This is the first in a series of eight articles about the Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project.
The Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project delivered its recommendations to the Travis County Commissioners in March 2023. The goal of these recommendations is to provide solutions other than jail to address mental health and substance abuse disorders in the county.
The project is a joint effort of the Travis County Commissioners Court and the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin. The project’s steering committee began meeting in May 2022.
In the 45-page recommendation document, the steering committee first defined the problem it was seeking to solve:
“People become trapped in or cycling through jail waiting for behavioral health services and solutions.” (They term this the “intersection.”)
Next, the committee defined their planning principles:
“The needs of the people stuck in the behavioral health/criminal justice intersection, including crime victims, supplant the individual aims of the planners.
“We will correct sociodemographic inequities.
“We will make decisions by consensus, based on data, best evidence- and strength-based practices.
“We will hold conversations that are respectful, open-minded, and results oriented.
“We will build from and collaborate with existing groups focused on the intersection, including gaining as much community input as feasible while balancing a timely response.”
The vision of the project is that jail should not be used as a treatment, a holding space, or a solution for mental health or substance abuse conditions. Behavioral health conditions should be treated through clinical care and social supports…
Travis County Chief Public Defender Adeola Ogunkeyede is on the steering committee for the Travis County Forensic Mental Health Project.
