The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at The University of Texas at Austin has awarded grant funds totaling $1.1 million to expand the East Texas Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (ETCMHR). The grant funds will be used to add six mental health services providers as members of the coalition, to continue the work of the original coalition members, and to support the coordination and implementation of all ETCMHR activities.
The coalition launched in 2010 as a pilot program to build leadership in mental health, recovery and wellness, and to increase consumer and family involvement in the Texas mental health system. The pilot program focuses strategically on East Texas as an underserved region where the need for a network of consumer leaders in the mental health system is especially great.
The six new coalition member organizations are Bluebonnet Trails Community Services (Round Rock), Gulf Bend Center (Victoria), Gulf Coast Center Services (Galveston), Lakes Regional MHMR Center (Terrell), Pecan Valley Centers (Granbury) and Tri-County Services (Conroe).
ETCMHR’s grant-funded activities include quarterly meetings, peer specialist training and certification, educational opportunities, information sharing, Wellness Recovery Action Planning certification, and participation in Alternatives, a national mental health conference organized by and for consumers.
“The East Texas Coalition for Mental Health Recovery is an exciting and innovative grant program,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation. “It incorporates our mission of advancing mental health recovery and wellness with our foundation’s focus on consumer and family involvement, while serving East Texas, a region of Texas that is grossly underserved with respect to mental health services.”
“The Hogg Foundation has done so much for my own recovery, and it has made great strides in changing the way Texans view mental health,” said Tuesday Marler, coordinator of the East Texas Coalition for Mental Health Recovery. “I have been touched in such a personal way by what I have seen happen in my life as well as in the lives of my peers because of the contribution the Hogg Foundation has made to the lives of Texans.”
With the addition of these funds, the Hogg Foundation has committed a total of $1.8 million to the East Texas Coalition for Mental Health Recovery.
The Hogg Foundation advances recovery and wellness in Texas by funding mental health services, policy analysis, research and public education. The foundation was created in 1940 by the children of former Texas Gov. James S. Hogg and is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin.
