Milwaukee, Jan. 25, 2023 – During Governor Tony Evers recent State of the State Address, proposed were several investments to the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) focused on mental health. Included in the press materials were a $2 million annual expansion of the Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program into a broader, comprehensive Mental Health Consultation Program, as well as appropriation line-item funding to support MCW’s Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Residency Programs.

“I would like to thank Governor Evers for announcing 2023 as ‘The Year of Mental Health,’” said John R. Raymond, Sr., MD, president and CEO of MCW. “The Medical College of Wisconsin has been a leader across Wisconsin over the past decade, advancing innovative mental health initiatives for Wisconsin residents, and we are proud to continue finding collaborative ways to improve mental health access and care for children and adults. MCW appreciates the Governor’s proposal to create an appropriation line-item to support the MCW psychiatry and behavioral residencies, which operate throughout the state. A second area of support is funding an expansion of the Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program into a comprehensive Mental Health Consultation Program. These investments will serve to comprehensively address Wisconsin’s growing mental health crisis by supporting the workforce pipeline, increasing immediate access to care, and providing formal and informal mental health education resources to Wisconsin’s primary care providers to best leverage the healthcare delivery system’s ability to provide timely and effective care. Over the past ten years, MCW has appreciated the bipartisan approach toward finding solutions to Wisconsin’s mental health crisis, going back to the 2013 Speaker’s Task Force on Mental Health. MCW looks forward to advocating for these initiatives with members of the Wisconsin State Legislature throughout the upcoming state budget process.”