Saturday, April 20, 2024
4/20/2024
Advancing a Texas System of Care is a statewide initiative led by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to strengthen coordination of behavioral health services and supports among child- and youth-serving agencies at both the state and local levels and improve outcomes for children, youth, and families at home, at school, in the community, and throughout life. HHSC will collaborate with the Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health at the University of Texas at Austin and other behavioral health stakeholders for implementation of initiative goals at the state and local levels. HHSC will partner with Local Mental Health Authorities Integral Care in Travis County, Emergence Health Network in El Paso County, and Pecan Valley, which serves a six-county region in North Central Texas to develop and implement local systems of care for children and youth 3 to 21 years old with a serious emotional disturbance and their families. This will include developing local governance boards. The proposed services and infrastructure approach will address identified gaps and increase system capacity to support an array of effective and coordinated services and supports focused on school-based mental health. Through this collaborative partnership, each community will enhance existing services with a team to include: Local Project Director, School-Based Interventionist, School-Based Therapist, Youth Peer Support Specialist, and Certified Family Partner. Team members will be embedded within one or more school districts to provide consistent school-based services and supports, as well as coordination with community-based care to meet the goals identified by youth and their families. The team will create a local community-based outreach and engagement plan with strategies and action steps to raise public awareness, reduce stigma, educate community partners on the program and screening procedures, and provide outreach and engagement to children, youth, and families. It is expected that 75 children and youth will be enrolled in services in Year 1, followed by 100 in Year 2, 100 in Year 3, and 100 in Year 4. A total of 375 youth and families will be served through the four-year cooperative agreement. Goals and objectives in the Advancing Texas System of Care initiative will facilitate access to behavioral health services and supports to all eligible children and youth, strengthen state and local system of care leadership, implement policies to improve behavioral health systems, implement strategies to support sustainable infrastructure, and promote youth and family members as leaders in system planning efforts to expand and sustain the system of care approach. The proposed initiative will utilize a quality improvement process to plan and implement activities, evaluate the progress of implementation, and adjust as necessary. As the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Subcommittee (CYBHS) is the oversight body for the Texas System of Care (TxSOC), the TxSOC strategic plan will be reviewed during quarterly CYBHS meetings and input toward project implementation will be provided.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
