Vision
A caring and healthy community that supports individuals and families
in achieving self-reliance and self-determination.
Mission
Improving the lives of people who experience mental,
emotional or substance use disorders and intellectual and developmental
disabilities and delays.
This will be accomplished by:
• Effective treatment and support services;
• Advocacy, education, and collaboration;
• Responsible stewardship;
• Promotion of recovery; and
• Encouragement of positive attitudes and expectations.
Service Area
The Austin Travis County Mental Health Mental Retardation serves
residents of the City of Austin and Travis County.
Historical Review
The Austin Travis County MHMR Center (Center) was established in
1967. Its opening was significant because this was the first time
that public, community-based mental health and mental retardation
services became available to the residents of Austin and Travis
County. The Center is neither a state agency nor a county department,
but a publicly funded, non-profit organization.
The Center provides community-based mental health, mental retardation
and substance abuse services to adults and children who are the
most severely disabled and who are most in need of services. A comprehensive
array of services is delivered through four networks and three support
divisions located in over 60 facilities and numerous sub-contracted
entities across the city and county. These services include information
and referral, psychiatric evaluation, 24-hour crisis intervention,
medication support, inpatient treatment, employment and vocational
services, care coordination, service coordination, family support
and respite care, housing, supported living and residential services.
Additionally, Center staff often provide mobile services in consumers’
homes, on the streets, or at other community sites. The Single Point
of Entry (SPOE) has been developed as a uniform telecommunications
system linking all the divisions of the Center.
Oversight of Center operations is the responsibility of the nine
member Board of Trustees appointed by the three sponsoring agencies:
The City of Austin (four trustees); Travis County (four trustees);
and the Austin Independent School District (one trustee). The Board
of Trustees meets monthly as do the four standing Board Committees:
Human Resources, Finance, Planning and Operations, and Public Relations.
Local Authority
The concept of local authorities originated in Texas in 1984 as
an administrative act of the TDMHMR commissioner, acting as the
state authority. The local mental health and mental retardation
authority were conceived as entities at the local level to which
TDMHMR could delegate its authority. Originally, the designation
was related to service provision and lead responsibility for addressing
the needs of individuals returned to their home communities from
state schools and state hospitals. The definition of local authority
evolved over the years as a result of House Bill 2377 which introduced
the concepts of consumer choice and best value and placed the responsibility
of ensuring both quality and cost-effectiveness on the Local Authority.
A Local Authority is defined as a governmental entity to which
the Texas MHMR Board delegates its authority and responsibility
for planning, policy development, coordination, resource development
and allocation for and oversight of mental health and/or mental
retardation services in a local service, including service coordination
and determination of diagnostic eligibility for mental retardation
priority population and related conditions. ATCMHMR is designated
as a local authority by the TDMHMR, the City of Austin, and Travis
County. These relationships are formalized through an annual performance
contract with TDMHMR and Interlocal Cooperation Agreements with
the three appointing bodies.
As the Local Authority, ATCMHMR currently delivers a comprehensive
array of behavioral health care services and developmental services
and supports through a network of internal and external providers,
located throughout the City of Austin and Travis County. Network
development and management is organized into four systems: Adult
Mental Health Services, Child & Family Services Services, Developmental
Disabilities Services, and Substance Abuse and Specialized Services.
Additionally, ATCMHMR provides administrative services in a managed
care environment (e.g. credentialing, contract management, quality
management, utilization management, claims payment, provider relations,
etc.).
Board of Trustees
The Austin Travis County MHMR Center's nine-member volunteer board
is appointed by the City of Austin, Travis County and the Austin
Independent School District. The Board members are appointed for
two-year terms and reflect the community they serve and represent.
Board members represent a wide array of personal and professional
backgrounds: higher education, health care including nursing and
social work, finance, business, human resources, law, and, importantly,
family members of persons who receive mental retardation and behavioral
health services.
Over 80 community leaders and 40 organizations were involved in
providing input for the Final Report of the Mayor's Mental Health
Task Force Final Report: Fittest City in America Initiative. The
Center's Board of Trustees has been tasked with the five year planning
and monitoring oversight of the Report. Click
here to view the full report.
For more information on the Board of Trustees, visit
this site.
