A home means access and connection to community, quality health care, and recovery – all of which help build health and well-being. Organizations across Travis County work to prevent homelessness as well as engage individuals experiencing homelessness, connecting them to housing so they can regain their health and independence. When people have a safe place to call home and access to support services in the community, they can thrive and meet their full potential.

Big thanks to our panelists Lisa Garcia, Vice President of Assisted Housing at the Housing Authority of the City of Austin Department of Assisted Housing, Alan Graham, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Julian Huerta, Deputy Executive Director at Foundation Communities, and Darilynn Cardona-Beiler, Director of Adult Behavioral Health Systems at Integral Care.

Women are twice as likely as men to experience depression. Twice as likely to attempt suicide. The differences in how women experience mental health are real. Research identifies disparities between men and women in terms of risk, prevalence, presentation and treatment sought and received. For this month’s Transparencies, our Chief Strategy Officer, Ellen Richards and NAMI Austin’s Executive Director, Karen Ranus, talk about women’s mental health and how our community is addressing mental health issues.

Read more in our monthly newsletter, Transparencies.

The 86th Texas Legislative session is in full swing, with less than two months remaining. With over 7,500 bills filed, legislators are working hard to address a wide range of issue areas – from substance use disorder to mental health in schools. We’re following the progress at the Capitol and here’s the news worth noting.

Read more in our monthly newsletter, Transparencies.

Travis County’s robust economy has not come without its challenges. Our recent growth is greater than nearly any other large metro area in the country, and our human services infrastructure must innovate to keep pace. Of particular priority is increasing accessible and affordable treatment for substance use disorder in our community.

In general, funding for substance use treatment services is lacking. For the Travis County community, service availability has decreased in recent years due to funding issues. For those who cannot afford the high cost of private pay services and medication, this results in waitlists for services and limited access to medications. To complicate this further, individuals are often dealing with more than just a substance use disorder diagnosis.

“Home is where one starts from.”
TS Eliot

Terrace at Oak Springs is Integral Care’s newest permanent supportive housing community. 50 individuals who are experiencing homelessness will have a safe place to call home, helping them on the road to recovery.

Many of the future residents have been living on the streets with nothing but what fits in a backpack.  You can provide household essential items exclusively for Terrace at Oak Springs – kitchen tools, bathroom supplies, linens and more — to help make the apartments feel like homes.

We have partnered with COCObundle, a local social enterprise that has curated the registry of household goods. Once a bundle is purchased, COCObundle handles the rest—from stocking the products to creating welcome packages for each of the 50 residents to delivering the items to Terrace. When new residents arrive on move-in day, they already will have welcome packages in their unit.

To donate a bundle for a future resident, simply visit the Integral Care campaign on the COCObundle website and select your preferred bundle.

In lieu of a bundle, you can also make a donation to support the future residents of Terrace at Oak Springs.

Austin, Texas – Integral Care’s CEO David Evans will receive the National Council for Behavioral Health’s 2019 Visionary Leadership award. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the behavioral healthcare field, improving the lives of individuals living with mental illness and addiction disorders and helping them live full lives in their communities. David Evans has over 40 years of experience as a leader in the fields of behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disabilities, serving as Integral Care’s CEO for 25 years.

Since 1993, David Evans has led Integral Care as the agency grew from 400 employees to more than 900 employees who serve our community at over 45 locations. Under his leadership, Integral Care has launched innovative healthcare policies and practices, including tobacco cessation, housing as a healthcare intervention and integrated health care.

“I am honored to receive an Award of Excellence from the National Council. I also accept this award on behalf of Integral Care, our Board of Trustees, and our dedicated staff who work every day to improve the lives of adults and children living with mental illness, substance use disorder and intellectual and developments disabilities. Together, we’re implementing best practices and building innovative partnerships across schools, medical research, public safety and criminal justice – all of which improve outcomes for people in our community and move us toward our vision of Healthy Living for Everyone.”

– David Evans, CEO of Integral Care

David Evans is an unwavering champion of creating opportunities for people experiencing mental illness, substance use disorder and intellectual and developmental disabilities to live in the community – not institutions. His entire career, across multiple states, has been dedicated to this singular goal. Mr. Evans has been recognized by NAMI Austin for his work promoting dignity and inclusion of people living with mental illness and called a Healthcare Hero by the Austin Business Journal. He also holds the prestigious ACMHA Feldman Award for Lifetime Achievement for mental health leadership and health policy.

The award will be presented on March 26, 2019, in Nashville, TN, during the Awards of Excellence Celebration in conjunction with the National Council Conference – NatCon19. Hailed as the nation’s premier behavioral health conference, NatCon19 will convene more than 5,000 behavioral health professionals to discuss solutions and outcomes that transform health care.

Mental health issues and substance use disorders (SUDs) rarely occur independently. Why then, are they so often addressed separately, without a more coordinated system of care? Treating the whole person is always the most effective strategy.

Read more in our monthly newsletter, Transparencies.

As the Texas Legislature heads back into session, a major focus will be funding for the new Austin State Hospital (ASH). The reimagined state hospital isn’t just a new building, it’s a redesign of the mental health delivery system. An effective redesign would mean that our mental health system would have the right services that prevent people from being hospitalized and could also help them return to the community with the appropriate supports following a hospitalization.

Read more in our monthly newsletter Transparencies.

The 86th Texas Legislature is right around the corner – set to begin January 8th. In gearing up for this session, we’d like to take a look at some of the valuable legislation that came out of the 85th session, progress made during the year and a half interim, and the anticipated issue areas coming up in January.

Find out more in our monthly newsletter Transparencies.

A report from the Children’s Mental Health Crisis Task Force recommends that to improve care for children the community needs to remove the stigma associated with mental illness, offer more crisis intervention options and better coordinate care.

Read the report here.