Veterans Mental Health Department

The Veterans Mental Health Department (VMHD) is focused on ensuring access to competent mental health services for service members, veterans, and their families. VMHD accomplishes this task by providing training, certification, and technical assistance across Texas. In addition to connecting veterans in need directly to local services, VMHD also works with partners at the national, state, and local level to address veteran-specific issues including suicide prevention/intervention, veteran homelessness, military cultural competency, peer support services, military-related trauma, women and rural veterans, and justice involvement. Across all programming, VMHD is fortunate to have the broadest definition of veteran regardless of discharge status, branch of services, or having served one day or a career. All services including training, technical assistance, and direct services provided across VMHD programming are offered freely to all who are in need.

Contact Mental Health

Find Help Here: Military Veteran Peer Network
Crisis Line 1-800-273-8255

General
vmhd@tvc.texas.gov
1-512-463-6091

Blake Harris, Ph.D.
Director, Veterans Mental Health Department
blake.harris@tvc.texas.gov
(512) 676-1895


General Contact Form

Mental Health Contacts

Veterans Mental Health Starts Here:

Suicide Prevention

While suicide is often thought of as an individual problem, it has devastating impacts on families, loved ones, and communities, making it a public health issue. At the Texas Veterans Commissions, Veterans Mental Health Department, our goal is to reduce Veteran suicide in Texas through collaboration with national, state, and local partnerships and initiatives bringing together many different resources, perspectives, and strategies aimed at saving the lives of Texas Veterans.

Homelessness

The Homeless Veterans Initiative is overseen by the Veterans Mental Health Department of the Texas Veterans Commission.  The goal is to improve the accessibility of resources and services for military veterans and their loved ones in Texas that are experiencing homelessness or are at-risk of becoming homeless. The Initiative identifies and highlights services aimed at preventing veterans from entering homelessness and provide trainings to direct service providers.

 

(JIV)

Justice Involved Veterans

The JIV Program works to improve veteran services across the entire criminal justice continuum. The JIV Coordinators serve as resource to provide technical assistance and training to all Veteran Treatment Courts across Texas. The JIV Program also partners with the local and state law enforcement to deliver officers relevant trainings such as trauma affected veterans and crisis intervention strategies. JIV Coordinators also collaborate with the local jail and state prison systems to better ensure that incarcerated veterans have access to veteran-specific services and programming.

(MVPN)

Military Veteran Peer Network

The MVPN is made of TVC-Certified Peer Service Coordinators and their peer volunteers strategically placed within the local mental health authorities across Texas to create a statewide peer-to-peer network for any service member, veteran, or family member. The MVPN provides services including direct peer-to-peer support, training on suicide prevention and military cultural competency, coordination of mental health first aid, and warm-handoffs to local resources based on the individual needs of the veteran and family.
 

Provider Training

The aim of the Veteran Provider program is to offer licensed clinicians and any mental health professionals with training and technical assistance aimed at promoting military cultural competency. Based on the unique mental health needs of the veteran community, the Veteran Provider Program offers trainings tailored to the needs of the audience as it relates to suicide prevention, lethal means restriction, military traumas, and evidence-based practices. The Veteran Provider Program also oversees technical assistance to a team of veteran counselors focused on providing evidence-based treatments to trauma affected veterans in rural settings.

Community Partners

VMHD works to increase military trauma-informed community- and faith-based organizations by: encouraging local SMVF-serving collaborations and committees are provided training about the trauma-affected SMVF community; including Moral Injury all conversations with and trainings for community- and faith-based organizations and agencies; and connecting community collaborations and committees with statewide, curated resource listings.
 

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