In March Austin Public Health (APH) awarded Integral Care $333,573 for the Ryan White HIV Services. Integral Care’s Community AIDS Resources and Education (C.A.R.E.) Program will provide case management, mental health, and outpatient substance use services at the C.A.R.E. Program office, as well as in clients’ homes, in the community, and via telephone and Microsoft Teams in order to remove barriers for clients who are unable to access services at our office location.

More specifically, mental health services provided will include both individual and group counseling services, as well as psychiatric services for persons living with HIV (PLWH). Integral Care will also provide access to medical transportation assistance for the purpose of accessing primary medical care, services provided at the C.A.R.E. Program, and other supportive services.

Clients will also be able to access case management services via C.A.R.E.’s case management walk-in hours, which are offered multiple times per week. In addition, C.A.R.E. Program case managers will be able to complete SSI/SSDI Outreach, Access, and Recovery (SOAR) applications with members of the target population in order to increase access to the disability income benefit programs administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) for eligible adults who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness and have a mental illness, medical impairment, and/or a co-occurring substance use disorder.

For residential substance use services, we will sub-contract these services to four subgrantees, including: Recovery Unplugged, Carma Health – MD services for Recovery Unplugged, Cross Creek Hospital, and Seton Shoal Creek Hospital.

Integral Care has been awarded a grant for $124,697 from Austin Public Health (APH) to provide community-based services across the continuum of care by hiring two additional Qualified Mental Health Professionals (QMHPs). The addition of one clinic-based Intake QMHP, and one Community Health Worker QMHP will build Integral Care’s intake and re-engagement capacity. By hiring a clinic-based intake QMHP, Integral Care will build our overall intake capacity.
 
With the addition of an intake QMHP at Integral Care’s newest clinic, Stonegate, we will be able to decrease the workload of the existing staff, in turn reducing burnout, while increasing client satisfaction by decreasing wait times and ensuring that all individuals are seen for their intake appointment. Additionally, Integral Care will also add a Community Health Worker (CHW) QMHP who resides in the community they serve. This CHW will provide culturally appropriate health education and information to promote health equity and reach underserved communities. The CHW will play a strategic role in outreach and engagement, promoting communication and understanding between community members and providers, increasing use of health services in a community, improving adherence to health recommendations, and decreasing use of emergency services. The CHW will help families recognize early signs of mental illness and substance use disorder and encourage community members to get appropriate screenings for behavioral health conditions before they reach a crisis.
 
By providing this service where clients live, Integral Care can more effectively reach individuals in underserved communities, including minority and low-income populations who face numerous barriers to healthcare access, and connect them to appropriate care. These staff will provide trauma-informed screening, assessment, diagnosis, and patient-centered treatment planning and treatment delivery. Additionally, Integral Care will partner with various community agencies to provide ongoing integrated care. Currently, Integral Care has collaborations with CommUnity Care and Lonestar Circle of Care to provide integrated Primary Care within our clinic settings. Through this grant, Integral Care will identify needs through intake and community-based services and leverage existing resources and partnerships to refer individuals to the most appropriate services.

In March of this year Integral Care received a grant award totaling $778,907 for housing stability services from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). With this grant Integral Care will provide support services to approximately 30 individuals receiving Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Vouchers either through the Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) or the Housing Authority of Travis County (HATC). These support services will include case management, independent living skills training, housing stability support, access to psychiatric care, and peer support services.
 
More specifically, these funds will expand Integral Care’s Landlord Outreach Team by adding a Landlord Outreach Specialist and Peer Support Specialist. The team works to build new relationships with landlords and maintain relationships with properties willing to house individuals with a history of homelessness and mental health needs.
 
With this funding, Integral Care will add one case management position and a licensed counselor to expand onsite behavioral health services at the Community First Village’s onsite clinic. This will include case management, independent skills training, counseling, and housing stability.
 
One staff member will support individuals experiencing homelessness in accessing services at Sunrise Community Church, a local homeless day resource center. Services will include linking individuals to housing and/or behavioral health teams, completing coordinating assessments, and assisting with other housing navigation tasks.
 
