Offering refuge and recovery for more than 275 years.
Navos is built on the history of three innovative organizations. With our partners Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center and Seattle Children’s Home, we have provided service to the Seattle area before Washington was a state, dating back to 1884.
Created by concerned local residents who saw an unfilled need for affordable, accessible mental health care, Navos began in 1966 as Highline West Seattle Community Mental Health Clinic, providing treatment to people throughout South & West King County. In 2010, Navos expanded its capabilities for treating children and adolescents by merging with Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center, originally a treatment center for girls that was established in 1921. In 2012, Navos dramatically expanded its services again through a merger with Seattle Children’s Home, a longtime leader in child and adolescent mental health—and the oldest children’s charity in the state—founded in 1884.
Today, as a single organization drawing on the strengths and 275 years of combined experience of three local mental health pioneers, Navos is one of the largest providers of community mental health services in Washington State, and the public mental health provider for more than 40 percent of all youth served by the King County community mental health system.
Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center
Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center (RDCC), formally The Ruth School for Girls, named in honor of Judge Dykeman’s daughter Ruth, was founded to 1921, when Judge King Dykeman served in the Juvenile Court.
Judge Dykeman, felt for some time the need for a place to send girls, who, for one reason or another had become wards of the state. The purpose of the school was to maintain a home for girls to help with their care, education, religious, industrial, and social training.
Over the years, RDCC evolved to an organization that helps children with serious emotional and behavioral issues, many whom have been removed from their homes or from foster care due to severe trauma, neglect, and abuse.
In 2010, RDCC became a member of the Navos family.
Seattle Children’s Home
Seattle Children’s Home (SCH), founded in 1884 is the oldest charity in Washington State, formed by fifteen of Seattle’s founding mothers including Mary Leary, Sarah Yesler, and Elizabeth Minor. SCH acted as the first safety net for the community by offering to house, clothe, feed and nurture the poor and houseless. Over the years, SCH evolved into an organization that responds to the mental health needs for children and their families throughout Seattle, King County and Washington State. Seattle Children’s Home has been respected throughout the community for addressing the emotional and behavioral needs for our state’s most seriously emotionally disturbed children. From humble beginnings as a home for orphaned children, SCH blossomed into the only mental health facility of its kind in King County.
In 2012, Seattle Children’s Home became a member of the Navos family.
