Bowen Health looks to expand crisis-response program after early success
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Warsaw-based Bowen Health says a recently-launched crisis-response program in Whitley County has seen a 100% success rate in getting young people experiencing a mental health crisis into treatment and out of the court system.
“It’s really a program that is preventative in a way, because these situations can escalate and become a lot more than what they really are,” said Mista Lauber, northeast Indiana executive director for Bowen. “But with the mental health intervention of the Bowen Health staff, it definitely has reduced the amount of youth that need detention care.”
The company, which bills itself as the largest community mental health provider in Indiana, says it is now looking to grow the program to serve more youth in northeast Indiana, as well as adults.
Lauber told Inside INdiana Business that families have expressed appreciation for the program as it gives them a longer-term plan to deal with mental health issues.
“A lot of times when parents are calling and they need assistance with their child, they’re reaching out to law enforcement as kind of a last effort to help their kid or help their family as a system,” she said. “So when mental health shows up, they’re able to kind of dissect the issue and figure out how to treat a situation on-site. I think when we walk away, families are feeling a lot more at ease. A lot of times, they have a safety plan in place, just a plan that keeps everyone accountable for their own actions.”
Lauber said the program provides assistance for not only those needing mental health services, but law enforcement as well.
“They have a teammate with them,” she said. “They have someone who actually specializes in mental health interventions. Also, a lot of times when we get to the scene, if Bowen staff feel comfortable, we are able to release the officer back out onto the street so that he can tend to other things that may need a little bit more help than the situation that they’re in with the mental health issue.”
The origins of the program date back two years ago, when Whitley County officials were looking to address a recurring problem of young people who were struggling with mental health issues but not breaking any laws.
The county created the Juvenile Detention Aversion Initiative, but co-chairs Lindsey Grossnickel, the deputy prosecutor for Whitley County, and Jen Christie, assistant chief of probation for the county, reached out to Bowen Health to come up with a better way of addressing the issue.
“Initially, it was a pipedream because of cost, availability, willingness…,” Grossnickel said in written remarks. “I brought the idea to Mista, and she immediately started working on it and made it a reality.”
The program was launched in January 2023, and Lauber said 100% of those who received assistance have come back for additional services, which has drastically lowered the number of calls to law enforcement.
“Since the program has gone live, we have not had a youth placed on probation after a crisis call has been made,” Grossnickel said. “I have only heard positive comments. Other communities want to duplicate this program because the need is everywhere.”
Bowen Health has now partnered with Indiana 988, the suicide and crisis lifeline in Indiana, thanks to a partnership with Whitley County Community Corrections. That, Lauber said, has allowed the company to provide assistance to adults as well as youth.
And Bowen is now looking to expand the program into Huntington County in order to serve more people.
Lauber said the key for other communities that are looking to implement similar programs is collaboration among local agencies, including law enforcement, dispatch, prosecutors, and probation.
“When [communities are] thinking of maybe creating a program like this, they have to have the whole community working together as a team, and I think that’s really why we’ve come out successful in the end,” she said. “I could go on and on with all the partnerships that we had to make this work, but that truly has been the foundation.”