Schools to get more social workers
New budget expands mental health services for children
MADISON - State lawmakers this month approved the largest expansion of children’s mental health services in years — boosting school resources, increasing Medicaid coverage and trying new approaches to keep kids out of hospitals.
Mental health advocates are particularly excited about provisions in the final state budget targeting youth mental health before crises, which can be expensive, traumatic and deadly. Wisconsin’s youth suicide rate is among the highest in the nation.
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin followed the state budget as part of its Kids in Crisis series, which for the past two years has examined gaps in children’s mental health services and what can be done to close them.
Here are six steps lawmakers took this year through the budget.
$610,000 to connect clinicians with a child’s support network
Lawmakers set aside $610,000 for the state to reimburse clinicians for consulting work involving Medicaid-enrolled students up to age 21. If Wisconsin gets approval from the federal government, it will begin to pay therapists or doctors for their time when they consult with a patient’s family, teachers or school staff about a mental health treatment plan.
Most Medicaid-enrolled children in Wisconsin fall under a program known as Badgercare.
The change will allow mental health professionals to collaborate with other key people in a child’s life who can make their treatment plan succeed, said Linda Hall, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of Family & Children’s Agencies.
$7 million for school staffing, providers and training
Walker proposed, at the request of state schools Superintendent Tony Evers, three initiatives to expand mental health services in schools that were ultimately approved by legislators and signed into law.
The initiatives collectively cost about $7 million.
Over this school year and next, about $600,000 will fund training for school staff in recognizing mental health challenges, referring kids for additional help and using approaches that are sensitive to trauma that kids may have experienced.
In the next school year, about $3 million will help districts boost social worker staffing levels, which fall below industry recommendations across the state.
Next summer, schools will be able to apply for grants from a $3.25 million pool to partner with community providers to get their students access to mental health services.
Hall, who also works with the state’s Coalition for Expanding School-Based Mental Health, said the group has heard from dozens of school districts that are interested in the grants, which could help schools bring therapists into their buildings.
“Teachers are really clamoring for help with traumatized kids,” Hall said. “They see kids struggling and they cannot get to all of them.”
While some districts already have arrangements with local providers, Hall said the bottleneck has been the fact that students’ insurance plans don’t reimburse all of the costs associated with the therapy. These grants will make up that difference and allow more clinics to provide therapy in more schools.
Walker and Evers both touted the school mental health initiatives after fi--
nal approval. Evers, a Democrat, is campaigning to challenge Walker, a Republican, in next year’s gubernatorial race.
$1.25 million for a temporary shelter for young people who need help
The state, through grant funding awarded to nonprofits, operates three shelters where adults nearing a mental health crisis can temporarily stay to receive support and hopefully avoid hospitalization. This year’s state budget includes $1.25 million in funding for state health officials to create one or more similar shelters for kids.
The location of the new child shelter, called a “crisis stabilization facility,” hasn’t been decided. State officials have only said they hope the shelter aims to reduce admissions to a state-run mental health hospital near Oshkosh. Hospitalization is costly and state officials worry too many kids are admitted unnecessarily.
“It’s a concern that kids aren’t receiving attention early enough so they’re falling into the most extreme intervention, which is emergency detention,” said Elizabeth Hudson, head of the state Office of Children’s Mental Health, The budget describes a crisis as a situation where a child’s “apparent mental disorder” results in high stress or anxiety for the child, child care providers or the public. The situation also can’t be resolved through normal coping methods.
$1 million for mental health providers to help pediatricians
Lawmakers doubled annual funding for a program that helps pediatricians consult with psychiatrists about their patients. Psychiatrists aren’t allowed to speak directly with patients, but they can offer expertise to pediatricians.
Although praised by mental health advocates, the increase still falls short of the $3.1 million annually that state health authorities estimate would be needed for statewide expansion of the consultation program.
$557,000 for youth prison counseling services
The final budget includes $557,000 requested by state prison officials for more mental health counseling at the Copper Lake School for Girls, which is about 25 miles north of Wausau. The prison has come under intense scrutiny over the past two years for its treatment of inmates, including its handling of suicidal inmates.
Prison officials said last year that girl inmates had less access to counseling than boy inmates and girls sent to a state-run hospital are sometimes turned away due to their behavior. The state was “ultimately left with no options ... that will serve (the) mental health needs of juvenile girls.”
The funding will support the equivalent of 3.25 new positions, including a psychologist and two youth counselors to provide special services for girls who have been traumatized. An outside psychiatrist will also provide in-person treatment one day per week, effectively doubling access to psychiatrists who can prescribe and monitor medications.
$39 million to reduce Medicaid waiting list
Thousands of Wisconsin children with developmental or physical disabilities or severe emotional disorders may receive Medicaid funding for long-term health care services and supplies. But many must also wait for aid.
Through the final budget, lawmakers approved $39 million to eliminate a waiting list that Walker’s administration said in May included nearly 2,500 children. Mental health advocates have said the measure should help many families.
“Up to a quarter of the kids on the list right now are there because of severe emotional disturbances,” said Joanne Juhnke, policy director for Wisconsin Family Ties. “Getting support for these kids is going to make a huge difference for families across Wisconsin.”