Chewbacca, Yoda and Princess Leia watched over Joe Mannchen and colleagues as they worked on their Yahara House computers, some designing birthday cards for fellow clubhouse members. 

Taped above each desktop, the “Star Wars” cutouts distinguished the computers from others — a more lively equipment tracking method than four-digit codes, Mannchen explained.   

“We’re not numbers,” the 15-year clubhouse veteran joked. “Why should our computers just be numbers in the system?”

The cutouts accented colorful decor inside Yahara House, which overlooks Lake Mendota on Madison’s isthmus. A pride flag, bulletin boards and photos covered bright blue walls of a mansion built in 1902 and once occupied by Adolph Kayser, a former mayor. Hanging beside century-old stained glass: a “Pets of Yaharans” photo display of cats Pumpkin Boy, B.B. King Cat, Mookie, Spock and Purr. Photos of human Yaharans hung elsewhere.

Yahara House, part of the nonprofit Journey Mental Health Center, is a community mental health program focused on building relationships and job opportunities. The clubhouse model reduces hospitalizations and boosts employment in adults with serious mental illnesses, experts and advocates say. 

Mannchen, who once edited videos professionally, uses those skills to help create updates for members. He and others are considering starting a podcast to promote Yahara House to the community. 

“At the risk of being a little saccharine, it brings me joy,” he said.

Other members work in the Yahara House offices, reception desk or its kitchen, the Catfish Cafe. Still others fill temporary jobs at local shops, restaurants and the State Capitol. A bulletin board celebrates three dozen members with permanent jobs.

Wisconsin has few places like this. Yahara House is one of seven clubhouses in the state and just three with international accreditation, according to Clubhouse International’s latest count. Neighboring Michigan has 37 accredited clubhouses. Advocates want Wisconsin to learn from Michigan to expand clubhouses statewide. 

Medicaid cuts could jeopardize services

Reimbursement from Medicaid, the joint state and federal program to help low-income residents afford care, funds nearly all of the Yahara House budget, said director Brad Schlough.

But budget cuts in Washington may threaten that funding. Seeking to pay for tax cuts and some mandatory spending increases, the Republican-led U.S. House has proposed cutting up to $880 billion in spending over the next decade from the committee that oversees programs including Medicare and Medicaid. For a variety of reasons, including the large size of the program, Medicaid is a likely target for significant cuts. 

“I’m not sleeping well at night worrying about the human costs the proposed funding cuts will inevitably bring,” Schlough said. 

The Trump administration has already made cuts to COVID-era mental health funding and eliminated an office focused on helping older adults and people with disabilities live independently.

More than one in three U.S. adult Medicaid enrollees have a mental illness. Most in Yahara House rely on Medicaid for services within and outside of the clubhouse.

The clubhouse already struggles financially to serve members waiting to enroll or ineligible for Medicaid support services.

“Clubhouses are intended to be open to anyone in the community with a mental illness. The problem is that the funding doesn’t always follow that,” Schlough said.

When members do join the right Medicaid programs, Wisconsin requires hours of recordkeeping for clubhouses to get paid. That contrasts with Michigan, which streamlines payments for clubhouses. 

Yahara House members pride themselves on finding solutions. The community is celebrating 25 years of international accreditation this year and has served adults with mental illness for much longer.

Its longest-tenured member is Michael Larscheid at 47 years. His photo hangs on a bulletin celebrating continuing education. He recently started swimming classes.

While many of his friends have moved or lost touch over the years, Yahara House remains a constant. 

“This is my family here,” he said.

An ‘antidote for loneliness’ 

Larscheid works weekdays in the Catfish Cafe, calling out lunch orders that cost around $1 each.

Mark Benson, a 40-year clubhouse member, joins him, preparing food for about 30 people. Benson researches recipes for twice-weekly desserts that cost 50 cents. In February, he debuted a diabetic-friendly pecan pie. 

Benson is retired from outside work. But when he first joined, Yahara House connected him with a job at an upscale furniture store.

“I was vacuuming around these like three $30,000 consoles and glass tables,” he recalled. “I had to be very careful where I went. It was a good job.”

People with mental illness can often find jobs on their own, but some struggle in workplaces that lack flexibility for mental health days, Schlough said. They might also face transportation barriers. Yahara House keeps a list of more flexible Madison-area employers. The clubhouse trains staff for each job, allowing them to fill in when a club member can’t make a shift. 

Yahara House also provides safe spaces during the day and on holidays and fosters community through weekly events like karaoke. 

Schlough calls clubhouses an “antidote for loneliness.”

Few Wisconsin clubhouses

Despite the advantages, Wisconsin has seen limited clubhouse expansion.

