Doggett Secures $1 Million to Launch New Travis County Mental Health Training Program

Washington, D.C. – This morning, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, announces that he has secured $1 million in federal funding for the Community Mental Health Surveillance Training Program. This initiative builds on federal resources which Rep. Doggett previously obtained to provide customized, evidence-based mental health data analytics training and professional development trainings for local Austin-area nonprofit and health care practitioners, early childhood and K-12 educators, employees of city service agencies, and clinicians.

“Our mental health needs impacting so many of our neighbors are significant. This new funding means equipping more mental health professionals with the tools, training, and guidance for intervening to prevent mental health crises and to provide ongoing support,” said Congressman Doggett. “I secured this additional funding so that professionals can match, in a data-driven way, the needs of Central Texans—in schools, health care practices, and more. Let’s keep up the work to make sure every neighbor, no matter their age, income, race, or zip code, can access the mental health tools and support they need to thrive.”

“The funding secured by Rep Doggett will be a tremendous asset allowing Texas State to continue our work supporting mental health practitioners in the Austin-area,” said Dr. Melinda Villagran, Professor and Director, Translational Health Research Center at Texas State University, who designed and leads the project. “Our focus on social determinants of mental health will expand the potential reach and impact of the program.”

This project, focused on mental health and exploring the social determinants of health outcomes, comes after the 2022 Community Health Assessment for Austin-Travis County revealed that social determinants of health are “more pressing concerns than the health outcomes themselves,” and that “mental health was identified as an important community health concern.”

Last year, Rep. Doggett secured funding for the Central Texas Community Mental Health Collaborative, which Dr. Villagran also designed, in which data scientists and experts used publicly-available data to create a public health dashboard for mental health needs in our community, convening key stakeholders to discuss how to meet those needs with resources. This new project builds on that success and delivers training and new tools individually to providers across our community.

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