Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board Executive Director Daryl Washington has been appointed commissioner of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (courtesy Fairfax County)
Fairfax County will soon have a void to fill at the agency that provides its behavioral health services.
Daryl Washington, who has led the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB) since 2018, has been appointed commissioner of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger announced on Monday (Jan. 5).
Washington has accepted the position and will resign from his current role as the Fairfax-Falls Church CSB’s executive director “in the coming weeks,” a Fairfax County spokesperson confirmed to FFXnow. He’s scheduled to start in his new job on Jan. 17, the same day that Spanberger will be sworn in as Virginia’s new governor.
“Mr. Washington remains committed to the CSB and ensuring a smooth transition,” the county spokesperson said. “Fairfax County is actively beginning recruitment for a new CSB Executive Director. Details will be shared on the County’s Human Resources website when the application period opens.”
One of 40 boards required by state law to be established in every Virginia jurisdiction, the Fairfax-Falls Church CSB provides mental health, substance use treatment and developmental disability services to both adults and youth in Fairfax County and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.
During his almost eight-year tenure as executive director, Washington guided the agency through the increased demand for services and recruitment challenges that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has also helped manage the county’s response to the opioid crisis and worked with police to intervene in situations involving behavioral health issues during and after an encounter through the Diversion First initiative.
CSB projects currently in the works include a new regional detox and crisis center for youth that the agency hopes to open in the first half of 2026.
Washington’s career at the Fairfax-Falls Church CSB stretches back to 1996, when he joined the county as a supervisor for the agency’s mental health adult residential services. He ascended the ranks to become deputy director of clinical operations before being named to the executive director job in 2018.
As commissioner of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, Washington will oversee a system that regulates and provides services through 12 state-run mental health hospitals as well as the local CSBs. The department also operates the state’s 988 crisis hotline and helps people with developmental disabilities access support services through Medicaid waivers and other programs.
Washington joins a growing number of Fairfax residents and community leaders appointed to serve in Spanberger’s administration, whose ranks will also include former delegates David Bulova and Mark Sickles and Dr. Sesha Joi Moon.
Spanberger announced Washington’s appointment alongside several other agency leaders and senior staff members, including the returns of Virginia Department of Transportation Commissioner Stephen Birch and Department of Social Services Commissioner S. Duke Storen.