Working across the Texas mental health landscape
Untreated mental illness and substance abuse can devastate the lives of individuals, their co-workers, and their friends and family. The Meadows Institute focuses on all aspects of adult mental health – from the state hospital system, to law enforcement 911 calls for service, to workplace culture, to substance abuse treatment – to help ensure all Texans obtain the care they need, effectively and efficiently.
Ensuring Texas mental health systems are helping all Texans
State hospitals
The Meadows Institute has partnered with universities, health systems, and other stakeholders across the state as part of Texas’s total rebuild of its state hospital systems. Far beyond simply repairing crumbling infrastructure and adding beds, the new Texas system will provide patients with specialized care in all phases of healing, from intake, throughout treatment, and into comprehensive continued care plans after they discharge from the hospital. The Meadows Institute is proud to play a role in this unprecedented opportunity to reshape care for people throughout Texas.
Workplace mental health
For most people, the quality and availability of mental health care are directly related to how comprehensive their health insurance plan is. Meanwhile, how comprehensive their insurance plan is often based upon choices made by their employer. The Meadows Institute has been partnering with employers to help them make better choices for their companies, their employees, and their families, and to build a workplace culture more conducive to mental health.
Suicide and addiction
With depression and suicide at record levels, it is more important than ever that every individual living with depression is not only treated, but treated as quickly as possible. The Meadows Institute is promoting universal screening by working with health systems across the state, so that depression may be detected and treated more quickly. We are also supporting legislative policy to make substance abuse treatment more effective and accessible for Texans.
Driving change
The Meadows Institute continues to work in multiple issue areas by informing and assisting policymakers, health care providers, advocates, and others who are developing solutions to address Texans’ mental health needs. By bringing key stakeholders together to discuss evidence-based best practices, the Meadows Institute staff endeavor to drive change at the state level and at the local level, meeting the unique challenges in our urban and rural communities.
Featured Case Study
Dallas County Smart Justice Project
SUMMARY – The Dallas County Smart Justice Project aimed to reduce the number of people with mental illness who receive primary treatment in jail or only after encounters with law enforcement. With the support of the W. W. Caruth, Jr. Foundation, the Meadows Institute provided policy guidance to Dallas County during planning and implementation of their Smart Justice project.
Featured Projects
view moreThe Challenge of Identifying, Diverting & Treating Justice-Involved People with Mental Illness
SUMMARY - How to best manage the number of people with mental illnesses who are involved in the criminal justice system is long-standing problem...
Best Practices in Integrated Behavioral Health
SUMMARY - Integrated behavioral health represents a seamless integration of mental health and primary care services, recognizing they are interdependent. Released in 2016, the...