Michigan is adding more specialized units that offer mental health services as an alternative to hospitals. One will be going in for Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties.
Crisis Stabilization Units help people experiencing a behavioral health crisis by offering services for up to 72 hours.
Dr. Debra Pinals, director of behavioral health and forensic programs for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said this level of care is an alternative to an emergency room.
“And this way, there's a new place for people to go to get this kind of support they don't have to go to the emergency room, which, to date, has been kind of default of where people go for a variety of mental health issues.”
Pinals said CSUs are a resource that help people who are struggling stay on the right path.
“This also allows an opportunity to keep people who might otherwise have gone through the criminal route out of that system and into treatment. Very often, people got arrested, and we know that there's a need to come up with alternatives that keep people in the treatment system when that's the more important, more appropriate system.”
Services provided by Crisis Stabilization Units are expected to be covered by Medicaid as well as many private insurance companies.