EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – Mental health leaders in Evansville are celebrating a milestone as Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare completed its first year as a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic.
Officials say they have made progress expanding access to care for those in the area. Over three years, they have seen a 42% increase in access to care.
Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare is one of eight Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics in Indiana.
“Historically, it’s always been this belief that it takes months to get care. And that has not been true for quite some time now. And what we show with our data is it’s three days now, which is a number that’s not really true, because our offices have open access and can be seen same day,” said Katy Adams, Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare President and CEO.
The certification started as a grant in 2022. Adams said they needed more staff to provide the services, with the biggest build being crisis services.
“We went from 400 calls a year to 6,000 calls a year. And so that is a huge transformation for our community,” Adams said.
The expansion of crisis services includes a partnership with local law enforcement. Through the crisis response team, they have kept more people in the community rather than going to jail.
“With the crisis team, it enables a police officer, a therapist and a peer to go out and make contact with these people and give them direct resources. In some cases, help them get help, whether that be therapy, medication, housing, we found that it relieves resources on the police department side with less encounters with us in a negative way,” said Dave Smith, Mental Health Liaison with the Evansville Police Department.
Officials say they hope to open more Behavioral Health Clinics across the state within the next five years.
If you are experiencing a crisis, Southwestern has a local crisis line available for free at 812-422-1100.
You can also call the national crisis line at 988.
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