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Kenosha County says embedded social worker and Lake Behavioral partnership reduced state hospital placements
Summary
County behavioral health staff described an embedded public-safety social worker’s early work and said partnership with out-of-state Lake Behavioral inpatient capacity has sharply reduced transfers to state mental hospitals.
Kristen Rabidoux, a licensed clinical social worker embedded with the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office, described her first three weeks on the job after starting March 10: she said she received 14 calls and referrals, responded to schools, the county jail and an emergency department, and helped divert two potential emergency detentions into voluntary mental-health placements.
“Within the first 3 weeks, I focused on training ... ride alongs with deputies, and connecting with high schools,” Rabidoux said, describing follow-up contacts and collaboration with jail and hospital social workers to reduce deputies’ time on mental-health calls.
County behavioral-health director Carrie Foss described a larger system-level change: starting in April 2023 the county began using Lake Behavioral, a nearby inpatient facility across the state line. Foss said the county’s share of chapter-commitment admissions sent to state mental-health institutes dropped from 85 percent in 2022 to 43 percent after Lake went live, and she reported that in the most recent quarter 1 figure only 9 percent of chapter commitments went to a state mental hospital.
Director of Department of Human Services John Jansen reminded supervisors that the Human Services budget relies heavily on state and federal funds and that contracted providers face cost pressures. Jansen and other staff said the department will hunt for efficiencies and grants where appropriate and is preparing program-level proposals for the 2026 budget process.
Supervisors asked whether the numbers of formal civil commitments were rising or falling; Foss said overall chapter-related admissions have been trending down since 2019 and that the county’s policy and provider changes have reduced the share routed to state institutions.
Staff emphasized that many changes depend on state-level funding and policy; Human Services said it will return with proposals tied to available state budget actions and will continue to seek grants and community partnerships to keep services local and accessible.
