State gets federal funds for mental health, crisis response

The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $21.2 million in federal grant funding to the State of Texas for crisis response programs, including mental health courts, drug courts, Veterans’ Courts, and Assisted Out Patient Treatment (AOT) programs, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) announced on Feb. 15. The grant was awarded to Governor Greg Abbott’s Public Safety Office to support state and local crisis intervention programs, including the expansion of behavioral health crisis response initiatives and specialized court-based programs to address risk factors that lead to violence, Sen. Cornyn said. The program was established following the May 24, 2022 school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, he said. Jack and Young Counties and the City of Olney are working together to come up with a joint program to address mental health needs in the region. County and city officials meet on Feb. 22 with state lawmakers in Austin on Feb. 22, and again on March 2-3 in Decatur with the Texas Department of Health and Human Services for a workshop to develop local mental health programs.