People in a mental health crisis need this facility
A year ago, Southwest Washington should have been celebrating the opening of the Brockmann Campus, a state-of-the-art mental health treatment facility north of WSU Vancouver. Instead, the $42 million campus sits empty behind a chain-link fence while people in mental health crises continue cycling through homelessness, incarceration, emergency rooms, and tragedy.
How did this happen?
For years, Washington leaders acknowledged the urgent need to expand mental health treatment capacity. Former Gov. Jay Inslee proposed moving civil commitment patients out of overcrowded state hospitals and into smaller, community-based treatment centers.
In response, the Department of Social and Health Services purchased the Brockmann property in 2021 and built three modern 16-bed cottages designed to provide compassionate, trauma-informed care in a therapeutic setting.
Construction was completed in 2025. Yet despite the enormous taxpayer investment, the Legislature failed to fund operations. Instead of treating patients, lawmakers allocated money for “warm closure” — maintenance and security.
Meanwhile, families across Washington continue to suffer.
Community advocates, treatment providers, and local organizations have toured Brockmann and repeatedly emphasized the desperate shortage of treatment beds. Organizations including Lifeline Connections, Madrona Recovery, and Columbia River Mental Health Services all recognize the need for facilities that can provide care before people deteriorate to the point of incarceration or irreversible crisis.
Kim Schneiderman, executive director of Southwest Washington NAMI, put it plainly: “When people are sick, they deserve a safe place to recover.” Instead, too many individuals with severe mental illness end up in jail simply because treatment is unavailable.
Families who supported Brockmann from the beginning feel betrayed. Jerri Clark, a longtime advocate, noted that community members worked hard to overcome “not in my backyard” opposition because they believed in the state’s promise to provide compassionate care for loved ones experiencing psychosis and severe psychiatric illness.
What makes this even more frustrating is that solutions exist. Representatives from United Health Services toured Brockmann and expressed immediate interest in a public-private partnership. They could open the facility far sooner than waiting for the state bureaucracy to act. Yet despite multiple meetings with legislators and DSHS leadership, no meaningful action has followed.
The current budget climate makes it unlikely the state will suddenly add tens of millions of dollars and over 100 new employees to operate Brockmann directly. Continuing to delay while conducting more “listening sessions” is not leadership. Every month of inaction carries real human consequences.
Brockmann alone will not solve Washington’s mental health crisis. But opening it would provide desperately needed treatment beds and offer hope to families who have waited years for meaningful action.
Washington taxpayers already paid to build this facility. The buildings are complete. The need is undeniable. The only thing missing is the political will to open the doors.
It is time for DSHS, the governor, and state lawmakers to stop studying the problem and start solving it. Whether through direct funding or a public-private partnership, Brockmann must open now.
John Ley
Vancouver
