Mental Health America of Greater Houston

Collaboration, education, and advocacy are central to all our program components. Program components include the Center for School Behavioral Health (CSBH), the Integrated Health Care Initiative (IHCI), the Veterans Behavioral Health (VBH) program, Mental Health Literacy (MHL), and Public Policy. In 2022, we returned to in-person programming for some of our program offerings, always with COVID-19 safety in mind. However, we also continued offering virtual program options for reasons of safety and access, and convenience for our clients.See Schedule O for continuation.In 2022, we served over 5,800 unduplicated clients through various program components. For example, we trained over 2,500 educators and youth-serving personnel on children's mental health, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to identify mental health needs, respond appropriately, and link youth to services. Enhanced evaluation of our program services allowed us to demonstrate the effectiveness of our Emotional Backpack ProjectSM for educators in increasing participants' knowledge, perceptions, and confidence to address students' mental and behavioral health needs.We work with a diverse network of organizational partners, many of whom collaborate with us on common work agendas to create changes in systems and policies. Our IHCI works with diverse organizations, including health care providers, insurers, and universities, to advance integrated health care (coordinating mental health care with other health care), which is considered best practice. Our CSBH works with over 150 school districts and child-serving organizations to improve the prevention, early identification and intervention, and treatment of mental illness among schoolchildren. Our VBH program partners with Veterans Treatment Court Programs and other organizations to provide support, such as peer mentoring for justice-involved veterans with mental health concerns. Our MHL programming provides training on topics such as understanding mental health, understanding trauma, coping through crisis, and caring for oneself to staff and clients of numerous organizations. In 2022, over 1,100 people participated in our MHL programming, and 99% of participants evaluating MHL training reported that the information received was valuable. In 2022, our Public Policy work focused mainly on preparation for the 88th Texas Legislative Session, which began in January 2023. MHA of Greater Houston's public policy team members also played a key role in the Texas Education Agency's Mental Health Task Force.