Hot Topics in Mental Health & Law: Civil Commitment series
Tuesday, May 13, 2025, 12:00–1:00 p.m. PT
Webinar description
Senator Manka Dhingra, JD, will provide a brief history of Washington civil commitment laws, recent policy changes, and investments along the entire continuum of care for severe mental illness, including our 988 system and forensic mental health.
Learning objectives
- Understand current Washington state civil commitment laws; what is working, and what isn’t, and why?
- Understand the vision for crisis care in Washington state utilizing 988, civil commitment and forensic services.
About the speaker
Manka Dhingra, JD, is deputy majority leader of the Washington State Senate. She brings two decades of experience as a prosecutor and behavioral health expert to her role as chair of the Senate Law & Justice Committee. During her time in the Senate, Dhingra chaired the Senate Behavioral Health Subcommittee and helped pass legislation and funding to transform the Washington state behavioral health system, reorienting it around prevention as well as improving crisis response. She is one of the state’s key proponents of expanding the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and continues to strive to ensure Washingtonians with behavioral health needs get the treatment they need and deserve. As a senior deputy prosecuting attorney, she created and chaired the Therapeutic Alternative Unit, where she oversaw the Regional Mental Health Court and Regional Veterans Court, helped develop the 40-hour Crisis Intervention training at the Criminal Justice Training Center, and trained law enforcement in de-escalation and alternative to incarceration.
Continuing education:
This talk is included in an eight-session webinar series hosted by the UW Center for Mental Health, Policy, and the Law, Hot Topics in Mental Health and Law: Civil Commitment, for which continuing education is available.