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• 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.

• New Electronic Health Record System promises to improve health and care coordination in Harris County

  HOUSTON – Feb. 11, 2020 – The Board of Trustees of The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD approved today a significant step to move forward with the implementation of an Electronic Health Record system (EHR) that will bring improved health outcomes for those with serious mental illness in Harris County. The Harris Center is working with Harris Health System to implement a tailored to fit EHR to support the center’s complex health care operations.

• The Harris Center’s New Behavioral Health Advisory Committee: Make Your Voice Heard

  

  Do you currently receive mental health and/or substance use treatment services from The Harris Center? Did you receive any of those services from us in the past? Are you a family member of someone who receives these services or received them in the past?

   

  Then we want you.

• Harris County and the City of Houston Partner to Fund new COVID-19 Homeless Respite and Rehabilitation Center

  HOUSTON, October 1, 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the vulnerability of individuals who are homeless and have mental illnesses. It is not only the unhealthy conditions on the streets that make the unsheltered homeless “at-risk” to COVID-19; most suffer from underlying, chronic health conditions. An estimated 15-25% of individuals experiencing homelessness throughout Harris County and the greater Houston area suffer from severe mental health issues making it difficult for city, county and local partners to quickly assist and house them out of harm’s way. Social distancing requirements have also reduced homeless shelter capacity. These extremely acute individuals have a large impact on first responders and hospitals by routinely requiring emergency intervention. These individuals increase the risk of COVID-19 exposure to first responders and the community

• The Harris Center and Harris County Probate Court 3 Announce New Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program

  The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD, in cooperation with Harris County Probate Court 3 and the University of Houston, has received a grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for an Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program for people with serious mental illness. 

• Integrating behavioral and medical health care

  
  When we think about our primary health, we don’t, at times, relate it to our behavioral health and vice-versa.  As Sylvia Muzquiz- Drummond, M.D., the Medical Director for Mental Health Services at The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD, points out, it is important to recognize the connection between the two.