As Tarrant County’s population grows, so does the need for mental health services for children and families, according to three Fort Worth mental health leaders.
ACH Child and Family Services CEO Wayne Carson, Tarrant County MHMR CEO Susan Garnett, and Tarrant County Mental Health Connection Executive Director Christina Judge discuss the challenges local organizations are facing and what they are doing to address their needs. We talked about what we could do.
The April 12 conversation, moderated by Fort Worth Mayor Matty Parker, was part of ACH Child and Family Services’ annual “Lend a Hand” luncheon during National Child Abuse and Prevention Month.
ACH Child and Family Services provides crisis intervention, foster care and adoption, residential services, and community-based care to children and families in need. It also serves as Tarrant County’s only 24-hour emergency youth shelter.
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Panelists focused on Tarrant County’s population growth. Fort Worth’s population is inching closer to 1 million, adding more residents in 2022 than any other city in the country, according to new census data.
While growth is essential for Fort Worth and the surrounding area, it also means more families will need mental health services, Garnett said.
“Population growth is definitely a challenge for the Texas Legislature in grappling with how to grow these services,” she said.
Carson said ACH is seeing a growing number of children in Tarrant County from abusive and neglected homes who need therapeutic care. According to the organization, ACH counseled more than 1,500 youth in 2023 and provided more than 4,800 hours of counseling.
“We have seen the needs of those children increase dramatically,” he said. “These are kids who not only need a safe night’s rest, but someone who is specially trained to deal with trauma so they feel safer.”
While more children are being helped, advocates are becoming thinner, Carson said. According to the Texas Tribune, 98% of Texas’ 254 counties are designated, in whole or in part, as “mental health professional shortage areas” by the federal government.
“(Mental health providers) are working at full capacity,” he said. “Workforce challenges are causing them to struggle to scale their services to meet demand. They are having a hard time finding qualified people to do the work, and the funding to pay for services is not keeping up with costs. Is not.”
Panelists advocated continued investment from both the state government and private donors to support this effort.
“Investing now for 20 years of premium compensation is a very difficult thing to ask the Legislature to do,” Garnett said. “These are difficult issues to address.”
The justices pointed to investing in mental health professionals and students to keep the workforce strong and supported.
“They need more specialized training opportunities and need continuing education credits to maintain their certification,” she said. “We also need to provide students looking for internship programs with professional support to see what kind of mental health work they want to do.”
All three panelists agreed that collaboration between local mental health organizations will be key for now.
“We have a strong philosophy that people don’t care about the name of an organization; they care about getting the services they need,” Garnett said. “No one agency can do what needs to be done. It’s really about everyone doing their best.”
David Moreno is a health reporter for The Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Please contact david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports At X.
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