Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division Announces Brian McBride as New Director of Wraparound Milwaukee

Brian McBride. Photo courtesy of Milwaukee County.

MILWAUKEE – (July 2, 2018) Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division Administrator Mike Lappen today announced the promotion of Brian McBride to director of Wraparound Milwaukee, a nationally-awarded best practice system of comprehensive care for children with serious emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs.

“Brian is committed to enhancing our existing system of care and providing new supports for youth and families in Milwaukee County,” says Lappen. “He’s leading the way with community-based planning, empowering our partners to provide individualized services and support. We look forward to having Brian continue this important work, connecting families in our community to great care through Wraparound Milwaukee.”

McBride has spent the past 16 years serving Milwaukee County as part of the Wraparound Milwaukee team. He has filled the role of care coordinator, supervisor, program manager and most recently, interim director for his predecessor Mary Jo Meyers, current director for the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services.

During his time with Wraparound, McBride has been instrumental in the success of several initiatives, including:

• Launching the first episode psychosis program (CORE), offering comprehensive and specialized services and support to youth who are experiencing their first mental health crisis;
• Developed the O-YEAH program, providing support to youth to manage the stress of life, school, work, or family, while increasing health and well-being in their transition to adulthood;
• Implementing Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) for youth and young adults, a recovery-focused, integrated behavioral health program for individuals with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.

In addition to making significant program contributions, McBride also regularly speaks at state and national conference sharing BHD’s best practices to improve the health of youth across the nation.

Nationally, McBride’s team has been recognized for building healthy and strong communities by enhancing children and families’ ability to meet life’s challenges and to foster resiliency and hope for a better future. Some of this recent recognition includes the 2016 National Staff Development and Training Association Quality Award for training and curriculum.

Locally, the Wraparound team also received recognition from key partners. In 2017, the team received the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office Eisenberg Award, and the Milwaukee Police Department Merit Award for community partnership for its children’s mobile team and other outreach efforts.

About Wraparound Milwaukee

Wraparound Milwaukee was originally developed in 1995 from a federal grant to foster the development of more comprehensive, community-based care for children with serious emotional needs and their families. Wraparound Milwaukee’s philosophy and approach focuses on strength-based, individualized care, designed to reduce the use of institutional-based care such as residential treatment centers and inpatient psychiatric hospitals while providing more services in the community and in the child’s home. The program emphasizes family inclusion, along with collaboration among child welfare education, juvenile justice and mental health in the delivery of services.

About the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division

The Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division (BHD) is the community’s connection point to vital, high-quality behavioral health care. BHD empowers safe, healthy and meaningful lives through connections that support recovery. BHD ensures that everyone gets connected to great behavioral health care, no matter their severity of need or ability to pay. Through BHD, Milwaukee County residents have access to the largest network of behavioral health providers in the state. BHD provides care and treatment to adults, adolescents and children with mental illness, substance abuse disorders and co-occurring illnesses through crisis services, community-based services, hospital services, and child and adolescent services. For more information, visit county.milwaukee.gov/BHD.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.

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