Bill Would Create Regional Mental Health Crisis Centers in Wisconsin

Friday, November 3rd, 2023 -- 1:01 PM

(Bob Hague, WRN) A bill in the Wisconsin Legislature would facilitate opening regional crisis centers.

Currently, persons experiencing a mental health crisis may ride in the back of a squad car for hours, to be taken to Winnebago Mental Health Institute near Oshkosh. State Senator Howard Marklein, “That’s not the best way to treat somebody who's in a mental health crisis, put them in the back of a squad car for a three-and-a-half-hour trip.”

Marklein said now, persons experiencing a mental health crisis may ride in the back of a squad car for hours, to be taken to Winnebago Mental Health Institute. “It is a terrible process, on so many different fronts. Number one, it's bad for the person in crisis. I mean, that’s not the best way to treat somebody who's in a mental health crisis, put them in the back of a squad car for a three-and-a-half-hour trip.”

Representative Clint Moses said putting people in crisis in a squad car for a drive to Winnebago Mental Health Institute near Oshkosh is not good. “Now you confine the person, you pull them away from their support system, their family and anything that they might have to help them get through it, and pull them clear across the state."

"Some of our communities, they don't have a lot of extra law enforcement to spare. So you put two deputies in a car and bring them down. This situation has not created a positive environment for anybody involved.”

Grant County Sheriff Nate Dreckman said having deputies drive those in crisis to Winnebago Mental Health Institute near Oshkosh is not great. “I'll give you an example. On Monday in Grant County, we had a young man that was going through a crisis. Eight o'clock in the morning, was taken to the ER. Our deputies get back in the county at 10:30 that night.”

Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said that can reduce trauma.“It's hard enough when someone's going through a mental health crisis. And our job is to reduce that trauma. And that's what this bill and the center's regional centers will allow us to do.”

Ten million dollars has already been budgeted towards the crisis centers, which would be modeled on “Crisis Now,” a set of best practices.

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