Letha Fernandez is an agency representative on the Washington State Developmental Disabilities Council, representing Sound Behavioral Health. She brings 23 years of experience working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including 15 years working with adults and eight years working with children and youth.

Letha joined the Council in 2026 and attended her first meeting April 15. “I am passionate about this population and the challenges faced by the most vulnerable among us,” she said. After more than two decades working alongside people with IDD, she sees serving on the Council as another way to advocate for the community and help address the barriers people experience.

Connecting behavioral health and advocacy

As a member of the Council’s Public Policy Committee, Letha sees advocacy as an important part of supporting the IDD community. “These are very important times to advocate for our community,” she said, pointing to the need to address accessibility, services and barriers to appropriate care.

Since joining the Council, she has participated in forums hosted by The Arc of King County and the Legislative Breakfast hosted by the Community Advocacy Coalition. Hearing directly from self-advocates has been especially meaningful. Letha said those voices help call attention to “the importance of addressing accessibility, services and advancing our agenda.”

Addressing barriers to mental health care

Through Sound Behavioral Health, Letha works to support people with IDD and advocate for their rights. The organization partners with state and national organizations and systems working to improve services and supports.

Letha sees a strong connection between that work and the Council’s efforts to remove barriers and strengthen systems. She is particularly concerned about access to appropriate mental health care and supports that help people live safely and independently.

For Letha, improving care also means investing in the people providing services. “Teaching, mentoring and training the individuals who provide services elevates the opportunity for appropriate mental health care,” she said.

This fall, Sound Behavioral Health welcomed six social work interns, giving Letha and her colleagues another opportunity to connect education and service delivery with advocacy as the legislative session approaches.

Connecting direct support to systems change

Joining the Council has also helped Letha connect the clinical work happening at Sound Behavioral Health with broader systems change. Clinicians often see firsthand the barriers and silos affecting the people they serve, but identifying how to create change at a systems level can be more difficult.

“The work here at the Council has opened my eyes to the necessity, importance and the steps necessary to affect systemic change,” Letha said.

That experience has encouraged her to raise awareness within Sound Behavioral Health about issues affecting people with IDD, the importance of advocacy and the partnerships that can help move that work forward.

Looking ahead

Letha also participates in Kids Mental Health King County and WA Include’s ECHO programming and hopes to find ways to connect those efforts with the Council’s work.

In the coming year, she is especially interested in how staff are educated, trained and supported and how person-centered care can continue to emphasize voice and choice. “We all deserve quality care tailored to our needs, preferences, values and beliefs,” she said.

As she continues her first year on the Council, Letha hopes to bring together what she has learned through decades of direct service, behavioral health work and advocacy. Her focus is on helping remove barriers, strengthen the systems people rely on and ensure people with IDD have access to care and supports that reflect their individual needs, strengths and choices.