Mental Health America Of Greater Houston Inc

Results: *Helped develop the Houston Police Department Mental Health Division. * In partnership with the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department, we helped institute the screening of justice-involved youth for mental and behavioral health concerns before adjudication. * With Harris County and the City of Houston, we facilitated the process to create a County/City plan to address the needs of veterans. *We helped pass legislation to require educators in Texas be trained to recognize signs and symptoms of behavioral health concerns. Since then we have also been training educators and child-serving staff to provide trauma-informed services and properly identify and address behavioral health concerns. *We also helped pass legislation to allow pediatricians to be reimbursed for the screening of mothers for perinatal mood disorders. Additionally, for over a decade, we have been helping create awareness about the importance of providing socio-emotional support to mothers during the perinatal period to help prevent and address mood disorders such as postpartum depression. * We are leading a collective impact process with over 100 organizations, including 25 school districts and charter school systems, to improve the behavioral health of students. Thanks to these efforts school districts such as Spring Branch, Pasadena, and Houston have been creating systems of care and socio-emotional support systems for students and families. *We are the backbone organization for a collaborative effort to enhance the practice of integrated care in the region. We are engaging nearly 50 organizations including community-based clinics, hospitals, and medical schools. Integrated care not only helps improve health outcomes, but can also increase the longevity of individuals with a serious mental illness who are dying up to 30 years earlier than the rest of the population. *According to the Honorable Judge Marc Carter, the peer mentoring services being provided by our Veterans Behavioral Health Program are the backbone of the Harris County Veterans' Treatment Court Program which is providing a second chance in life to justice-involved veterans with mental and behavioral health challenges as a result of their military service. *In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, thanks to our ongoing collaborative efforts, we became a hub to coordinate rapid response to provide psychosocial support to the communities affected by the flooding. With our school-based and community-based programming, we are strengthening resilience and helping prevent the exacerbation of mental and behavioral health concerns.

Target demographics: children, veterans, mothers, seniors, and adults.

Direct beneficiaries per year: Nearly 5,000 individuals.

Geographic areas served: The Greater Houston Region, a metroplex area that crosses nine county lines (Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Brazoria, Galveston, Liberty, Waller, Chambers, and Austin).

Programs: The Center for School Behavioral Health, the Veterans Behavioral Health Program, the Integrated Health Care Initiative, and Mental Health Literacy.