That surprised Sita Diehl, public policy and advocacy director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Wisconsin chapter. She sees the model as underutilized.

Wisconsin prioritizes other types of services. 

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ latest budget proposal does not include specific funding for clubhouses, state Department of Health Services spokesperson Jennifer Miller confirmed in an email to WPR and Wisconsin Watch.

Still, Evers’ budget would expand the state’s behavioral health system, fund suicide prevention and improve crisis response, Miller wrote, adding: “Supporting people with mental health concerns is a top priority” and that the administration worries that federal Medicaid cuts would harm Wisconsin residents. 

Substantial funding changes for clubhouses would require legislative and state health department approval. There are no current plans to seek a new clubhouse waiver, Miller said but added that expanding Medicaid like other states would boost resources for many services. 

Yahara House’s Medicaid reimbursements flow through the state’s Comprehensive Community Services waiver for people with mental health or substance use issues that could lead to hospitalization. That program best accommodates easier-to-document treatments like psychotherapy, which unfold in hourlong blocks of time, Schlough said.

Yahara House serves members more sporadically throughout the day, leaving staff to spend as many as six hours daily logging time spent serving members — necessary for reimbursement, Schlough said. The exercise conflicts with a clubhouse spirit that encourages staff to treat members more as peers than patients.  

The clubhouse doesn’t pepper new members with questions about diagnoses and limitations. 

“We say, ‘We’re glad to see you,’” Schlough said. “What do you like to do? What are your interests?’” 

‘We want to be a right door’

As a lifelong Madisonian, Rick Petzke probably drove past Yahara House thousands of times. He didn’t know it could help him until his tour almost five years ago.

He joined and received a temporary job at Hy-Vee.

“They liked me so well, they hired me permanently,” Petzke said.

He regrets not learning earlier about a clubhouse members call “Madison’s best kept secret” — like a fancy restaurant on a hidden street. 

Joining requires little more than having a mental illness and not being a harm to yourself or others. But it can take members up to four months to properly enroll with the county in the right  Medicaid program, and a few don’t qualify, Schlough said. 

When members aren’t enrolled? Yahara House eats the cost.

“There are too many wrong doors in this system, and we want to be a right door,” Schlough said.

The clubhouse has few funds for non-reimbursed services, particularly after Dane County cut part of that budget this year, Schlough said. Proposals for the state to allocate a $50,000 matching grant to each Wisconsin clubhouse failed in consecutive legislative sessions. 

The Wisconsin Mental Health Action Partnership wants state lawmakers to appropriate those funds, streamline Medicaid reporting requirements and adopt a clubhouse-specific Medicaid waiver.

The possibility of federal Medicaid cuts could only harm that cause, leaving Wisconsin with fewer dollars to spread around, Diehl said.

Investing in clubhouses could save governments money over time, experts say. Compared to others living with severe mental illness, clubhouse members are less likely to be incarcerated, more likely to pay taxes and less likely to take costly trips to the emergency room.

‘I need to go back to my house’

Jennifer Wunrow left Yahara House for a decade following more than 10 years as a member. During her years away she felt herself “going down” and slipping toward a crisis. 

“I need to go back to my house,” Wunrow recalled thinking.

Members greeted Wunrow upon her return, asking where she’d been. 

When she secured her own two-bedroom apartment with Yahara House help, members and staff helped her move. 

A year later, Wunrow calls herself “the biggest mouth in the house” and helps situate new members. 

“I take a lot of pride in this house,” she said. “I love it here.”

‘Madison’s best kept secret’: People living with mental illness find work, care and community at a clubhouse built for them is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Yahara House is a community mental health program focused on building relationships and job opportunities. The clubhouse model reduces hospitalizations and boosts employment in adults with serious mental illnesses, experts and advocates say. 

The post ‘Madison’s best kept secret’: People living with mental illness find work, care and community at a clubhouse built for them appeared first on WPR.

Stroud held a town hall in Superior this week, discussing among other issues a dearth of health care services in the district. Before the town hall, she joined WPR’s Robin Washington on “Morning Edition” to talk about those concerns.

The post First-term state representative urges Wisconsin to match Minnesota’s medical reimbursement rates appeared first on WPR.

Little Chute High School in Outagamie County and Mound View Elementary in Dunn County received the inaugural Program of Excellence Award. The state award recognizes school counseling programs using data-driven solutions to meet the needs of students.

The post 2 Wisconsin school counseling programs receive state honor appeared first on WPR.

LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin said politics are negatively impacting their mental health, according to a nationwide report from The Trevor Project released March 5. 

The post LGBTQ+ youth say modern politics hurt their well-being  appeared first on WPR.

