Dr. Thrasher will present an interactive discussion of the current state of mental health services in Milwaukee county and the future directions needed to improve said treatment.  Inpatient, outpatient, emergent, and partial services will all be examined as will the intersection between civil commitment and patient rights.  Outcome of the discussion will hopefully pertain to thoughts and feelings concerning deinstitutionalization, recidivism, quality of life, and community responsibility towards those suffering from mental illness.

Bio:

Dr. Thrasher is a board certified psychiatrist employed as the medical director for the Crisis Services branch of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division.  Aside from working as a full time physician in the psychiatric emergency room (free standing Psychiatric Crisis Service), he also works with the Observation Unit, the Access Clinic, and assists in supervision for the mobile crisis team.  As the Crisis Service medical director, he also serves as chair of the Milwaukee County Mental Health Disaster Task Force and has been appointed to serve on the Emergency Medical Services council for both Milwaukee County and that of the Wisconsin Medical Society as well as serving as the WPA Disaster Liaison to the American Psychiatric Association.

 He also volunteers in the academic community by serving as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin.  His responsibilities in this position include teaching/assessing medical students as well as supervision and didactics for the psychiatric residents.  As of late, he has been awarded the Golden Apple Teaching Award (2011) by the department of psychiatry as well as being nominated for the Standing Ovation Teaching awards by the medical student classes of MCW (2011, 2012, 2013).  While employed by the Behavioral Health Division, he has received the Medical Staff President’s award for excellence in 2014.

Dr. Thrasher is proud to be associated with the National Health Service Corps and has great passion for underserved urban health care.  Additional professional interests include chronic psychotic illnesses, crisis management, de-escalation, personality disorders, developmental delays, peer review, evidence based medicine, and quality assessment/improvement.  Additional organizational involvement include the APA, AMA, WPA, AOA, Wisconsin Medical Society, American Association of Emergency Psychiatry, and the Milwaukee Academy of Medicine.