Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute Is Named the Recipient of the $10M Lone Star Prize

This article was originally published by Dallas Innovates on June 15, 2021. 

Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Lever for Change have selected the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute and its “Lone Star Depression Challenge” as the recipient of the $10 million Lone Star Prize, a Texas-based competition launched in early 2020 to improve the lives of Texans and their communities.

According to the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, fewer than one in 15 of the 1.5 million Texans suffering from depression each year receive sufficient care to recover. Tragically, nearly 4,000 people in the state die each year from suicide. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this problem, nearly doubling the amount of people seriously considering suicide. As the prize winner, The Meadows Institute will focus on improving Texans’ quality of life by making mental health care more accessible throughout the state, with its “Lone Star Depression Challenge” proposal.

Led by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute along with the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care at UT Southwestern, Harvard Medical School’s Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, and The Path Forward for Mental Health and Substance Use, The Lone Star Depression Challenge aims to free every Texan from depression. Together the team plans to reduce barriers for all Texans with depression, detect their needs earlier, care for them more intensely, and improve the quality of life especially for people of color, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty.

“The Lone Star Prize will make possible the first-of-its kind, wide-scale expansion of three proven initiatives to improve the lives of Texans living with depression,” said Andy Keller, president/CEO of Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. “Our partnership with the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care at UT Southwestern will catalyze an unprecedented statewide and national effort to put depression care in Texas on par with care for heart disease and cancer, freeing millions more Texans from the cloud of depression and saving hundreds of lives over the next five years.”

The full article is available online here.