Travis County and partners to launch jail diversion program with ribbon cutting
In its ongoing effort to expanding mental health services, Travis County is partnering with other groups like the city of Austin, Central Health and Integral Care to launch a new pilot program designed to divert those in crisis from jail.
Integral Care's Therapeutic Diversion Pilot Program will take a three-pronged approach to mental health crises in the county. One of those prongs is a new facility, where Thursday those partners will cut the ribbon on a 90-day therapeutic respite center with 25 beds.
"Our jails are crowded, and they're crowded with a population that needs more health care than is available in jail." Travis County Commissioner for Precinct 3, Ann Howard, said.
Howard says with a jail liaison, a medical crisis outreach team and a strong partnership with the city of Austin, Integral Care and Central Health, there's always been a strong commitment to mental health. But now everyone is ready for the next step.
"I think it's a critical step as we move towards this commitment of jail diversion." Howard said.
Thursday all of these partners will come together to cut the ribbon on a new 90-day therapeutic respite center, which will provide around-the-clock psychiatric emergency services to those experiencing mental health crises.
"We are in meetings every week, working very hard together to maximize the use of public funding." Howard said.
The pilot program will also bolster observation and medical capabilities at the existing Psychiatric Emergency Services center on Airport Boulevard, making it a 24/7 operation, and streamline the response of partner agencies when it comes to responding to mental health crises and connecting those individuals with the right services.
"We're sort of greasing the skids and creating the muscle memory so that when we have that diversion center built, our community knows how to maximize the use of it." Howard said.
The goal is to divert as many individuals from jail as possible, where Howard says the legal system isn't equipped to give them the care they really need.
"Our jails and prisons are our big mental health facilities, and people get stuck there because they don't - it's not the right place to heal." Howard said.
Mayor Kirk Watson spoke on the pilot program at an event Saturday, where he says it won't just be better for the jail, but the community too.
"You're doing right by the people," Watson said. "With services, taking care of them, they can employ to get their lives back in the way we want them to get their lives back."
Howard says addressing mental health issues isn't just the collective goal of all these agencies working together, but a mandate from the community.
"This is trying to really offer enough medical treatment to those who need it so that they don't fall through the cracks." Howard said.
It's a three-year pilot. Howard says Travis County has committed $6 million, and Integral Health says the city of Austin has committed $2 million, Central Health has committed an initial $1.5 million and Integral Care has committed $3.1 million with another $3.4 million coming from a grant. The overall budget for the pilot is more than $23.7 million.
The ribbon cutting will happen on East 15th Street this Thursday at 11 a.m.
