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• The Crisis Line: Listening, caring, supporting

   

  What makes a good listener? Common responses to this question include someone who is attentive, engaged, non-judgmental, helpful, knowledgeable and empathetic.

   

• Miss Harris County 2020 supports The Harris Center mission

  Madison Lamont, Miss Harris County 2020, is partnering with The Harris Center to highlight the importance of Mental Health Awareness. We met Miss Harris County earlier this year to learn more about her social initiative and share about the resources available to Harris County residents through The Harris Center. 

• The Harris Center awarded $836,243 for Telehealth Services Infrastructure

   The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD received $836,243 from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) COVID-19 Telehealth Program to enhance its telehealth service infrastructure. The FCC received funding for this program through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act. The FCC funds will enable The Harris Center to further expand access to behavioral health and intellectual and developmental disabilities services for Harris County residents via telehealth platforms.

• Mayor Sylvester Turner highlights local efforts to prevent suicides among veterans, active military and family members

  

  The City of Houston and local agencies are working closer together to increase suicide awareness and prevention support for those who have bravely served our country, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Thursday in conjunction with the start of National Suicide Prevention Month.
  
  The effort is part of the Mayor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families. Houston is one of the initial seven U.S. cities to participate in the challenge, founded last year by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

• IDD Crisis Care- There when you need them

  All of us need support from time to time. Whether we need to have a good cry or a good laugh, knowing we have someone to turn to in a time of crisis is a comfort many of us take for granted. For individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), finding that help is not always easy. The same is true for those who serve as caregivers for loved ones with IDD. At The Harris Center, the IDD Intensive Needs Program is available to help provide the support and compassion that many need.

   

  While the IDD Intensive Needs Program provides community-based supports throughout Harris County, it also has a component that focuses on providing crisis care. Implemented in 2016 as an initiative of the State of Texas and led by Clinical Team Leader Amanda Willis, LCSW-S, the three person staff is composed of master level clinicians who provide assessments, support and linkage to on-going community-based services for individuals with IDD who find themselves in a crisis.

   

• The P.E.E.R.S. For Hope House - Meeting an unmet need

  Kim Tope is a licensed master social worker and a certified anger resolution therapist.  More pertinent to her current role at The Harris Center, Kim is also a certified peer specialist who uses her own lived experience in recovery from mental illness to help those who find themselves in need of support and treatment through a one-of-a-kind program in Texas known as The P.E.E.R.S. for Hope House.