The Milwaukee County Jail. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

A potential uprising in the Milwaukee County Jail in mid-February, reportedly sparked by conditions in the facility, was quelled by guards before it occurred, according to Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office emails obtained by Wisconsin Examiner. 

Jail staff transported 42-year-old Keenan Brown to a segregation unit after Brown allegedly threatened to incite a riot in one of the jail’s housing units, according to sheriff’s department records. 

One incident report states that Brown “was shouting to the entire housing unit that the inmates needed to stick up for themselves and that they would not be taken seriously until they started assaulting staff.” Brown, according to the report, was placed on administrative segregation as a result. 

Another email, sent by a sergeant in the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Detention Services Bureau to other jail supervisors on Feb. 12, mentions that jail supervisors learned that Brown had used a tablet to message his mother with information about a potential riot and encouraged her to post the information on social media and contact Fox6 News. The email states that when jail staff spoke to Brown, he expressed concerns about jail occupants not being let out of their cells all day and his feelings that the guards were violating their rights. 

Staff questioned Brown about possible threats made about inciting a riot, according to the sergeant’s email, and Brown replied that several people housed in the jail were making such comments. Emails note that Brown was moved to segregation in the jail’s POD 4D. At least 20 people were removed from POD 5D. While it appears from the emails that Brown was one of them, the sheriff’s office has not confirmed that was his previous housing. The sheriff’s office has not said whether Brown remains in the segregation unit. 

When Brown was removed from his cell, according to a major incident summary obtained by Wisconsin Examiner through open records requests, he was in a wheelchair. The report says that “he stood up and got into a defensive stance and became violently aggressive with staff.” The report lists four jail guards as victims, and refers to photos and body camera footage that was captured of the cell extraction. Jail Staff used a type of pepper spray called Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) and a taser, according to the summary. 

The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story. Court records and online booking information show that Brown was booked into the jail on April 1, 2024. He was charged with two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with use of a dangerous weapon, using a vehicle to flee an officer, resisting an officer, and one count of second-degree recklessly endangering safety. His next court date is set for March 27, 2025. 

There have been previous incidents of unrest in the jail in recent years. During the summer of 2023, over two dozen men housed in the jail barricaded themselves in a library area. The jail’s Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) was activated, and the jail was locked down. 

That standoff began as a protest over conditions in the jail. It ended after correctional staff used OC spray to remove the men from the library. The unrest wasn’t made public for weeks, until the district attorney’s office filed a complaint charging the 27 men with disorderly conduct. 

After the 2023 unrest was made public Sylvester Jackson, a Milwaukee-area incarceration activist, told Wisconsin Examiner that incarcerated people have turned to fomenting unrest when they don’t see other options to raise their concerns. “When you get to a point where you can’t take no more, you go to the extreme to do what you got to do to literally draw attention,” said Jackson. 

The Milwaukee County Jail has been the object of growing controversy. Over a 14-month period from 2022 to 2023, six people died in custody in the jail. 

Among the first to raise attention in the community was 21-year-old Brieon Green, who the sheriff’s department said died by suicide in his cell. Another death involved Cilivea Thyrion, a 20-year-old woman who died after eating pieces of an adult diaper while on suicide watch. In the days and weeks leading up to her death, Thryion made repeated attempts to inform jail staff of harassment and maltreatment she’d received from certain guards. 

In 2024, an audit of the jail found that the facility “faces a complex web of challenges that jeopardize the safety and well-being of its occupant population and staff.” The audit found “unsafe restraining of occupants” who are on suicide watch, lack of supervision of people in segregation and suicide watch units, occupants who reported difficulty accessing mental health services, problems with use of force procedures, and and other issues. 

On Thursday, Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball held a highly structured town hall, attended by jail command staff and with the only questions being asked by Ken Harris, a former Milwaukee police officer and host of the radio show The Truth on 101.7. Urban Milwaukee reported that Milwaukee County supervisors criticized how the town hall was conducted. 

Jail command staff said during the town hall that plans are underway to retrofit existing booking rooms with individual suicide cells. The Sheriff’s Office, however, has continued to oppose implementing an expedited video release policy for critical incidents, which has been active in the City of Milwaukee for the police department. A more transparent video release policy has been a key policy demand of local activists and the families of people who’ve died in the jail. 

Ball said that she hoped the town hall “was an opportunity for [the public] to express themselves.” To address issues like replacing the suicide watch areas of the booking room Ball said, “we’re going to need resources, and as a result, we will be requesting those resources…It’s going to cost a lot of money.”

Farm Foundation is honored to announce a generous gift from Riley Boschma in support of the Farm Family Wellness Alliance, a national initiative dedicated to providing mental health resources to farmers and their families. This meaningful contribution honors the memory of Riley’s husband, Jimmy Boschma, a respected farmer whose life was tragically impacted by the challenges of mental health. 

