State agency representatives and mental health advocates testified Tuesday about how Wisconsin could improve when it comes to addressing mental health issues, asking lawmakers to consider supporting different policies and additional investments, including certain items proposed by Gov. Tony Evers for the upcoming biennial budget.
When Chrissy Barnard faced a mental health crisis and most needed care, law enforcement handcuffed her, placed her in the back of a patrol car and drove her five hours to Wisconsin’s only state-run mental health facility for the general public.
In the past month, as the Yabuki Mental Health Clinic at Children’s Wisconsin witnessed an influx of patients, the manager of the clinic has pointed out that there has been an increase in school anxiety, school avoidance, anxiety in general.
Mental illness in children is on the rise as experts say that isolation, disconnection from school and friends, household financial stresses, illness in the family, and the death of loved ones have made children’s mental health concerns worse, especially during the pandemic.
In the entire state of Wisconsin, there is only a pocket of dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) programs.
