Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute

We’re grateful for the ongoing partnership with the The Moody Foundation, which has been instrumental in helping us expand mental health support for children, youth and families across Texas. From early grants that helped us assess mental health needs, to recent funding that has allowed us to scale school mental health services, this support is making a lasting impact. Thanks in large part to The Moody Foundation’s support, we are building a statewide system that ensures all students and families receive the care they need, when they need it. Together, we are working to make Texas a national leader in mental health support. Read more about the Meadows Institute’s work across Texas, and our partnership with The Moody Foundation, here:

I was fortunate to hear my colleague Kacie Kelly from the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute expertly moderate a panel this morning at #BHT2024 on how to leverage technology to treat high-severity mental health patients. The panel was filled with insights, concrete solutions, and perhaps most important, hope. As Cara McNulty, DPA said, "We will continue to be fierce for the people who don't have a voice and are alone and isolated and feel that the world would be better off if they weren't here." #mentalhealth

Today is the first day of #BHT2024! We’re excited to be here in Phoenix as the premier policy partner of the 2024 Behavioral Health Tech Conference, the nation’s largest conference focused on expanding access to #mentalhealth, substance use and IDD care through technology, health equity and #innovation. Meadows Institute experts speaking this week include: • President & CEO Andy Keller discussing the importance of continuity of care • Chief Scientific Officer Andrew D. Carlo, MD MPH presenting strategies for addressing the #suicide epidemic • Chief Innovation Officer Kacie Kelly discussing current behavioral health care efforts in Florida • Chief Policy Officer John Snook covering the impact of regulations on SUD treatment. Learn more at https://bit.ly/4hnaSE6.

In a new op-ed for Law360, the Meadows Institute’s Yolanda L. Lewis and Atlanta Judge Robert C. McBurney propose a new strategy to reduce the impact of parental incarceration on children, given the long-term health, behavioral, and economic consequences parental incarceration can have on youth. By fostering collaboration between courts, schools, and community organizations, Lewis and McBurney argue, we can help break the cycle of trauma and support these vulnerable children more effectively. Learn more about their proposed "train, track, and connect" approach here:

Meadows Institute Senior VP for Specialty Healthcare Darilynn Cardona-Beiler, alongside other community leaders, presented an encouraging progress report before the Dallas City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee last week: unsheltered homelessness in Dallas has been reduced by 24% since 2021. Cardona-Beiler highlighted the fact that a large percentage of Dallas’ unsheltered population is experiencing mental illness, substance use disorder, or both, and how to best meet their needs moving forward. Along with partner organizations Housing Forward and North Texas Behavioral Health Authority, the Meadows Institute has helped create highly specialized behavioral health teams that go directly to encampments and the streets to provide critical mental health services to people experiencing homelessness that helps them prepare to transition successfully to permanent housing. Read more:

We can’t wait for #BHT2024! The 2024 Behavioral Health Tech conference is right around the corner — learn more about the conference agenda and speaker lineup, and register to join us in Phoenix, AZ next week here: https://bit.ly/4hnaSE6

The Meadows Institute is proud to be the premier policy partner of the 2024 Behavioral Health Tech Conference! Join us in Phoenix next week at #BHT2024, the nation’s largest conference focused on expanding access to #mentalhealth, substance use and IDD care through technology, health equity and #innovation. We’re honored to have several of our Meadows Institute experts joining the prestigious speaker lineup next week! Don’t miss: • President & CEO Andy Keller discussing the importance of continuity of care • Chief Scientific Officer Andrew D. Carlo, MD MPH presenting strategies for addressing the #suicide epidemic • Chief Innovation Officer Kacie Kelly discussing current behavioral health care efforts in Florida • Chief Policy Officer John Snook covering the impact of regulations on SUD treatment Learn more and register here: https://bit.ly/4hnaSE6

Are you ready for #BHT2024?! We’re so excited about our session lineup, and can’t wait to keep sharing them with you! 🎉 Thank you to the team at Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute for sponsoring Mind Your Business: Florida’s Blueprint for Behavioral Health Innovation, a discussion between Katie Yeutter, Kacie Kelly, Josh Golomb, and Robert Capobianco. This session will showcase the nation's first statewide, business-led mental health initiative. Participants will learn how other states and regions could replicate similar strategic partnership models. Panelists will discuss collaborations between large employers, health plans, health systems, and school systems aimed at improving mental health outcomes. Additionally, the session will illustrate how Florida leverages state and county data to drive policy changes and implement effective systemic strategies in partnership with both public and private sectors. We’re looking forward to seeing you there on November 6th at 10:30am. Spots are limited - register now: https://hubs.li/Q02Vq0tq0

A new paper in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, co-authored by the Meadows Institute’s Andrew D. Carlo, MD MPH and Clare McNutt, PA-C, MSHS, among others, shines a spotlight on a pressing need: better access to behavioral health care within primary care settings. Proven models like Collaborative Care (CoCM) and Measurement-Based Care (MBC) offer promising pathways to improve patient outcomes, yet they can remain underutilized. By addressing potential barriers such training gaps, start-up costs and staffing workflows, we can unlock the full power of MBC and tackle the behavioral health crisis head-on! Check out the full paper here:

We are proud recipients of grant funding from the Humana Foundation to address mental health challenges among school-aged children in Texas. We are committed to building a coalition of community- and school-based clinicians to provide evidence-based care to traumatized and bereaved youth in the greater Houston area. Special thanks to the Humana Foundation for investing in this important work and making better youth mental health outcomes a reality. Read more about the Humana Foundation’s $15.2M investment and the work of fellow grant recipients, here: