HEALTHY

We Are Healthy

healty-dashboard-icon-icon

An Estimated

32%

of Travis County adults REPORT POOR MENTAL HEALTH

LOCAL EFFORTS

Austin Public Health published the 2022 Community Health Assessment (CHA) in May of 2022. The CHA leverages a social determinants of health framework to examine the current health status across Austin/Travis County, identify residents’ health priorities, and inform funding and programming priorities based on strengths, resources, forces of change, and gaps in services.

As a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC), Integral Care works to meet the needs of the whole person, integrating psychiatric, substance use, and physical healthcare services and addressing social determinants of health. In 2022, Lone Star Circle of Care and Integral Care opened an imbedded integrated clinic within Integral Care’s Oak Springs Outpatient Mental Health Clinic, where individuals can receive primary care, substance use, and mental health services at one location. This model of care is expected to expand to other clinics in 2023.

In 2022, Integral Care also expanded access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in collaboration with Central Health. A Medical Doctor and a team of MAT behavioral support staff provides buprenorphine treatment and wrap-around support services to individuals living with an opioid use disorder and a co-occurring mental health condition.

Integral care’s Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (EMCOT) received referrals from first responders (police and EMS) and is made up of mental health professionals who help adults and children having a mental health crisis. The 911 EMCOT Program brings EMCOT services further upstream by co-locating Integral Care staff at the 911 Call Center within the Combined Transportation, Emergency, and Communications Center (CTECC). The Program goal is to ensure individuals in the community receive professional mental health services from the time they call 911 and to divert callers from a law enforcement response when the crisis can be safely managed by a clinician. This program is operational 24/7 and is funded through the City of Austin and Travis County.

Since its launch in 2022, 988 has given people across the nation quick access to mental health crisis and suicide prevention services. Integral Care took over 112,000 calls from 76 Texas counties, including Travis County, in the first year of 988 availability and resolved approximately 97% of those calls over the phone.

The Austin-Central Texas Suicide Prevention Coalition is a collaboration of local government agencies, healthcare providers, schools, and community-based organizations working to reduce suicides through advocacy efforts, implementation of evidence-based strategies, and trainings for schools, mental health service providers and the community. In September 2022, Austin City Council issued a Proclamation designating September as Suicide Prevention Month, specifically citing the work of the Suicide Prevention Coalition and at the 911 Call Center.