Individuals accessing these services will have a history of chronic homelessness and a disabling condition and will be referred through the Coordinated Entry system. Individuals may currently be housed on a PSH Voucher and in need of high intensity, in-home support to maintain their housing or newly referred to the voucher program and experiencing homelessness.

Check out this feature on Integral Care on the City of Austin’s YouTube channel.

Austin Travis County Integral Care has been awarded a grant in the amount of $5,700.00 from the Austin Community Foundation for client assistance for individuals transitioning into housing. The grant ensures our newly housed residents have items such as linens, cookware, utensils, cleaning supplies, deposits, application fees, prescription co-pays, and medical supplies/equipment. Client assistance items will be determined by each client’s unique needs. Individuals moving from the streets to a new home are more inclined to access substance use treatment and mental health care resources when their basic needs are met.

In December 2021, Integral Care received a $337,667 grant from St. David’s Foundation to provide Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training to Central Texans in Travis, Williamson, Bastrop, and Caldwell Counties annually for the next two years. MHFA is an evidence-based training that builds mental health literacy by teaching participants how to identify warning signs and symptoms of mental illness and apply a 5-step action plan to help individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. 
 
St. David’s Foundation has supported Integral Care’s MHFA program since 2017. In 2020, 2,059 individuals accessed MHFA training through Integral Care’s program. 
 
Over the last several years, Integral Care has provided MHFA training to diverse audiences, including faith communities, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and departments, elected officials, and institutes of higher education. For this grant term, we plan to expand our outreach to focus on the private sector, increasing our community’s capacity to respond to a mental health crisis anywhere Central Texans live, learn, work, and play.  
 
With a diverse corps of Mental Health First Aiders, we can reduce barriers to mental health care access throughout Central Texas. Building mental health literacy across our community – from nonprofit professionals and educators to business leaders and elected officials – helps to ensure that people living with mental illness and/or substance use disorder can get connected to the services they need. 

In December 2021, Integral Care received a grant award totaling $7,000 from the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities for the Central Texas African American Family Support Conference (CTAAFSC) speaker stipends. The conference, which celebrated its 22nd anniversary in February 2022, focused on mental health and the African American community. The conference offered a series of workshops, poster presentations, panel discussions, and keynote addresses that aimed to destigmatize mental illness and eliminate health care disparities. CTAAFSC provides much-needed awareness and empowerment for a community that is disproportionately affected by mental illness.
 
TCDD, a longtime supporter of CTAAFSC, provided stipends for two guest speakers: Regina Louise, Author and Child Advocate and Mike Veny, Certified Corporate Wellness Specialist and Author. Louise’s presentation addressed the present state of the US foster care system, as well as likely outcomes for children and youth growing up in foster care. Her CTAAFSC keynote focused on the triumph of spirit and the importance of child advocacy. 
 
Mike Veny’s presentation provided his audience with actionable steps they can take to change their lives and work environments. Mr. Veny’s keynote focused on transforming stigma and finding inner peace in times of uncertainty. 

Integral Care and Disability Rights Texas are excited to present a virtual community forum – The Rights of People Living with Behavioral Health Needs in Texas. Join us as we explore the history and rights of people who live with behavioral health needs, including mental illness, substance use disorders and intellectual and developmental disabilities in Texas, the protection of client information, how the law has changed over time, what the current law is and how this can impact service delivery and access to care. Learn more and register today.

On Wednesday, September 29 at 12pm, join Integral Care and the Central Texas Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for a virtual community forum about youth suicide prevention. Between 2007 and 2018, the national suicide rate among adolescents and youth increased by almost 60% – but there is hope. Prevention is possible when we focus on building protective factors and resiliency and ensuring that families have the education, tools, and resources to take early, meaningful action. Learn more and register today.

The University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School and LBJ School of Public Affairs have released a cost-saving analysis of The Inn, Integral Care’s 16-bed residential treatment program. The study found that The Inn saves taxpayers millions of dollars in public costs while improving outcomes for people experiencing a mental health crisis.

Mental Health Weekly talked to Integral Care about The Inn’s approach.