School of Public Health center leads five-year, $2 million effort to assess and implement mental health programs in Texas rural border counties

A team led by a faculty member with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health has received $2 million from the Austin-based Hogg Foundation for Mental Health to build on the foundation’s efforts to improve the mental health and well-being of Texans in 10 rural or rural border counties.

Heather Clark, DrPH, and Sara Mendez, DrPH, with the Center for Health Equity & Evaluation Research and the Department of Health Behavior, along with David Matarrita-Cascante, PhD, with Texas A&M’s Department of Rangeland, Wildlife & Fisheries Management, will continue to assess the mental health and well-being of residents in rural Texas communities and help residents identify and implement solutions based on their specific needs.

They first provided this service under the foundation’s Collaborative Approaches to Well-Being in Rural Communities project, launched in 2018 and concluding this year.

“This is important because these communities typically lack the infrastructure to support mental health, and often the people affected most are not involved in efforts to address mental health issues,” Clark said.

Now, the team will help 10 new communities as part of the Hogg Foundation’s new Strengthening Mental Health in Rural and Rural Border Communities initiative.

Through in-person and virtual collaboration, the team will facilitate activities including strategic planning, project management and workshops to help residents build the skills to address mental health and well-being. The team will also evaluate the results and provide support for each community and will plan and oversee annual, in-person meetings.

“Everything we do—from program design to the final report—is largely determined by what the communities tell us they need,” Clark said. “Our goal is to build on their existing strengths and address gaps as they learn how to address their mental health, resilience and well-being needs today and into the future.”