model: Primary Care Becomes Adolescent-Centered via Targeted Quality Improvement (PDF)
Conversations with young people who are members of Washington’s Youth Advisory Council

Why does youth-friendly care matter?

Youth-friendly care matters because young people have unique needs and experience unique barriers that can have long-term impacts.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP 2019) calls adolescence a "critical window for supporting lifelong health and well-being". During this time, teens and young adults move through major developmental milestones, experience significant physical, emotional, social, and psychological changes, take more risks, and assert their autonomy.

Many young people experience reduced access to care for reasons like lack of availability of age-appropriate services, concerns about confidentiality, insensitive interactions, and health care inequities.

Young people don’t seek care or services from providers who don’t value or prioritize their relationship or take them seriously.
When young people miss preventive care visits with their health care provider, there are fewer opportunities to address concerns early that can lead to lifelong health issues
While risk-taking is a normal part of childhood, higher-risk behaviors are a primary cause of illness, injury, and death in adolescent patients

A national call-to-action asks for health care providers and youth-serving professionals to work together for changes that benefit youth. Action to advance adolescent health can generate a "triple dividend": health for adolescents now, health and well-being for their adult lives, and better health for the next generationQuestions?

Questions?

Have questions or need more information? Email us at adolescenthealthunit@doh.wa.gov

Stay connected!

Want to help us get the word out? Share this pdf flyer or our social media posts on DOH's LinkedIN and Instagram.