Riley has been rooted in agriculture for generations, embodying the resilience and dedication that define the farming community. Yet, like so many in the industry, they have experienced firsthand the immense pressures that come with farming. In 2024, their beloved Jimmy lost his struggle to maintain mental health, leaving behind a grieving wife and five young children determined to turn their loss into hope for others. In response to their personal loss, Riley has committed to supporting mental health awareness and access to resources for farm families nationwide. 

“Our family understands the struggles that so many in agriculture face, and we want Jimmy’s story to raise awareness and be a beacon of hope, encouraging others to seek help when they need it. Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness—it does not define who you are, but rather shows your courage to keep going,” said Riley Boschma. “Through this gift, we hope to ensure that farm families have access to the mental health support they need and to reduce the stigma that prevents many from seeking help.” 

The Farm Family Wellness Alliance, an initiative of Farm Foundation in partnership with most major agricultural organizations in the US, including 4H, American Farmer Bureau Federation, FFA, Farmers Union, and others, provides farm families with free, confidential access to mental health support through an online peer-to-peer community, professional resources, and crisis intervention services. Since its national launch in 2024, the program has expanded to serve farmers and agricultural communities across 47 states, offering a safe space for connection and healing through TogetherAll, an online mental health support community exclusively for American farm family members aged 16 and above. 

“The generosity of Riley Boschma and her children will have a lasting impact on the lives of so many in agriculture,” said Shari Rogge-Fidler, CEO of Farm Foundation. “This gift not only honors Jimmy’s legacy but also strengthens our ability to reach more farm families with critical mental health resources. We are grateful for their commitment to creating meaningful change in the industry.” 

Farmers are the backbone of our nation, yet they often carry an invisible burden. As economic pressures, unpredictable weather, and the weight of legacy continue to challenge those in agriculture, access to mental health support is more vital than ever. Riley’s contribution underscores the urgent need for expanded resources in rural communities and serves as a call to action for others to invest in the well-being of those who feed the nation. Learn more about the Boschma farm at www.boschmafarms.org   

The post The Gift of Hope: Dedication to Mental Health in Rural Communities appeared first on Farm Foundation.

Climate anxiety affects nearly half of young people aged 16-25. Students like second-year Rachel Mohammed find hope and inspiration through her involvement in innovative climate solutions, working alongside peers who share her determination. “I’ve met so many people at MIT who are dedicated to finding climate solutions in ways that I had never imagined, dreamed of, or heard of. That is what keeps me going, and I’m doing my part,” she says.

Hydrogen-fueled engines

Hydrogen offers the potential for zero or near-zero emissions, with the ability to reduce greenhouse gases and pollution by 29 percent. However, the hydrogen industry faces many challenges related to storage solutions and costs.

Mohammed leads the hydrogen team on MIT’s Electric Vehicle Team (EVT), which is dedicated to harnessing hydrogen power to build a cleaner, more sustainable future. EVT is one of several student-led build teams at the Edgerton Center focused on innovative climate solutions. Since its founding in 1992, the Edgerton Center has been a hub for MIT students to bring their ideas to life.

Hydrogen is mostly used in large vehicles like trucks and planes because it requires a lot of storage space. EVT is building their second iteration of a motorcycle based on what Mohammed calls a “goofy hypothesis” that you can use hydrogen to power a small vehicle. The team employs a hydrogen fuel cell system, which generates electricity by combining hydrogen with oxygen. However, the technology faces challenges, particularly in storage, which EVT is tackling with innovative designs for smaller vehicles.

Presenting at the 2024 World Hydrogen Summit reaffirmed Mohammed’s confidence in this project. “I often encounter skepticism, with people saying it’s not practical. Seeing others actively working on similar initiatives made me realize that we can do it too,” Mohammed says.

The team’s first successful track test last October allowed them to evaluate the real-world performance of their hydrogen-powered motorcycle, marking a crucial step in proving the feasibility and efficiency of their design.

MIT’s Sustainable Engine Team (SET), founded by junior Charles Yong, uses the combustion method to generate energy with hydrogen. This is a promising technology route for high-power-density applications, like aviation, but Yong believes it hasn’t received enough attention. Yong explains, “In the hydrogen power industry, startups choose fuel cell routes instead of combustion because gas turbine industry giants are 50 years ahead. However, these giants are moving very slowly toward hydrogen due to its not-yet-fully-developed infrastructure. Working under the Edgerton Center allows us to take risks and explore advanced tech directions to demonstrate that hydrogen combustion can be readily available.”

Both EVT and SET are publishing their research and providing detailed instructions for anyone interested in replicating their results.