Kaufman County locates discrepancies in mental health outreach

“We’re trying to make sure everyone in the community has all the information needed to attack the issue appropriately,” said North Texas Behavioral Health Authority Chief of Regional Operations Nancy Blum. “We’re trying to slow down the revolving door.”

In areas like Kaufman County, mental health first responders are low in numbers and resources are limited. With lack of resource centers, crisis checks can often end in taking MI, SUD and IDD individuals to the police station for their own safety. This type of response takes away from the individual’s ability to get the help they need while adding unnecessary traffic at stations that already have limited space. Additionally, those in jail for their crimes cannot go to trial until they are cleared by mental health agencies. The elongated time period to be screened, address any mental health needs, and be marked fit for trial can open a revolving door for those incarcerated. Kaufman County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Tracy West divulged that access to forensic beds can take nearly a year for non-violent restoration and over 1,000 days for violent restoration.

While identifying gaps in Kaufman County’s resources, one of the biggest issues for the county is limited space at Terrell State Hospital. Before the pandemic, Terrell State has roughly 300 beds for patients. After the repercussions of the pandemic, Terrell State has been slowly working its numbers up from a near 50% drop in space. While the number of beds is now back over 200, this space limitation leaves little room to treat criminals without seeking care outside of the County. Moreover, the limited space at the hospital means that mildly afflicted patients are often turned away to leave room for more severe patients. This limited access could increase the county’s suicide rates as well as open doors for more mentally ill criminal behavior.

Another highlighted issue is lack of knowledge and education for both community members and law enforcement. The Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department only has one officer equipped to handle mental health crisis response, while smaller cities in the county have no crisis officers. Kaufman County Sheriff’s Department reported 354 mental health calls over the course of one year. County dispatch estimates that the number of phone calls they receive over the course of a year are likely two or three times higher, with most reports regarding suicide attempts.

While Kaufman County ranks below the national average, at 14 suicides per 100,000 residents, the incoming growth of the county will leave a more dire demand for crisis intervention with even fewer resources for the community. After covering the gaps for the community, seminar attendants identified the core issues that should take priority. Attending stakeholders and organizations decided that the first steps to addressing these issues are creating a behavioral health leadership team, improving housing options and care facilities, improving law enforcement and dispatch pre-arrest diversion through training, and spreading awareness and education training for the community.

After splitting off into four groups to address these core issues, each group created follow-up meetings and plans of actions to focus on what is next in solving the problem. These separate groups also mark the beginning of four new committees, dedicated to addressing mental health in the community. The behavioral leadership team, community housing committee, education and training team, and crisis team development each have follow-up meetings set for the month of February.

The behavioral leadership team hopes to improve community resources, the community housing committee plans to elevate research and try to secure pre-existing facilities throughout the county, the education and training team will strive for community outreach and education, and the crisis team development will focus on law enforcement training.

The seminar was led by HSSC State Forensic Director and an Associate Commissioner, Dr. Jennie M. Simpson and HSSC Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Office of Forensic Coordination, Emily Dirksmeyer.

Simpson is a nationally recognized policy expert on cross-sector collaborations between behavioral health and criminal justice systems. Dr. Simpson is responsible for the coordination and oversight of forensic services as directed by Senate Bill 1507, 84th Legislature, Regular Session (2015). Dirksmeyer supports the State Forensic Director by facilitating collaboration among both internal and external stakeholders at the intersection of behavioral health and justice and provides tailored technical assistance to communities across Texas on improving forensic services and reducing justice involvement for people with mental illness, substance use and intellectual and developmental disabilities.