Topics Tag: Law Enforcement
‘The house is on fire’: Sam Garrison intensifies behavioral health focus ahead of Speakership
May 14, 2026 – The Meadows Institute is featured in a story by Florida Politics on the Florida Chamber Leadership Conference on Safety, Health, and Sustainability. Now in its sixth year, the conference brings together…
Spectrum In Focus: Peer Support
May 4, 2026 – The Meadows Institute’s health and public safety work was featured on Spectrum News outlets across Texas. In the segment, executive director for health and public safety, BJ Wagner, highlighted progress being made by the Texas Legislature to support the mental…
Healthcare Briefs: CFT Awards Grant to Meadows Institute to Operate Caruth Police Institute
March 3, 2026 – The Meadows Institute was featured in a recent D Magazine story highlighting our operation of the Caruth Police Institute (CPI). Communities Foundation of Texas awarded the Meadows Institute a grant to lead…
The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute announces new leadership and executive board of the Caruth Police Institute
Communities Foundation of Texas awarded a grant to the Meadows Institute to operate the Caruth Police Institute to continue to advance public safety innovation in North Texas and across the country Pictured from left: Chief…
Texas law enforcement suicides can be stopped if officers get the help they need
September 18, 2025 – The Meadows Institute was featured in a Dallas Morning News editorial on preventing deaths by suicide among members of law enforcement. In addition, B.J. Wagner, executive vice president for Health and…
Texas law empowers first responders with peer mental health support
September 15, 2025 – The Meadows Institute was featured in a story on the Texas Peer Support Network for First Responders by KVUE. B.J. Wagner, the executive vice president of Health and Public Safety, is…
Communities Foundation of Texas awards a groundbreaking $6 million grant to the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute to help reduce the increasing number of children who die from violence each year
DALLAS — Communities Foundation of Texas has awarded a $6 million multi-year grant through the W.W. Caruth, Jr., Fund to the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute to implement a comprehensive initiative that provides support to…
Media Coverage from the Statewide Expansion of the Texas Blue Program
On June 17, 2024, the Meadows Institute, in partnership with the Communities Foundation of Texas, local police leadership and The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, announced the statewide expansion of the Texas Blue Chip Program…
Meadows Institute Announces Statewide Rollout of the Texas Blue Chip Program to Support Law Enforcement Mental Health
From left: Gene Ellis of the Texas Police Chiefs Association, Gregory Stevens of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, Chief Steve Dye of the Allen Police Department, Chief Special Agent Will Johnson of the BNSF…
Texas Blue Chip Program Expands Statewide to Support Law Enforcement Mental Health
DALLAS, TEXAS (June 17, 2024) – The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute in partnership with the Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT), local police leadership, and The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) today announced the…
Implementation of 988 line, community-based programs helping Texas address behavioral health crises
This article was published by State of Reform on March 18, 2024. Read the full article on State of Reform’s website. Behavioral health experts and community leaders met at the 2024 Texas State of Reform…
Focus on Officer Wellness: Moving Mental Health Out of the Shadows
This article was authored by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute’s B.J. Wagner, Senior Vice President of Health and Public Safety and Jeff Spivey, Senior Fellow of Law Enforcement Policy and was originally published in…
DART Cares program aims to help unhoused residents find shelter
This article was published by KERA News on September 14, 2023. Beginning next month, Dallas Area Rapid Transit will begin testing a program to respond to the needs of riders experiencing homelessness. The goal of…
Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute Launches Texas Blue Chip Program
DALLAS, Texas (August 21, 2023) – The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute is proud to announce the official launch of the Texas Blue Chip Program, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at offering law enforcement officers an additional…
Law enforcement suicide: How state & federal governments support officers, track deaths
This article was published by KXAN Austin on July 5, 2023. AUSTIN (KXAN) — “Cops are those individuals others look to solve problems and protect persons in need. Weakness is not seen as an…
Galveston’s mental health unit making a difference, officials say
This article was published by Galveston County Daily News on May 4, 2023. The woman had tried to commit suicide Wednesday night. On Thursday afternoon, she was sitting in the alley behind a gas station…
Galveston Launches Mental Health Crisis Response Teams
GALVESTON – Galveston city and county officials, in partnership with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and other Galveston foundations today announced the launch of a…
How Meadows Is Diversifying Crisis Response in Texas
This article was published by D Magazine on March 20, 2023. Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute is helping other cities launch teams that can respond to mental health crises and divert individuals experiencing psychiatric episodes…
Lifeline: The 988 Podcast
Learn all about 988, the new national suicide and crisis lifeline launched by the U.S. government in July 2022, in this nine-part limited series podcast. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National…
Chicago Mental Health Crisis Pilot Promising, Small — and Still Using Police
This article was originally published by Bloomberg News on October 19, 2022. A Chicago pilot program that dispatches mental health clinicians and emergency medical responders to some 911 calls has connected 385 people to care…