TRAVERSE CITY — A state House report is recommending the creation of a Northern Michigan Mental Health Campus.
The facility would nearly double the region’s current capacity for inpatient and residential psychiatric care — but it could be years before the project breaks ground.
Mental health advocates say that a lack of inpatient and residential treatment options in Northern Michigan has left adults and adolescents worse off.
Kate Dahlstrom, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Grand Traverse chapter, has been backing the project for years.
“We need to provide mental health care,” she said. “We need to provide it close to home.”
Dahlstrom says that large parts of Northern Michigan are essentially deserts for mental health treatment.
Three hospitals maintain about 50-60 beds for adults, but those are almost constantly occupied. The state estimates a need for close to 40 more beds.
The region also provides zero inpatient beds for adolescents, while the state reports a need of more than a dozen.
“Our families are reporting to us when their loved ones get sent downstate, sometimes as far as Detroit — most recently, a couple people to Auburn Hills,” Dahlstrom said.
The current campus proposal includes 10-12 adult and 8-10 youth inpatient psychiatric beds. It also includes around 20 adult and 10 youth residential beds.
The original plan was for the hospital to be privately owned and supported with state funds — but now the proposal is for a facility jointly operated by the state and a university partner.
“Because it is a combination, a partnership of a state hospital and a university, it is not going to turn anyone away,” Dahlstrom said. “We are providing for at least half a dozen beds for those with very serious or sometimes violent behaviors.”
Dahlstrom estimates that the project would cost around $40 million to develop and construct.
Rep. Matthew Bierlein, who chaired the committee that authored the report, says that those in need of treatment shouldn’t have to receive it hours away from home.
“It’s prohibitive to recovery,” said Bierlein, (R) District 97, Vassar. “It lengthens the amount of time somebody needs to be in recovery or in treatment, and just having that family support, community support, and closer access to care just gives you that much more opportunity to really get the treatment that somebody needs.”
Despite the recommendation and signal of support from state lawmakers, the proposal is not set to receive funding in this year’s state budget.
Local providers are in the process of forming a nonprofit for the project, which would make it easier to apply for and receive grants.