Wisconsin coalition recommends bolstering mental health services

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A broad coalition of Wisconsin law enforcement agencies, health care professionals, local governments and others is recommending bolstering regional services as part of a multi-faceted approach to better handling emergency mental health detentions.

The recommendations released Thursday represent an attempt to address a longstanding and worsening issue across the state.

The problem is that with county facilities at capacity, law enforcement agencies are increasingly forced to make sometimes hours-long trips to the only state facility that will take emergency mental health detentions in Oshkosh.

Some of the proposals will need legislative approval, while others can be done now.