People facing mental health crises in the Madison area may now experience a quieter, safer and more comfortable form of help as the city rolls out a new fleet of sprinter vans designed for on-scene crisis intervention.
Officials say the new vehicles will help support the Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES) team as crisis workers de-escalate emergencies and better support people when they’re most vulnerable.
Previously, the CARES team used decommissioned sport utility vehicles from the Madison Fire Department that had once been assigned to fire chiefs. Those vehicles offered limited space for crisis workers to engage with people in need of care, who were seated in the back behind a partition separating them from the driver.
“It feels a little like the back of a squad car,” said Sarah Henrickson, clinical team manager with Journey Mental Health’s Emergency Services Unit, which partners with the city to provide CARES services. “I’ve ridden in the back of these cars before, and I’m not a huge person, but that felt very cramped to me.”
The new vans feature two front seats and a rear cabin with two rows facing each other around a fold-down table, along with secured storage in the back to keep emergency medical supplies and harm-reduction medications organized and accessible.
The two newly introduced vans used by Madison’s CARES team feature extra seating and a table designed to support on-site care and transport for people experiencing nonviolent behavioral health emergencies.
Ilana Bar-av
In 2025, CARES workers responded to more than 4,100 calls — averaging close to 350 calls a month. In the first two months of this year, the team responded to 687 calls for assistance.
The team has long had the goal of operating out of these kinds of vans, Henrickson said. Each van cost $83,000 and was paid for through the Madison Fire Department capital budget.
“It definitely gives us more of a standardized kind of storage capacity for each van; each one is the same,” said Steve Button, a paramedic who works alongside crisis workers on the team. “We have our (personal protective equipment), harm reduction supplies, we have Buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, and so it gives us a real, standardized layout so that each team is going to be able to do the same work for each patient that they’re with in the field.”
Crisis workers, paramedics and the person in need can have space out of potential rain, snow or extreme cold or heat to have conversations, fill out paperwork and establish a plan for care, Henrickson explained.
The van also offers an intervention space out of the public eye.
“Privacy is the biggest thing, like not having anyone else that can view your interaction or listen to your interaction,” Henrickson said. “Also, if somebody is experiencing a mental health crisis, like having distractions or other things going on around them might make it harder for them to focus on the conversation at hand.”
Sarah Henrickson, left, clinical team manager with Journey Mental Health’s Emergency Services Unit, listens as paramedic Steve Button describes how the CARES team has been using new sprinter vans
Ilana Bar-av
Shane Quella is one of the CARES crisis workers. He said he’s noticed a difference in how intervention operations run more smoothly because of the van and the space it provides.
“We’re kind of able to accommodate (people in need), like give them water and a snack to try to just take our time a little bit more rather than feeling rushed,” Quella said. “It seems like being able to sit down and be able to be warm makes a person a little bit more calm to engage.”
CARES first launched in Madison in 2021, serving only the downtown area from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. As officials observed the benefits of non-police crisis intervention, CARES team services have rapidly expanded to meet growing needs.
Since launching the team four and a half years ago, crisis workers on the CARES team have responded to more than 12,600 calls and served more than 7,600 people in crisis.
A newly introduced van used by Madison Community Alternative Response Emergency Services team is designed to provide mobile support and transportation for people experiencing nonviolent behavioral health emergencies.
Ilana Bar-av
Now there are three teams staggered throughout the day in service 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, and one team from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and holidays. The service area has also expanded to include all of Madison and Sun Prairie.
“That’s quite a lot of expansion in a relatively short amount of time, four years,” Henrickson said. “I think people really embraced this very quickly. We see an awful lot of calls coming into dispatch where people are specifically requesting a CARES response.”
The new fleet hit Dane County roads the first week of March, Henrickson said. The team currently has two vans but will eventually have four.