Substance use issues often co-occur with mental health challenges. For people and communities struggling with both, our lack of a fully integrated, person-centered, prevention-oriented public health system exacts a heavy toll. Partly in response to the opioid crisis, there is now growing momentum toward policy changes that emphasis treatment and prevention rather than stigma and incarceration. This openness to new approaches has made its way to Texas, just in time for the 86th Legislature which got underway last month.

Shannon Hoffman, policy fellow for the Hogg Foundation, is an expert on substance use policy and is following this issue in the state Legislature closely. She is here to help us break down this broad and complex area of policy, and help us understand why Texans may have cause for optimism this session.

Evidence suggests that psychosis may have a similar disease course to other chronic illnesses. Cancer, for example, progresses along a continuum, and we know that if we intervene early we can create optimal outcomes for a cancer diagnosis. More and more we’re seeing this understanding translate into care for psychosis as well.

A younger person’s first psychotic episode is a crossroads moment. Depending on the timeliness and quality of help he or she receives, there can be either a positive prognosis or one that’s far more uncertain. Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC), a novel team-based approach to first-episode psychosis, may provide the framework we need to ensure more optimal outcomes for young adults.

Colleen Horton, policy director for the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, and Greg Hansch, public policy director for National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Texas, are working to make sure that CSC is on the Texas policy agenda in 2019. For this episode, we’re learning what is at stake for Texans on this issue, and how CSC is a potential game-changer for young adults, their families, and Texas taxpayers.

Related links:

Episode 32: Early Intervention in Psychosis

http://hogg.utexas.edu/early-intervention-in-psychosis

Blog post: We Are Failing Young Adults with Psychosis

http://hogg.utexas.edu/we-are-failing-young-adults-with-psychosis

A Guide to Understanding Mental Health Systems and Services in Texas

http://hogg.utexas.edu/mh-guide

Hogg Foundation Policy Priorities

http://hogg.utexas.edu/hogg-foundation-policy-priorities-2020-2021

The Hogg Foundation is part of a larger family. Not only are we part of The University of Texas at Austin, but since 2007 we have belonged to the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE). DDCE is huge, consisting of a multitude of units and constituent organizations that all contribute to the Division’s central mission of making diversity and community engagement a top priority for The University of Texas at Austin.

This means that Dr. Leonard Moore, named the new vice president for diversity and community engagement this past June, has a lot on his plate. With his infectious energy and passion for mentoring young people, he leads DDCE's efforts to shape UT Austin into a welcoming and invigorating space for a diverse, international student body. On this episode he talks about his vision for the Division, and what the greater Austin community has a right to expect from an engaged flagship university.

Related episodes:

Episode 70: Designing for Mental Health

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-mental-health-design

Episode 60: Mental Health in the College Classroom

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-college-mental-health

Episode 57: Supporting Our Dreamers

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-supporting-daca-students

Episode 56: Police Violence and Black Women's Health

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-police-violence-black-women-health-part1

Episode 52: Black Student Athlete Mental Health: A Player Speaks

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-wnba-athlete-mental-health-sports

Episode 49: Building a Model Healthy City

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-build-healthy-city

Why would a secular foundation enter into a partnership with faith organizations? In the words of one our guests, Dr. Brenda Richardson Rowe, "Mental health is truly everybody's business, and when you look at the history specifically of the African-American culture, you see that the foundation of all of our information comes from our pastors and our faith leaders."

In 2014, the Hogg Foundation launched a groundbreaking new initiative; the African-American Faith-Based Education and Awareness Initiative (AAFBEAI). The foundation awarded grants to 11 faith-based organizations to start or strengthen dialogues about mental health—both within their respective places of worship and in surrounding communities. The AAFBEAI has recently come to a close. Those who have taken part are proud of what they've achieved. Joining us for a look back are Dr. Brenda Richardson Rowe, a licensed professional counselor at Harmony Counseling Center in Dallas, and Dr. Dennis Young, pastor at Missouri City Baptist Church in Missouri City, TX.

