Travis County has unveiled a 5-year plan to expand youth mental health services, titled ‘Connecting the Dots for Children’s Mental Health.’ The plan establishes four goals: strengthening family resilience; ensuring services are financially, geographically, and culturally accessible; expanding services for children with complex needs; and clearly communicating how to access care.
The Plan’s Objectives
The plan aims to address the shortage of mental health providers and the lack of services for children with dual diagnoses. It also seeks to provide training to United Way’s 2-1-1 Call Center staff on mental health resources and create a mental health roadmap to help families navigate local services.
Last year, Integral Care served 25,339 residents and responded to 108,405 crisis calls through its helplines, while the county invested $14.1 million in mental health and substance use services. The plan recommends expanding collaborative care in primary care clinics, increasing school-based mental health services, utilizing mobile clinics, and expanding telehealth options.
Kids Living Well, the county’s planning body for children’s mental health, will oversee the implementation of the plan through 2031. The plan’s objectives are crucial, given that suicide remains a leading cause of death for Texans ages 10-34, and 1 in 6 youth ages 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year nationally.
Original reporting: Community Impact — Austin — read the source article.
