- welcome
- transforming texas
- community collaboratives
- workgroups
- reports, documents, & resources
- mental health news headlines
- events
- contact us
2/5/2012 7:25:59 AM
In 2005, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded $92.5 million to seven states as Mental Health Transformation State Incentive Grants, including Texas. Texas is using the funding to build a foundation for delivering evidence-based mental health and related services, fostering recovery, improving quality of life, and meeting the needs of mental health consumers across the life span. The Mental Health Transformation Project is guided by the Transformation Working Group (TWG), a partnership of government agencies and consumer representatives.
Transforming mental health services in Texas can't happen without you! There are many avenues for involvement, including actively participating in community collaboratives, attending TWG meetings, or write to us directly by sending email to the Mental Health Transformation project. MHT Online is a forum for discussions among consumers and other stakeholders in Texas’ mental health system operated by the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs.
Housing Academy Webinar Presentation
On June 1st, DSHS sponsored a webinar on the Balance of State Continuum of Care (CoC), a model used to encourage planning and to make funding available to areas not covered by other Continua in larger urban areas in an effort to alleviate homelessness. The Texas Balance of State CoC project was initiated by the Texas Homeless Network in 2006. Since that time, several communities in the Balance of State have developed comprehensive plans and implemented innovative projects that assist homeless individuals and families transition toward self-sufficiency. More than $9 million in HUD funding has been awarded to these communities through the Texas Balance of State project to support their efforts. The first presentation is an overview of the Balance of State Continuum of Care in Texas and the second is on developing supportive housing programs with CoC funding. The presentation was given by Eric Samuels, Balance of State Manager. Mr. Samuels is responsible for guiding the 198 counties within the Texas Balance of State Continuum of Care (TX BoS CoC) through the Continuum of Care Planning process and providing guidance to the HMIS Coordinator in the implementation of a Homeless Management Information System in the TX BoS CoC.
Housing Academy Webinar Presentation
On May 18th, DSHS hosted a webinar on Veterans Homeless Programs sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs.(VA)
The VA has made a strong commitment to ending homelessness for veterans and dedicated significant resources to accomplish this aim. This webinar is designed to provide participants with information about available resources that housing providers can access to create options for veterans in Texas communities and how to work with the Veteran’s Homeless Coordinators for your geographic area. There are various approaches to housing that the VA supports.
Faculty: Heloise Ferguson, MSW, MPH, is the Homeless Coordinator for Veteran’s Integrated Services Network (VISN) 17. This presentation (PDF) was shared with attendees of the webinar.
Consumer Operated Service Providers and Local Mental Health Authorities: Assessment of Current Models, Training, and Technical Assistance Needs
This report (PDF) presents findings of an assessment of Consumer Operated Service Providers (COSPs) and their associated Local Mental Health Authorities (LMHAs) conducted for the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) by research staff at the University of Texas at Austin, Center for Social Work Research (UT-CSWR). The report is organized into three sections. Section I provides an introduction, aims, and methods of the assessment. Section II presents an overview of the aggregated findings, providing an overall view of DSHS funded COSPs across the state of Texas. Section III provides conclusions and a summary of findings, including comments on training and technical assistance related to COSP sustainability and expansion.
Children's Coordinated Funding Committee Report
The Children’s Coordinated Funding Committee is comprised of program and finance representatives from nine child-serving state agencies and was charged by the Mental Health Transformation Working Group (TWG) to examine the issue of fragmented funding and service coordination for children with severe emotional disturbance (SED). This specific population of children was selected due to the high costs shared among agencies and programs, and because there is great potential to better coordinate funds across agencies to improve outcomes and reduce costs that could then be redirected to early intervention and prevention efforts. The committee's report, Coordinated Funding for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbance: Current Funding, Services and Recommendations is now available.
Veterans Subgroup Report Update
The Transformation Working Group Veterans Subgroup has produced a 2011 Supplemental Report that expands upon the 2008 report to examine health and human services and supports for veterans and family members to identify additional opportunities to close service gaps; provide an update on achievements related to the recommendations and actions in the 2008 report, and develop new recommendations and actions that could address any remaining gaps and needs.
Via Hope, a training and technical assistance center sponsored by the Department of State Health Services Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division and coordinated through the Mental Health Transformation project, provides the newly-launched At-Risk for Texas High School Educators at no cost to the end user for up to 40,000 Texas public high school educators. Available through the Via Hope website, www.viahope.org, this unique program provides an online educational experience that helps high school faculty and administrators identify common signs and symptoms of psychological distress and have the confidence to take appropriate action such as a referral to the school counselor. The one-hour At-Risk training uses a research-based approach and proven techniques for identifying and approaching distressed students in order to take appropriate action.
