St. David’s Foundation has awarded Integral Care a $1,183,864 grant over a 24-month term to continue the Foundation’s support of the Judge Guy Herman Center for Mental Health Crisis Care. Continued funding will help the Herman Center build on initial successes to enhance our services and keep clients connected to care after a crisis. Over the next two years, Integral Care will utilize in-house intakes to connect clients to ongoing services and ensure continuity of care through linkage with their current treatment providers.
January 30, 2023
Board of Trustees Meeting January 2023 Video
The recording of the January Board of Trustees Meeting is now available to watch on our YouTube Channel.
https://youtu.be/FxsfUbtC35s
January 24, 2023
Board of Trustees Meeting 1/26
The January Board of Trustees meeting will be held in person at 1430 Collier St, Austin, TX 78704.
Click here for the live webinar link.
January 20, 2023
Board of Trustees Meeting December 2022 Video
The recording of the December Board of Trustees Meeting is now available to watch here and on our YouTube Channel.
https://youtu.be/jfu6SJmM0PU
November 2, 2022
Board of Trustees Meeting October 2022 Video
The recording of the October Board of Trustees Meeting is now available to watch here and on our YouTube Channel. https://youtu.be/h_2yi4KdiDM
August 31, 2022
INTEGRAL CARE LAUNCHES FY23-25 STRATEGIC PLAN
Integral Care is excited to kick off a new strategic plan that will guide our work for the next three years. Hear from our incredible team about what our new goals mean to them. READ FULL PLAN
August 24, 2022
Board of Trustees Meeting Live Webinar 8/25
Click here to watch the 8/25 Board of Trustees meeting live webinar.
Then, click the “Continue on this browser” button. The meeting starts at 5pm.
Disclaimer: While we’re working to expand our telecasting infrastructure, some capabilities are not fully active. At this time, please refrain from using the “Raise Hand” feature during the meeting. We appreciate your support as we continue to improve these capabilities.
July 27, 2022
Board of Trustees Meeting Live Webinar 7/28
Click here to watch the 7/28 Board of Trustees meeting live webinar.
Then, click the “Continue on this browser” button. The meeting starts at 5pm.
Disclaimer: While we’re working to expand our telecasting infrastructure, some capabilities are not fully active. At this time, please refrain from using the “Raise Hand” feature during the meeting. We appreciate your support as we continue to improve these capabilities.
Funding from Humana will enable Integral Care to expand its existing food pantry at Terrace at Oak Springs (TAOS), a permanent supportive housing community that provides a home and wraparound services to 50 individuals who have experienced chronic homelessness and live with mental illness, substance use disorder, and other chronic health conditions.
Currently, the food pantry is open for residents once per month. Additional funding from Humana will enable Integral Care to purchase and stock sufficient food, hygiene items, and other supplies to open the food pantry once per week. This change in the pantry schedule will help ensure that TAOS residents have more frequent access to basic needs assistance, thereby reducing food insecurity, building health and well-being, and enhancing the stabilizing effects of housing.
Additionally, Integral Care plans to pilot a food delivery service for other clients receiving supportive housing services who do not have access to an on-site food pantry. This service will help to ensure that all residents of Integral Care apartment communities — including individuals with transportation barriers and low or no income — have their basic needs met with regular, dependable deliveries directly to their homes.
SAMSHA awards $625,000 ($125,000 per year for 5 years) to Integral Care to provide Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training, as well as Counseling on Access to Lethal Means (CALM), and Safety Planning Intervention (SPI), to families, caregivers, and service providers in contact with armed service personnel, veterans and their families who may be experiencing a mental health challenge, and potentially impairing their functioning in daily life activities.
Individuals targeted for Mental Health Awareness Training may work with veterans and armed-service members in a community-based counseling center, or healthcare facility, and/or may be Certified Veteran Peers, and/or may be a veteran’s family member or caregiver. These individuals interact on a daily basis with armed service personnel and veterans who are in need of multiple community-based services due to their complex and chronic trauma.
December 14, 2017
How Integral Care Supports People Having a Mental Health Crisis
The Austin Chronicle highlighted how Integral Care works closely with community partners to support the mental health needs of Travis County, particularly those experiencing a mental health crisis. “Anyone can experience a mental health crisis,” said Laura Wilson-Slocum, Integral Care Practice Administrator. This article explores the variety of crisis services Integral Care provides our community – the Judge Guy Herman Center for Mental Health Crisis Care provides short term crisis care in an overnight setting, our Mobile Crisis Outreach Team co-responds with the Austin Police Department and EMS to provide community-bases crisis care, and our Psychiatric Emergency Services provides mental health urgent care seven days a week. Read the article here.
