State and local governments, along with non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and healthcare organizations are teaming up in Texas to tackle youth mental health. The Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium is a unique collaboration between stakeholders across the state that provides access to mental health resources no matter where the child may be. The Consortium’s success is due to efficient processes, a data-driven approach backed by a technology platform, and a shared sense of purpose.
Healthcare IT Today recently had the chance to learn more from Dr. Laurel Williams Medical Director for the Centralized Operational Support Hub for the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium (TCMHCC) and Malekeh Amini, Founder & CEO at Trayt Health.
Youth Mental Health Crisis
Mental health has long been a neglected area of healthcare, particularly when it comes to children and teenagers. In recent years, however, the youth mental health crisis has been making headlines across the United States.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 1 in 6 US youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year. This is a concerning statistic, as untreated mental health issues can lead to long-term consequences that impact a child’s academic performance, social interactions, and future job prospects.
TCMHCC Initiatives
The state of Texas has recognized the severity of the youth mental health crisis and in 2019 created the TCMHCC to address gaps in mental health care for children and adolescents. The program was expanded in 2021 when the Texas Legislature approved federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The TCMHCC initiatives include:
- The Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN) which provides telehealth-based consultation and training to primary care providers
- The Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program which provides in-school behavioral telehealth care to at-risk children and adolescents.
- The Community Psychiatry Workforce Expansion (CPWE) which funds full-time academic psychiatrists as academic medical directors and new psychiatric resident rotation positions at facilities operated by community mental health providers.
- The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) Fellowships program which expands both the number of child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship positions in Texas
- A research initiative
TCMHCC consists of 12 departments of psychiatry across Texas, along with the Texas Education Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute.
“One of the things that’s been fantastic about what we’re doing in Texas is we’re actually working together,” explained Dr. Williams. “Together our team is charged with developing programs that will help all children in our state, regardless of where they are. We’re all in it for the same reason, to help children and families get better.”
More than 9,000 primary care providers have enrolled in CPAN and there has been a steady increase in the number of monthly CPAN consults.
Keys to Success
One of the keys to TCMHCC’s success, is breaking down the silos between the mental health stakeholders in the state.
“When you have your own silos, you start to have your own group think,” said Dr. Williams. “You’re going to focus on your team, yourself, and the patients in front of you. But now that we have a common mission for the entire state, it allows for creativity across our programs and for us to come together. It’s really about a shared goal, even though we have so many different experts across so many different places.”
Another key to the Consortium’s success is their data-driven approach which is enabled through a technology platform from Trayt Health. Trayt is an end-to-end collaboration and data analytics platform that unites the entire ecosystem of providers, schools, and caregivers to address mental health.
“We have connected primary care physicians and the entire Texas public school system to psychiatry clinics that are delivering services as part of the TCMHCC programs,” shared Amini. “We have also integrated all of the institutions that typically don’t work together and who have separate systems. But now they actually have the same platform. They support each other and they provide services consistently across the state regardless of where they are sitting.”
For example, when a pediatrician in rural Texas has a pregnant teen in their office who is in need of mental health support, a child and adolescent behavioral health specialist may call the pediatrician back (within 5 minutes) from Texas Children’s Hospital. After that initial consult, the call may seamlessly be transferred to a reproductive psychiatrist within the Maternal Mental Health team at Baylor College of Medicine who can offer medication management that is safe for a pregnant woman.
This is all made possible through the Trayt platform.
A Needed Program
The need for programs like what TCMHCC offers cannot be overstated. The consequences of untreated mental health issues can be severe for youth including a higher risk of suicide, substance abuse, academic failure, and experiencing violence. By providing access to mental health services and support, the state of Texas is aiming to mitigate these risks, at scale, and provide a brighter future for its youth.
Watch the interview with Dr. Laurel Williams and Malekeh Amini to learn:
- How the success in Texas might be replicated across the country
- Why closing the loop with mental/behavioral health programs is important
- Two simple things you can do to get a mental health support program started in your community
Learn more about TCMHCC at https://tcmhcc.utsystem.edu/
Learn more about Trayt Health at https://trayt.health/
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