Everett Police Hire First-Ever Embedded Social Worker

Everett Police Sgt. Mike Braley introduces Lauren Rainbow to the Everett City Council Wednesday afternoon.

Progress continues on efforts by the Everett Community Streets Initiative Task Force to address problems on the city’s streets.

Today Everett Police introduced their first-ever embedded social worker to the Everett City Council.

Lauren Rainbow began work on August 10th and is based out of the Everett Police north precinct and reports to north administrative sergeant Mike Braley.

Rainbow, a mental health community support specialist, will work with Everett Police to better respond to a variety of street-level social issues, including chronically homeless individuals and individuals with mental illness who come into contact with the criminal justice system. She will also have a range of other responsibilities including coordinating social service outreach and serving as liaison to the social service community.

She earned her BS in Psychology from Colorado State University in 2006, from there she worked at an inpatient chemical dependency treatment center on the adolescent unit as the lead case manager for 2 years.

In 2008 Lauren moved to Seattle and began working with drug-addicted pregnant women and their young children at Perinatal Treatment Services in Seattle, which is now run by Evergreen Manor. Lauren has done homeless youth outreach in downtown Seattle with Stand Up For Kids, this was direct advocacy and support to link homeless youth with services and housing.

Lauren completed her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Washington in early 2014, during which time she worked with the Young Adult Services. The program was through the YMCA and worked with at-risk and homeless youth. Lauren also worked as a grief and bereavement clinician with Providence Hospice in Everett, there she provided group and individual counseling to community members who had experienced a sudden/traumatic loss. Lauren also facilitated a support group for kids who had lost a parent.

After Lauren graduated from UW she was hired as the Director of Student Affairs with the Post-Prison Education Program, which is a non-profit dedicated to reducing recidivism among formerly-incarcerated individuals by getting them back into school and training programs. In 2014 she began working at Harborview Medical Center in the Emergency Department as an ED Social Worker.

By the end of September another important position is expected to be filled. Right now United Way of Snohomish County and the City of Everett are advertising for applicants for a Streets Initiative Coordinator, a new position to be funded by United Way and housed at City Hall.

The coordinator will be responsible for coordinating Streets Initiative activities, tracking the many projects moving forward as part of the Streets Initiative, keeping the public informed on progress of the Streets Initiative, and working with stakeholders on a variety of Streets Initiative-related issues. You can click here to apply for that position.

Another sign of progress was revealed in an update earlier this month…

As part of the continuing evolution of the Streets Initiative, a Streets Initiative Steering Committee has been formed. By way of background, the Streets Initiative Task Force initially was convened to develop the final report and recommendations.

In the course of that work, the Task Force asked to be reconvened approximately every six months to be updated on progress. Following issuance of the final report, ad hoc committees and a “core team” were formed to develop a framework for implementing the recommendations.

The purpose of the new Steering Committee is to provide a continuing governance structure and a vehicle for ongoing stakeholder engagement now that the Task Force and the ad hoc planning committees have largely fulfilled their responsibilities.

The Task Force will of course be reconvened approximately each six months for status updates, and the planning committees may be asked to do follow-up work as needed, but ongoing oversight and advisory functions will be performed by the Steering Committee.

Among other responsibilities, the Steering Committee will oversee the work of the new Streets Initiative Coordinator.