HOLLAND TWP. — The recent closure of the Robert Brown Crisis Center in Holland Township on June 30 has prompted Ottawa County officials to explore alternative solutions for mental healthcare services. 

Despite the closure, county officials say there will be no gap in mental healthcare for residents.

"We are not expecting any lapse in care," said Jordan Jorritsma, an Ottawa County commissioner, who also sits on the Ottawa County Community Mental Health Board of Directors. "We have excellent providers, and we have a great relationship with Hope Network."

Hope Network initially collaborated with Ottawa County CMH and similar departments in Allegan and Muskegon counties to organize the program. After Allegan and Muskegon withdrew, however, Ottawa County became solely responsible for funding the six-bed facility.

“The Robert Brown Crisis unit helped us with the diversions of people from psychiatric hospitalization. It's been part of our program for many years, and it was one of the resources we used to prevent people from going into the hospital. However, it was a partnership with Allegan and Muskegon counties,” CMH Executive Director Michael Brashears told county commissioners at a July 8 Planning & Policy Committee meeting.

Brashears explained that the six-bed crisis residential program served as temporary housing — up to 14 days — until patients could be placed in other facilities. 

“Instead of going into Holland Hospital or Pine Rest Psychiatric Hospital in Grand Rapids, it was a three-county partnership funding six beds,” Brashears said. However, the other two counties dropped out at the start of the 2025 fiscal year, citing financial reasons. 

“The other partners pulled out at the beginning of the fiscal year because there are other resources they could utilize besides Robert Brown,” Brashears said. “Robert Brown was a cost of over $600 a day. We had to purchase all six beds on a contract with Hope Network, who ran it for us, to maintain the placement, meaning we were paying for the beds if we filled them or not.”

Brashears previously served as executive director of Hope Network before returning to his role as the county CMH executive director in April 2024.

After a financial review of the first quarter of 2025, Brashears said the county spent over $185,000 on empty beds. 

“We met with Hope Network, and they said that unless we were actually able to keep prepaying for all these beds continuously at the $600 rate, that they would have to stop operations. So we mutually agreed to do that,” he said.

Brashears said incoming patients have been diverted to other crisis unit programs in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Muskegon at a lower cost than keeping the Holland Township center open. 

“We believe that we can divert folks to hospitalization with our other programs that we're utilizing, and those programs cost far less — $400 a day versus $600 a day,” Brashears said. “So I do not believe it was fiscally sound for us to continue to pay for empty beds. To that extent, we also have a new agreement with Holland Hospital to use their partial hospitalization program that works similarly as a crisis unit, and that is cheaper than the Brown Center Crisis unit.”

Jorritsma said the decision made better financial sense for the county, while continuing to support residents who need mental health care.

"When Allegan and Muskegon dropped out, it became quite a bit more expensive," Jorritsma explained. "It was in our best interest to close it down. It wasn’t because of budgetary concerns from a federal standpoint; it was a locally derived situation that caused it."

He added, "When they dropped out, we assumed full responsibility for it. We were overpaying for services. This is just going to save us money, and that makes good sense."

Ottawa County was spending $636 per bed per day at the Robert Brown Crisis Center. Jorritsma noted there were approximately 291 unused bed days in the past six months, costing the county $185,000 for unused beds from January to April 2025.

A joint statement from Hope Network and Community Mental Health of Ottawa County confirmed the decision was based on the facility's underutilization and the changing needs of the community.

"This decision was based on continued underutilization of the facility and the evolving needs of individuals in our community," the statement read. 

"Hope Network and Ottawa County have determined that other resources are more effective in meeting the mental health needs of those experiencing a crisis."

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The statement was signed by Dr. Michael Brashears, chief executive officer of Community Mental Health, and Bob Von Kaenel, president and chief executive officer of Hope Network.

"Our top priority remains the safety and continuity of care for these individuals," according to the statement. "We are committed to continuing conversations with community partners to advance our shared mission of delivering the high-quality care that Hope Network and Community Mental Health of Ottawa County have provided to tens of thousands of community members over the decades."

Jorritsma indicated the future strategy involves moving away from "full-time inpatient facilities" and instead working with local hospitals to establish per-bed, per-day agreements.

— Heather VanDyke covers northern Ottawa County for the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at hvandyke@ottawanewsnetwork.org. Sarah Leach is the executive editor of the Ottawa News Network. Contact her at sleach@ottawanewsnetwork.org. Follow her on Twitter @ONNLeach.