West Texas Mental Health Collaborative

Availability of Mental Health Care in the Local Community

In September 2018, representatives from various community agencies and governmental entities began meeting about the availability of mental health care in the local community. As time passed, the group became more coordinated in their efforts and projects, including adopting the name West Texas Mental Health Collaborative.

• The WTMHC is working to improve coordination of mental health services across member organizations and reduce duplication to positively impact the lives of family in the community.
• The WTMHC collaborative will serve as a bridge to create and expand needed services including counseling services, crisis response, substance use treatment, intensive outpatient treatment, and inpatient treatment capacity.
• The Texas Tech Mental Health Initiative is working to facilitate and support the development of an organizational structure, seeking additional resources, and coordinating and expanding the collaborative efforts of WTMHP for greater access to mental health care and related services within the community.

The conversations of this original group began to identify the mental health needs of the Lubbock community. The community agencies formalized their efforts, entering an MOU that commissioned the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute to conduct a comprehensive mental health needs assessment of the Lubbock area. The initial efforts of the WTMHC have focused on the areas identified by the Meadow’s needs assessment.

Lubbock County SIM Report

The West Texas Mental Health Collaborative Access to Crisis Services Committee invited stakeholders from across the Lubbock community to better understand mental health response and resources. This report was created through a series of online and in-person workshops facilitated and sponsored by the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health to address the needs of adults with mental and behavioral health challenges who intersect with the criminal justice system. These efforts utilized the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) to identify strategies to divert individuals from high-cost, less appropriate places, such as jail and the emergency rooms, into treatment and connected to other supports. The workshops brought together over 40 stakeholders from many sectors, including mental health, substance use, courts, veteran serving organizations, hospitals, and law enforcement to map resources, identify gaps, and opportunities at each of the intercepts of the SIM. Read the full report here.

The Founding Parties includes representatives from each of the agencies who worked together for the community-wide mental health needs assessment with the addition of: 

Stephen Warren, President
West Texas Community Foundation
+ serves as the convener

Dr. Sarah Wakefield, Chair of
TTUHSC Department of Psychiatry
+ serves as a clinical consultant

Dr. Nancy Trevino, Director of
Texas Tech Mental Health Initiative
+ serves as the facilitator

Founding Parties