Evansville diversion center serves as alternative solution to incarceration, hospital visits
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
More than seven years in the making, a new diversion center at United Caring Services in downtown Evansville is now open for people who need help with substance use, mental health and housing issues.
“The idea started with the recognition that unhoused populations at the crossroads of substance use disorders and mental illness were not getting the treatment that they needed,” said Va Cun, executive director of United Caring Services.
The diversion center located inside the group’s shelter at 324 NW 6th St. serves as an alternative option to jail and area hospitals during times of crisis.
“The idea is you create a fallback that’s low cost. A police 911 run, an AMR transport to the emergency department, that’s $10,000 right there,” said Jason Emmerson, the former executive director of United Caring Services, who was involved in developing the project.
The four-bed facility provides meals, laundry, showers and case management services. Officer Mario Reid and Sgt. Joshua Brewer—who work in the Evansville Police Department’s crime prevention unit and are mental health and homeless outreach liaisons—said the diversion center fills a service gap.
“The big thing is they’re providing another option for someone who doesn’t quite meet the criteria for needing a hospitalization. Or where maybe they might need hospitalization, but we don’t have to go to that high level of service, and some of those needs can be met with another type of center,” Reid said.
“It keeps them out of the criminal justice system, for that instance, and keeps our officers on the street,” Brewer added.
Ideation and creation
In 2016, the city of Evansville formed a mental health commission after local leaders took a trip to San Antonio, Texas, to visit a successful jail diversion model.
At the time, United Caring Services was looking for ways to improve the shelter to make it more hospitable with fewer barriers.
“A group of individuals working in homeless services recognized that mental health and mental illness was an important and critical factor within the homeless population. And the conception of a crisis stabilization unit started,” Cun said.
The police department had also recognized a growing need for an alternative solution to reduce repeat visits to jail and area hospitals.
“We were seeing a lot of overutilization of our emergency rooms. We were trying to find ways to cut costs that were costing taxpayers money and not truly addressing issues that individuals in our community were having,” said Brewer. “Taking people by ambulance, maybe because of intoxication. That’s a big one, whether it’s under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. They go, they get cleared, then they’re released and we’re back in the same boat, maybe the same day.”
Several challenges arose during the creation of the diversion center, including building community support and finding qualified staff. Raising the money needed to operate the diversion center also created challenges.
“We did not secure funding until last fall. So from 2016 to 2022, it wasn’t decided upon. We’ve had great donors and supporters along the way, but the operational money to run the center wasn’t secured until recently,” said Cun.
Reid said renovations were challenging because the historic building had to meet specific requirements to include the diversion center. After the work was completed with support from the CenterPoint Energy Foundation, the pandemic paused the project. However, Emmerson said the shelter put the new space to good use.
“It was a good thing we did have it because UCS used it for quarantine, isolation, vaccines…It was nice to have that additional, separate space. We used it for screenings, all kinds of various things,” he said.
Purpose for patrons and the community
Someone who comes to the diversion center can get help with their current situation and receive assistance to reduce or prevent future episodes.
“If someone’s trespassing or public intoxication or something like that, maybe the result would be jail,” said Reid. “This is an opportunity for that person to go somewhere where they could sober up and work with the United Caring Services and other service providers to get resources so that they can meet their needs and eliminate the crisis that had occurred.”
Reid said the diversion center’s daytime hours are beneficial because similar services in the community are not available during the day.
“Sometimes, someone’s in a crisis. They have a home, but maybe for the best interest of every member of that household, that one person [should] be removed for a short period to help calm things down. Before the diversion center, we had one option for that: the Southwestern Behavioral Health’s Crisis Stabilization Unit. And that’s only operated at night,” he said.
Brewer said this alternative solution will save the time and money that law enforcement spends on repeat offenders who have substance use and mental health issues.
“A public intoxication arrest is a misdemeanor-level offense. You go to the hospital, and they have to blow under a certain blood alcohol content to be cleared. So you may have a one or two-hour hospital stay, and then you take them to jail,” he said. “And then they possibly get put on a court order program for follow-up services. So there’s a lot of time and money involved there.”
The diversion center will also ease the burden on hospitals that have repetitive patients struggling with mental health and substance use.
“Deaconess [Midtown Hospital] is within blocks of the United Caring Services shelter, and they see a lot of the same repeat individuals, whether they’re walking in or coming off an ambulance. A lot of times, it’s substance abuse, acute mental health issues and alcohol issues that they get with those same repeat individuals. We’re hoping that this will help reduce that,” said Brewer.
Most referrals to the diversion center’s program are individuals encountered by the Evansville Police Department. Vanderburgh County Sheriff Noah Robinson told Inside INdiana Business he plans to meet with Cun soon to discuss procedures for using the facility.
As the diversion center stakeholders find their footing, Emmerson is pleased to see the project finally come to fruition.
“It’s the first thing like that in this community, and that’s at times a challenge within itself,” he said. “It’s just getting people to use it and getting that one success story and then building to another one.”
“If we can avoid jail time for individuals or a hospital stay, that’s what we’d like to do. What we’re really looking for are long-term solutions and helping people have a better life in our city,” Brewer added.