Brown County joins initiative for one-stop crisis center

Brown County has been trying to improve crisis services in the community for several years. Wednesday, the county announced it's supporting an initiative to build a one-stop crisis center.

The need for more resources is something Action 2 News has followed. Two years ago, Target 2 Investigates heard from several people frustrated about the time it takes to get others who are in a mental health crisis into a psychiatric hospital.

We found the delay was caused by a backlog. Too many agencies were lined up to meet counselors.

The demand for psychiatric beds versus the supply was also an issue.

The county expects the new center to remedy issues with crisis services. In any given month, Family Services in Brown County serves more than 400 people dealing with a mental health crisis.

In 2012, the county decided to make the expansion of crisis services a priority.

"Brown County, along with law enforcement, community providers, were seeing that the process that an individual who is experiencing a mental health crisis, the time that we interacted with that individual to the point where they were getting treatment could last up to 8 or 12 hours," Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach said.

He says the new, one-stop model focuses on people most in need of mental and medical screening. The idea is to get mental health partners together under one roof, improving coordination and getting someone the help they need faster.

"We're trying to reduce the amount of points people touch different systems, so if we can better meet those needs with our own facility working in partnership with Family Services, working with the crisis assessment, we can bring medical screening into this facility so we don't have to have those unnecessary trips to the emergency departments," Erik Pritzl, Brown County director of health and human services, said.

A collaborative facility will also get more officers and first responders back on the road by limiting the contact someone in crisis has with them.

"Just streamlining the process, making it more trauma informed that people can come to one spot, and hopefully proceed through the process without having to get in and out of a squad car or possibly not even having to see police officers, which would be ideal for everyone involved," Crisis Center program manager Jenny Younk said.

The plan is for the crisis center to go right next to the current community treatment center, and start operating by the end of 2020.

The project will cost $2.2 million. Streckenbach says it's made possible through the 2017 debt reduction infrastructure tax relief plan.