November 15, 2017
24/7 Crisis Helpline
Spectrum News recently highlighted the impact of our 24/7 Crisis Helpline. They interviewed Ca’Sonya, an Austinite who used the Helpline to get through her darkest hour. After Ca’Sonya lost her husband, she decided to make a life-changing phone call to get the support she needed. “The hardest step is just starting picking up the phone,” said Nicole Warren, Integral Care Helpline Program Manager. “Once you pick up that phone, you’ll find someone who is passionate and dedicated to what we do here.”
Integral Care’s Helpline provides around the clock crisis support and access to all of Integral Care’s programs and services for adults and children, including appointments and billing. Our Helpline recently added free interpretation services in 15 language to meet the needs of our growing and changing community. We have trained medical interpreters who speak Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Korean, Filipino, Russian, German, French, Urdu, Farsi, Japanese, Hindi, Gujarati, and Napali. Learn more about the Helpline.
October 31, 2017
Risk of trauma high for Harvey evacuees (KVUE)
August 30, 2017
During a traumatic event, mental health support is more important than ever. KVUE covered the developing story of Hurricane Harvey and its emotional effect on evacuees and first responders. “It’s critically important for mental health professionals to be available to those in need, to give guidance and offer a sense of safety and security,” said Dr. Kathleen Casey, Integral Care’s Director of Clinical Innovation and Development.
August 8, 2017
KXAN highlighted Integral Care’s first of its kind Judge Guy Herman Center for Mental Health Crisis Care. The Herman Center will offer the right level of care at the right time, reduce cost of care and improve health outcomes for patients. “The idea is most mental health crisis can resolve in the first 48 hours of them beginning, so we want to quickly stabilize people so we can get them on that path to recovery and back out into the community as soon as possible, avoiding a hospital stay which tends to be lengthier and more expensive,” said Laura Slocum, an Integral Care Practice Administrator. The Herman Center is currently only accepting internal referrals from Integral Care crisis services. It’s not appropriate for walk-ins or self-referrals. To learn more about the Herman Center, click here.
September 29, 2017
Behind the suicide hotline (KAGS)
July 29, 2017
KAGS in Bryan/College Station recently did a story on suicide hotlines, featuring Integral Care’s 24/7 Crisis Helpline. Nicole Warren, Integral Care’s Crisis Helpline Program Manager, says: “Getting people connected with supports is so important.” If you need help, please call us 24/7 at 512-472-HELP (4357).
June 8, 2017
Integral Care was recently featured in a Spectrum News story about the success of HOST, the Homelessness Outreach Street Team. HOST is a partnership of Integral Care, the Austin Police Department, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Downtown Austin Community Court. HOST was launched by the Austin Police Department with significant support from Mayor Pro-Tem Kathie Tovo and the Downtown Austin Alliance. Integral Care brings the mental health and substance use disorder expertise to the team and is also pivotal in providing access to housing.
August 1, 2017
KVUE featured a story about Integral Care’s soon-to-open Judge Guy Herman Center for Mental Health Crisis Care. “The Judge Guy Herman Center provides a different type of treatment for people experiencing a mental health crisis,” said Laura Slocum, an Integral Care Practice Administrator. “This really focuses on short-term stabilization with a goal of getting that person on a path to recovery as quickly as possible and having them return to the community as quickly as possible with support from Integral Care’s treatment teams.”
July 17, 2017
KXAN highlighted the ribbon cutting ceremony of Integral Care’s soon-to-open Judge Guy Herman Center for Mental Health Crisis Care. The Herman Center provides short term, emergency psychiatric crisis care for adults in Travis County. It will support our community by providing an alternative to incarceration and in-patient care, and will offer the opportunity to ensure that individuals whose primary issue is mental health have an appropriate and safe place to be stabilized, assessed and treated. Austin Police Sargent Michael King said: “It’s going to be a valuable tool for the police department.” To learn more about the Herman Center, click here.
April 28, 2017
KUT explored how housing can help individuals experiencing homelessness overcome addiction to alcohol and drugs. KUT asked Integral Care how we support our homeless community experiencing substance use disorder. “If someone’s living on the streets and struggling with a substance use disorder, it’s impossible for them to recover on the streets,” said Ellen Richards, Integral Care Chief Strategy Office. “We literally take people who are experiencing homelessness, move them straight into housing, regardless of whether they have an active mental illness or substance use disorder, and then we wrap rehabilitation supports around them so they can get on the path to recovery and a new life.”
February 9, 2017
KVUE highlighted Integral Care’s soon-to come Housing First Oak Springs, a whole health treatment approach to ending chronic homelessness for people living with mental illness and/or substance use disorder. This 50-unit apartment community will provide housing to regain health and independence as well as offer access to an onsite clinic with counseling to support emotional health and drug and alcohol treatment to help with recovery.