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Kenosha County committee approves one-year grant to embed social worker with Pleasant Prairie police
Summary
The Human Services Committee approved a one-year state crisis-intervention grant to place an embedded social worker with the Pleasant Prairie Police Department. The pilot will use standardized suicide screens, link people to behavioral-health services and distribute safety equipment; the village agreed to a local match.
Kenosha County's Human Services Committee voted to accept a one-year state crisis intervention grant to fund an embedded social worker who will work with the Pleasant Prairie Police Department.
The grant award is $75,000, and Pleasant Prairie officials pledged $34,794 in local support, county staff said during the Sept. committee meeting. Carrie, identified in the record as director of behavioral health services, described the project as a one-year pilot to "enhance suicide screening and identification methods," improve linkage to behavioral-health services and reduce suicide risk in the village.
The pilot will train officers and the embedded worker to use standardized screening tools including the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Staff also said the program will use Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM) screening and will provide safety equipment such as medication lockboxes and gun locks to support safety plans during assessments.
"The grant is for 1 year, so we're gonna be using that as a pilot," Carrie said in the meeting record.
Supervisors asked how the project would be funded after the grant year. Carrie said the county typically provides embedded crisis or social workers to municipalities in Wisconsin because the county can provide clinical supervision, electronic health records and the larger infrastructure needed for medical records and clinical oversight. She also said staff will track cost savings and other measures during the year to evaluate sustainability.
Supervisor Regan asked whether Pleasant Prairie's $34,794 contribution was coming from the village budget; Carrie replied that the village contribution was on its own budget. Supervisor Curley and others suggested pursuing Medicaid revenue, municipal contributions or other funding streams if the pilot demonstrates success. The county also noted the project aligns with allowable expenses in opioid-settlement fund Exhibit E for co-response with law enforcement, per a supervisor comment during the meeting.
The committee approved the resolution by motion (first by Supervisor Brown, second by Supervisor Robinson) and recorded that the resolution passed on the committee vote. No roll-call tally was included in the meeting record provided.
The county said it will collect baseline and outcome data defined in the grant (SMART goals under the DHS grant requirements) to measure whether the pilot reduces risk and improves linkage to care. Officials said they would consult with other Wisconsin municipalities that operate similar county-municipal arrangements during implementation.
The resolution modifies the Division of Behavioral Health Services budget to accept the state crisis intervention program grant and to fund the embedded social worker assignment to Pleasant Prairie Police as a pilot.
Committee discussion and the vote occurred during the Sept. Human Services Committee meeting; staff said the one-year pilot will serve as the basis for evaluating longer-term funding and expansion.
