Washoe County has hired Julia Ratti to fill the newly created position of Behavioral Health Administrator.
This position was created in January this year to oversee the assessment and improvement of a regional system of care for mental health and substance use disorder in Washoe County. The Board
Behavioral Health Administrator Julia Ratti
of County Commissioners has identified behavioral health as a strategic priority, and has approved numerous agreements and investments in the area of behavioral health.
Ratti will work with county departments, regional partners, community providers, and the State of Nevada to define gaps in service, develop strategies for securing facilities and programs, and develop a plan for funding.
She comes to the county uniquely qualified for this position, having served in the Nevada State Senate, the Sparks City Council, and Northern Nevada Public Health.
“Washoe County is deeply invested in developing our mental and behavioral health initiatives, and Julia steps into an undefined yet crucial role to pull the regional partners and programs together,” County Manager Eric Brown said. “If there is one person whose entire career seems to have been crafted for this position, it is Julia Ratti. She brings decades of leadership and hands-on experience, and our community is positioned to be a strategic leader in this field.”
During her tenure as a state senator, Ratti was the Assistant Majority Leader and chaired the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services. She worked with others to advance important mental health efforts including an improved crisis response system. She was instrumental in crafting an innovative funding model for the system that includes Medicaid reimbursement along with a dedicated crisis fund established from a new fee on phone lines.
Her legislative work includes adding vaping to the Clean Indoor Air Act and strengthening penalties for businesses who sell vape products to minors. Working with the Washoe County Behavioral Health Policy Board, Ratti collaborated to strengthen the treatment workforce, working with peers with lived experience to set standards for certification of Peer Recovery Support Specialists. Additionally, she worked with the Attorney General’s Office to make sure that funding from recent opioid lawsuit settlements would be directed specifically to community impacts of the opioid crisis.
Ratti was an eight-year city councilwoman for the City of Sparks, serving those eight years concurrently on the Washoe County District Board of Health. She later joined the Health District (now Northern Nevada Public Health) as a Health Educator and then as the Director of Programs and Projects where she oversaw strategic planning, community health improvement planning, health equity initiatives, as well as accreditation activities and special projects for the health district.