Consumer Rights Office (512)440-4086
The purpose of the Consumer Rights Office (CRO) is to act as an
advocate for people receiving services at ATCMHMR and to ensure
that their needs are heard, understood and considered. The Consumer
Rights Officer responds to complaints, questions, and suggestions
related to consumer rights issues, and assists in facilitating the
resolution of consumer complaints. The CRO also investigates consumer
rights issues, acts as a liaison with the Department of Protective
and Regulatory Services (DFPS), and investigates abuse and neglect
in substance abuse and specialized services. Notices on how to contact
the CRO are prominently displayed in all Center programs providing
the Consumer Feedback Line and CRO telephone numbers as well as
information on the complaint process. Consumers and/or their advocates
may make complaints to unit staff or may call the Consumer Rights
Officer directly at any time. Another resource that works closely
with the CRO is the Voice
Committee (Volunteers on Your Side). The Voice members are volunteers
that can investigate complaints and can be reached by calling 445-7718.
Center Partnerships (Non-inclusive
list)
The Attendant Network is a three year grant awarded
to ATCMHMR by the Texas
Council for Developmental Disabilities. The Attendant
Network website is a free registry that will help connect personal
attendants with people needing attendant services. The unique focus
of the Center's grant is identifying and supporting resources for
people with disabilities who want to become Personal Care Attendants.
The grant has two major goals: to create a training curriculum to
administer quality training for Personal Care Attendants; and bridge
the gap in the shortage of quality attendants who are employed. Click
to see other agencies participating in
this project.ATCMHMR is a member of the
Austin Area Human Services Association (AAHSA). Its purpose is
to interpret the human service needs of the Austin area community
to policy makers and the public and to support member
organizations in meeting these needs. Since 1983, AAHSA has been
committed to further streamlining referral and intake procedures for
clients and enhancing cooperation among agencies. AAHSA has fostered
collaboration among its' membership, opened lines of communication
with the community at large, and sought a strong partnership with
the Community Action Network (CAN) staff and committee members.
ATCMHMR is one of the agencies working with
the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH).
ARCH is
a public, non-profit organization that helps the Austin homeless
and transient population. ARCH exists to provide homeless individuals
with: basic human necessities; connections to appropriate agencies
and organizations which will help them overcome the struggle of
homelessness; an avenue for the community to become involved in
assisting the homeless; and an atmosphere of positive, respectful,
and worthwhile interaction between clients, staff, and community.
ATCMHMR is a member of the Community
Action Network (CAN). The CAN is a public/private partnership
of 14 organizations interested in the social
well-being of Austin and Travis County. The mission of the CAN is
to achieve sustainable social, health, educational and economic
outcomes through engaging the community in a planning and implementation
process that coordinates and optimizes public, private and individual
actions and resources.
ATCMHMR partnered with local organizations to sponsor the 8th
Annual Central Texas African American Family Support Conference
(CTAAFSC). The CTAAFSC is a diversity initiative to fulfill
the Center’s Strategic Plan and support initiatives called
for in the 1999 and 2001 Surgeon General’s Reports. The mission
of the conference is to “strengthen family and individual
awareness of available behavioral health care services through culturally
sensitive education, supports, and partnerships”. The 2008
Conference is titled "The Fine Art of Achieving Life
Balance".
ATCMHMR is a local partner of the Children’s
Partnership in Travis County. The Children's
Partnership is a broad based coalition representing families,
community organizations, state and federal agencies, and mental
health care providers. The Children's Partnership is part of a national
and statewide movement to enhance the children's mental health care
system. This national movement is striving to create a collaborative
system that will allow families and providers to coordinate traditional
and non-traditional services for each child with complex mental
health needs.
Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)
ATCMHMR formed a CISM team to help address the mental health
needs of the community following a disaster. Exposure to a natural
disaster, terrorist incident, criminal action, or other horrific
event can result in post trauma stress reactions. The purpose of
the CISM team is to respond quickly to victims of catastrophes with
crisis counseling and post-disaster counseling to reduce the severity
of the immediate stress reactions and to reduce the risk of the
individual developing long term symptoms.
ATCMHMR' s CISM team collaborates with both the TDMHMR
Disaster Assistance & Crisis Response Services Program and
the City
of Austin Office of Emergency Management.
The East Austin Family Pantry (Family Pantry)
is a collaboration between ATCMHMR, The Arc of the Capital Area,
Any Baby Can Child & Family Resource Center (ABC), and Ebenezer
Baptist Church. The Family Pantry provides emergency assistance
to adults and children in need. The Family Pantry helps to lessen
the need by offering clothing, food, hygiene, baby items and etc.
to clients who meet the Pantry’s criteria.
