AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country announced the launch of its “Family Mental Health Care Fund” on Tuesday, which helps provide families who lost loved ones during the July 4 floods with mental health resources.
The floods killed at least 135 people across the state, including 117 in hardest-hit Kerr County.
The mental health funding is part of a four-tiered approach the foundation announced in August. Other funding focuses are: housing (with $40 million dollars pledged over the summer), economic recovery, quality of life, and future long-term needs.
The Foundation pushed to get this funding launched before the holidays.
“The six month mark is a really challenging mark in disaster when it comes to mental health,” said CEO Austin Dickson. “The disaster experts tell us we see increases in substance abuse, divorce rates, stressors and mental anguish, and so we really wanted to get ahead of some of those things that are going to come out of this disaster.”
How to access these mental health funds
The Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute will manage this initiative.
According to a news release from the Community Foundation, “the fund provides direct financial assistance for out-of-pocket mental healthcare costs not covered by insurance, along with navigation to connect families with licensed clinicians trained in trauma- and grief-informed interventions.”
Families seeking care can call the Lucine Navigation Center at 832-244-9502, or request reimbursement or financial assistance by filling out this form.
“This effort is about meeting families where they are and helping them begin to heal,” said Dickson said..
Help tailored to Travis, Williamson and Burnet counties
While Kerr County took the brunt of the damage and death toll, several Austinites – and others in surrounding counties – lost loved ones.
Additionally, subsequent floods in Travis, Williamson and Burnet counties had a combined death toll of 17.
The Austin Child Guidance Center is one of the groups that received mental health funding dollars from the Community Foundation.
“Grief isn’t linear,” said the facility’s executive director Andy Miller. “Things can re-emerge and often times those instances can trigger a recurrence of sadness or anxiety or depression and being able to speak to someone and prices those things during the holidays, I think that becomes increasingly important.”
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