Related content:

Grantee story: Inclusion in Faith Circles through Mental Health Education

http://hogg.utexas.edu/for-grantees-grantseekers/gods-way-faith-and-mental-health

Episode 61: Hope for Healing: Community Resilience in the Face of Trauma

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-hope-for-healing

Episode 50: Hurricane Harvey, Faith and Resilience

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-hurricane-harvey-faith-resilience

Blog post: $350,000 to Support Faith-Based Community Response to Harvey

http://hogg.utexas.edu/churches-hurricane-harvey

Episode 14: You Can't Just "Pray it Away"

https://soundcloud.com/hoggfoundation/into-the-fold-episode-14-you-cant-just-pray-it-away-an-african-american-minister-on-mental-health

Complexity is a defining feature of public health matters, and mental health is no exception. So, what’s the right answer, or are there numerous right answers, and where do we even begin as we set out to identify effective solutions for better mental health in communities?

Emily Bhandari, Strategic Learning and Evaluation Program Officer for the Hogg Foundation, and Marisa Zappone, Senior Manager for Aligned Impact at Mission Capital in Austin, Texas, join us to shed some light on the process of Shared Inquiry, how we know when we're doing it, and why it matters for communities who are interested in creating conditions that support mental health and well-being.

Related links:

http://hogg.utexas.edu/learning-and-evaluation

https://soundcloud.com/hoggfoundation/guzman-january-2015

Design is all about learning while doing. Its hallmarks are a flexible, iterative approach to complex problem-solving, as well as a set of tried-and-true techniques for identifying a problem, exploring possible solutions, and then prototyping what seems most promising.

But did you know that design also involves empathy? That it involves listening and humility? In this episode Kat Jones of the Design Institute for Health at Dell Medical School, part of the University of Texas at Austin, explains how "design thinking" is transforming health care delivery, and why this has profound implications for mental health.

Related links:

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-build-healthy-city

Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr. is the fifth executive director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, having held that position since 2008. His time illustrates a number of key points about what leadership in the mental health space looks like in 2018. First, to be effective one needs to be a connector—someone who can build bridges between the disparate worlds of providers, policymakers, funders, advocates, consumers and families. Second, one needs the ability to listen, and to be confident without being dogmatic or overly attached to a particular paradigm.

In this episode commemorating his 10 years at the foundation, we look at several of the key developments in mental health and philanthropy that have informed "Dr. M's" work, and recount some of the high points of his own professional trajectory.

Related links:

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-moving-upstream

http://hogg.utexas.edu/shift-from-mental-illness-to-mental-health

http://hogg.utexas.edu/promoting-mental-health-everyday-life

http://hogg.utexas.edu/strategic-focus-communities-collaboration

Sherrye Willis is founder and CEO of Alliance for Greater Works, a nonprofit organization whose entire focus is facilitating collaborative partnerships to benefit under-resourced communities. Based in Grand Prairie, Texas, they previously served as Coordinator of our African American Faith-Based Education and Awareness Initiative.

Now, Sherrye and her organization is tasked with the pivotal role of coordinating the Collaborative Approaches to Well-being in Rural Communities grants. What does "coordination" mean, and why is it important enough to make its own role? Most importantly, how do our communities benefit? Sherrye joins us to answer these questions and more.

Related links:

http://hogg.utexas.edu/texas-rural-communities

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-mental-health-rural-communities

http://hogg.utexas.edu/podcast-moving-upstream

The Well-being in Rural Communities initiative aims to support rural communities in their efforts to transform their own mental health. A total of about $2 million was awarded to organizations in five rural communities in Texas: Bastrop, Brooks, Morris, Nacogdoches, and Victoria counties.

Funders are fond of talking about the impact their grantmaking has on people and communities, but it works both ways: difference-making organizations are transformed by their engagement with communities. On this episode Tammy Heinz and Rick Ybarra, program officers for the Hogg Foundation, talk about what mutual transformation looks like for both individuals and organizations.

History matters, but it also presents challenges for those hoping to move past trauma and toward healing. This is as true for historically oppressed groups as it is for individuals.

In this episode for Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, Dr. Ryan Sutton, director of the African American Male Research Initiative at the University of Texas Austin, leads us through a conversation about Post-traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) and how taking account of history in the right way can support the therapeutic endeavor.