The Family Pantry served over 5,200 adults and children last year.
Of the clients who visited the pantry last year, 55% were temporarily
out of work, 20% had income limitations due to a family member’s
disability and 25% either had no financial support, live on SSI
income or have a child who is in Early Childhood Intervention.
The Family Support Cooperative is an award-winning
collaboration between ATCMHMR, The Arc of the Capital Area and the
Parent and School Support Team of Austin Independent School District.
The focus of the group is to inform and support families with children
of all ages and all disabilites. Free childcare is provided. Meetings
are held on Tuesdays at the Rosedale School at 2117 West 49th Street.
Supper is 6:30-7pm. Meetings begin at 7pm. For additional information
call the Arc of the Capital Area at (512) 476-7044.
ATCMHMR is part of the Indigent Care Collaboration (ICC).
The ICC
was established in 1997 to address access and financing issues and
obstacles to care for low-income and uninsured residents of Central
Texas. The intent of the ICC is to develop joint projects among
members to increase access, improve quality,
and lower the costs of providing care to the region's unfunded population.
Fundamental to the ICC approach is to include behavioral health
as a core service and to understand that a growing need for behavioral
health services is at the base of a substantial proportion of primary
care and other visits to health care providers.
The Substance Abuse Planning Partnership (SAPP)
was created in June 1996 to help formulate a comprehensive,
holistic view of needs, examine and improve the effectiveness of
existing programs, and consider alternatives. The mission of the
SAPP is to serve as the link between the community and policymakers
at the local, state, and federal level and to assist them in determining
and addressing substance abuse service needs in Travis County. The
goal is to maximize services and resources through the development
of effective strategies for coordination and implementation of services
that will result in the development of a client-focused continuum
of care which includes prevention, assessment, intervention, detoxification,
treatment, and continuing care services that are: Delivered with
a holistic approach; Culturally and linguistically appropriate;
Age appropriate; Family focused; Consumer-driven; and Provided while
respecting clients’ rights and capacities.
ATCMHMR is a member of the Texas
Council of Community MHMR Centers, Inc. The purpose
of the Texas Council is to provide an organization through which
community MHMR centers can work together as a public system serving
Texans with mental illness, mental retardation, and chemical dependency,
and by this work, can expand and improve services in their local
communities with other provider systems, deliver quality services
needed by their consumers, and provide accountability to their sponsoring
governmental entities, their other funding sources, and the State
governance for its investments in services.
Click to view an Adobe Acrobat 5.0 .pdf version of the Texas Council
document entitled "A
Local MHMR Authority System in Texas: Advancing a Vision for a system
of care for Texans with mental illness, mental retardation and/or
chemical dependency. A Consensus Perspective: February, 2003".
Administration
ATCMHMR is managed by a team headed by Executive Director David
Evans and an Executive Management Team who are listed below in alphabetical
order.
David Evans, Executive Director
Iliana Gilman, Director of Communications
Charles Harrison, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial
Officer
Lisa Laky, General Counsel
Sally Spill, Director of Programs
James VanNorman, MD, Director
of Medical and Clinical Management Services
The Center's Administrative Offices are located at 1430 Collier
Street.
Medical Records
To obtain medical records, please download the AUTHORIZATION
FOR RELEASE OF PROTECTED HEALTH INFORMATION form. If you have
any questions, you can contact the Clinical Records department at
Austin Travis County MHMR by calling (512) 483-5800 or (512) 447-4141.
The form can be faxed to 512-445-7726 or mailed to Austin Travis
County MHMR at P.O. Box 3548, Austin, Texas 78764-3548 Attn: Clinical
Records. A Consent to Release Protected Health Information must
be completed before we can release any medical records.
Local Plan
The Center’s Local Plan for FY 2006-2007 is a formal document
which communicates the Center’s goals (as the Local Authority),
directions and outcomes to various audiences including the Texas
Department of Mental Health Mental Retardation, consumer and constituency
groups, the general public, and the authority's employees. The Local
Plan was developed with input from a wide range of stakeholders
and serves as the basis for the state agency's strategic planning
and budget structure. Through it the state authority develops an
appropriations request that reflects decisions about how fiscal
resources will be allocated. Click to
see a full copy of the Local Plan in a .pdf format.
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