To be successful, transformative activities must occur at both the state and local levels. Policy, infrastructure, and program changes solely at the state level will not result in improved access or outcomes at the local level without community-level, consumer-focused, implementation. The MHT project funds community-based collaboratives, representing the diversity of Texas, to demonstrate transformative efforts within Texas’ regions and serve as partners in testing new programs and infrastructure developed by both state and local-level organizations. Visit the Community Collaboratives page for more information.
Via Hope is a training and technical assistance resource for mental health consumers, their family members, youth consumers, and professionals funded by a combination of Mental Health Transformation and Mental Health Block Grant funds. It provides mental health consumers and family members with information and education that assists with their recovery, and enables them to better navigate the public and private mental health care systems. Via Hope also operates a certified peer specialist training program. The center is operated by Mental Health America of Texas and NAMI Texas.
Supported employment is a well-defined approach to helping people with mental illnesses find and keep competitive employment within their communities. There are current efforts in Texas led by the Department of State Health Services, in partnership with the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, to improve supported employment programs across Texas.
Persons with mental illness die an average of 25 years younger than the rest of the population. To help improve this population’s longevity, the Mental Health Transformation (MHT) Project has allocated resources to advance the integration of physical and mental health care at the local level with an initial focus on the MHT Community Collaboratives. Within each Collaborative, the Local Mental Health Authority (LMHA) is working in partnership with Federally-Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and other organizations to develop and implement plans that accelerate integrated care between health care providers.
Resources made available to local communities include funding assistance through the Department of State Health Services’ Primary Care Office and Mental Health Transformation project and an online health assessment tool.
In addition to the health assessment, the MHT Project is also providing resources to assist clinics and care sites in modifying workflow processes and coordinating care with other organizations within the community to advance treatment for frequently-occurring conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, smoking, alcoholism, substance abuse, obesity, and depression. Further details are available on our Health Assessment Information page.
As individuals move between systems of care, such as the state’s psychiatric hospitals, community-based services, and other environments, it is essential that key components of any health condition or current service plan be appropriately and securely communicated so that appropriate treatment may be delivered. Texas’ transformation effort focuses on several key activities including a Department of State Health Services Task Force on the Continuity of Care, the implementation of technology solutions to support the continuity of care between the criminal justice and public mental health delivery systems, and the development of behavioral health data standards to enhance continuity of care between and among local behavioral health care providers as part of the Clinical Management for Behavioral Health Services (CMBHS) Electronic Health Record (EHR) system.
In December 2008, a TWG subgroup on veterans developed a report, Behavioral Health Services for Returning Veterans and Their Families (PDF), which identified behavioral health needs – and gaps in services – of veterans returning to Texas from Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). This report was updated in February 2011: 2011 Update: Behavioral Health Services for Returning Veterans and Their Families (PDF).
The 81st Texas Legislature allocated funding to the Department of State Health Services to help bridge those gaps by implementing initiatives to expand training for veteran peer support, enhance mental health services, and improve access to information about services available to veterans, service members, and their families.
TexVet: Partners Across Texas is the collaborative effort of federal, state, and local organizations that focuses on bringing military members and those that care about them a wealth of resources. TexVet serves as a forum for interagency collaboration and provides information directly to veterans and family members, including its web-based resource directory.
Self-Directed Care (SDC) is a new way of providing mental health services in which adults with serious mental illnesses directly control the funds spent on their recovery. Texas Self-directed care participants create a person-centered recovery plan and a budget for the purchase of goods and services to achieve their life goals. SDC Advisors help them hire providers and make purchases that lead to wellness. The program is operated by the North Texas Behavioral Health Authority in its 7-county area and is fiscally managed by Value Options. For more information see the Self-Directed Care website.
The Texas Mental Health Transformation project sponsored the development of a Behavioral Health Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse is a resource designed to assist state agencies, behavioral health providers, consumers, family members and interested stakeholders in finding up-to-date, relevant information about prevention, treatment, advocacy, and evidence-based practices (EBPs). It is a clearinghouse that links the user to websites with searchable databases or comprehensive behavioral health resource lists rather than providing the specific practice or resource on the site. In addition to linking to resources, the Clearinghouse contains a mapping function, which allows users to search for best practices occurring throughout the state and allows practitioners to submit best practices they are using to be included on the map.
The Comprehensive Plan, Reports, and Updates provide the reader an understanding of mental health transformation goals and accomplishments over the life of the project. In FY 2009,: a new conceptualization of the project, an updated version of the Texas CMHP goals and sub goals, and progress on all project activities; presents priority projects and measures for the remainder of the grant period was introduced. The reports contain information about the MHT Evaluation Plan and how achievement of Texas CMHP goals will be tracked and measured.