FAYETTEVILLE -- Local and state officials touted the opening of the long anticipated Crisis Stabilization Unit as a celebration of what is possible to improve mental health services in the region.
Washington County Judge Joseph Wood said the facility will serve individuals in a four-county area with a population of more than 500,000. The opening is the culmination of years of work by people in the community, in the mental health field, in law enforcement, and local and state government, Wood said.
Crisis Units
Arkansas has a pilot program of four Crisis Stabilization Units to divert people with mental health problems away from the criminal justice system. The program will monitor the units in Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Little Rock and Jonesboro through June 2021 and use the information gathered to evaluate the effectiveness of the facilities. The state is paying for the operating costs of the facilities once local governments provide a location to house the operation. The Fort Smith and Little Rock centers opened in 2018. The Jonesboro center is set to open in September.
Source: Staff report
"Today, you're seeing the possible happen," Wood said.
Washington County set aside $250,000 to renovate the old juvenile detention center downtown. The state earmarked about $6.4 million in operating costs for the program, about $1.4 million for each of the four units open or opening.
The 16-bed facility will give law enforcement officers who encounter people with mental health issues an alternative to taking them to jail. Staying at the center will be voluntary, with the maximum length of stay being three days.
Kathryn Griffin, justice reinvestment coordinator with Gov. Asa Hutchinson's office, said the center will be staffed around the clock with at least one registered nurse and other mental health professionals on site. Psychiatrists and counselors will be available within 20 minutes on an on-call basis. Individuals will have the chance to receive immediate treatment and be directed to other resources in the community.
Griffin said the center in Fort Smith has had 869 admissions in its first year of operation. Griffin said the goal for each of the centers is to have 100 clients per month or 1,200 in a year. Griffin said Pulaski County began slowly due to the limited number of law enforcement officers who had received the crisis intervention training, but that center has seen the number of admissions growing, with April showing 69 admissions.
Lisa Ecke, Washington County justice of the peace for District 6 in Springdale, said the opening reflected the vision and leadership of people in the community and in government. She pointed to Nancy Kahanak of Fayetteville, whom Ecke said brought the problem to the attention of the Quorum Court.
Kahanak said she was moved to take action by the death of a woman in the Benton County Jail. She said she was the case manager for the woman, who was suffering from cancer as well as having mental health issues. Kahanak said the woman never received medical treatment while incarcerated.
"She died because she was unable to communicate with them about her pain," Kahanak said Friday.
Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said the need for such a center has been known for some time and he welcomes the opening of the center.
"For the first time, really, in my years in law enforcement we're going to have an opportunity for our street officers, and our detention officers as well, to have an alternative to putting people in jail," Helder said.
Helder said people with mental health problems are often linked with what he called "nuisance crimes," mostly misdemeanors or low-level felonies, who don't pose any threat to public safety and don't belong in jail.
"We can bring them here instead of criminalizing their illness," Helder said. "We're excited about this."
Gov. Asa Hutchinson detailed the history of the program through the changing attitudes about how to treat people with mental health problems. He said in the 1970s and '80s the routine practice was to commit people to the State Hospital. That was followed by a period in which fewer people were institutionalized, but other treatment options weren't available.
That change in philosophy resulted in people with mental health issues being left to fend for themselves and frequently led to them being caught up in the criminal justice system, where treatment was not readily available. Hutchinson said the Crisis Stabilization Unit program is "a giant step forward" for treating those with mental illnesses with compassion and understanding.
Hutchinson said he had visited the center in Fort Smith and heard first-hand how the centers can work. He said he talked to a Vietnam veteran who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and stopped taking his medication.
"He had been arrested and put in jail but that (detention) officer diverted him to the CSU," Hutchinson said. "They got him stabilized."
The Fayetteville unit will be operated by Ozark Guidance, which will report to the county and the state. The center should begin taking clients by June 24, officials said Friday.
Kristen McAllister, director of crisis stabilization services, said opening the center was one stepping stone on the path toward reforming the mental health treatment system in Northwest Arkansas.
"To make the CSU a success we have to engage with our community and community resources," she said.
NW News on 06/15/2019