Texas Tech Mental Health Initiative

photo of Lubbock TTUHSC campus with seal and flagpoles on a sunny day

Leadership for Mental Health Care Improvement

Beginning in fall 2016, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) and Texas Tech University (TTU) assessed mental health–related activities across their institutions, leading to a shared vision for a collaborative, system-wide approach to mental health. The Texas Tech Mental Health Initiative (TTMHI) was created to coordinate efforts across the Texas Tech System, encourage collaboration across institutions and with community partners, promote implementation of evidence-based practices, translate research to clinical practice, and inform public policy.

The TTMHI efforts are guided by the understanding that optimal health outcomes require a whole-person perspective and must consider the individual within the context of their family and community. With this in mind, the TTMHI builds and maintains collaborations that leverage the strengths of system institutions and community partnerships to improve access to integrated services across the continuum of care. Research, education and training initiatives enhance workforce knowledge and increase capacity by focusing on promotion and implementation of evidence-based practices and evidence-informed frameworks. The TTMHI utilizes a multifaceted approach to expand public understanding of mental health, the impacts of mental illness and co-occurring conditions, and reduce stigma. Through these ongoing collaborations, the TTMHI will gain recognition as a leading mental health institute.

Nancy Trevino, PhD
Director
TTHMHI, TTUHSC

Members of the Youth SIM Planning Committee, with support from the TTMHI, invited stakeholders from across the Lubbock community to better understand available resources and current policy that impact youth and families experiencing mental health challenges in Lubbock County. In-person and virtual workshops were facilitated and sponsored by the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health. The SIM model was adapted to address the needs of youth and their families experiencing mental health challenges and intersecting with the juvenile justice system. The SIM framework is used to identify necessary stakeholders, resources, and strategies to divert individuals from high-cost, less appropriate placements, such a juvenile detention centers and emergency rooms, into treatment and other supports. The workshops brought together stakeholders from many sectors, including mental health and addiction treatment, youth-serving agencies, courts, hospitals, and law enforcement agencies to map current resources, identify gaps and opportunities to collaborate at each of the intercepts of the SIM. The TTMHI has continued to support the youth SIM workgroups to address community-identified priorities from the workshop.

View the Lubbock County Youth Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) Report (November 2025), which highlights this community collaboration.

The West Texas Mental Health Collaborative (WTxMHC)-Access to Crisis Services Committee, with support from the TTMHI, invited stakeholders from across the Lubbock community to better understand available resources and current policy that impact crisis response in Lubbock County. In-person and virtual workshops were facilitated and sponsored by the Texas Judicial Commission on Mental Health. The SIM model was developed to address the needs of adults who are experiencing mental health challenges and intersect with the criminal justice system. The SIM framework is used to identify necessary stakeholders, resources, and strategies to divert individuals from high-cost, less appropriate placements, such a jails and emergency rooms, into treatment and other supports. The workshops brought together stakeholders from many sectors, including mental health and addiction treatment, veteran-serving agencies, courts, hospitals, and law enforcement agencies to map current resources, identify gaps and opportunities to collaborate at each of the intercepts of the SIM. The TTMHI has continued to support the SIM workgroups to address community-identified priorities from the workshop. View the Lubbock County Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) Report (February 2024), which captures this community work.

Our key mental health priorities include establishing site-based training programs, expanded workforce development, strengthening crisis services, enhancing telehealth services, and supporting community-wide collaborative initiatives of the WTxMHC. To learn more about current community efforts and opportunities for continued invest in the region, including the HOPE Center and the Children's Relational Health Center view the WTMHC policy initiatives.

TTMHI Collaborations

Community Collaborators
TTMHI efforts operationalize the TTUHSC values-based culture, with a special focus on One Team, supporting partnerships that include university and community stakeholders. The TTMHI facilitates strategic multi-sector, community-wide collaborative efforts to improve the mental health care system of Lubbock and across the region. By bringing together professionals and advocates from education, medicine, and the community, we have increased regional capacity to effectively address mental health challenges. Working together has been vital in increasing access to care, advancing mental health research, and enhancing the skills and training of the mental health workforce. Collaborative efforts have been important to increasing awareness of the mental health needs of rural communities and advocating for policy changes for communities across the region.

Panhandle Behavioral Health Alliance

University Collaborators

West Texas Mental Health Collaborative (WTMHC)
In September 2018, representatives from various community agencies and governmental entities were invited by collective leadership of TTUHSC and TTU to begin meeting about the availability of mental health care in the local Lubbock community. The Community Parties began by identifying mental health needs in the local community. The agencies formalized their collective efforts and commissioned the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute to conduct a comprehensive mental health needs assessment. The shared community-wide priorities can be found in the Lubbock Area Comprehensive Mental Health Need Assessment: Final Report and Recommendations , often referred to as the Meadows Report can be viewed using the link. Guided by the Meadow's recommendations, the Community Parties formally adopted the name West Texas Mental Health Collaborative (WTxMHC). Representatives from the Founding Parties of the WTxMHC have increased collaboration and have been meeting together regularly to increase coordination and collaboration for mental health care. The WTxMHC is convened by the TTMHI and Community Foundation of West Texas.

The WTxMHC is working to improve coordination of mental health services across member organizations to increase access to mental care care in the local community.
The WTxMHC is working together to increase capacity, expand services, and to create site-based training programs across the community, including counseling, crisis response, addiction treatment, intensive outpatient, and inpatient care.
The Texas Tech Mental Health Initiative is working to facilitate and support the development of an organizational structure, seeking additional resources, and coordinating and expanding the collaborative efforts of WTxMHC for greater access to mental health care and related services within the community.

The Founding Parties includes representatives from each of the agencies who worked together for the community-wide mental health needs assessment with the addition of:

Stephen Warren
President West Texas Community Foundation
Serves as the convener
Dr. Sarah Wakefield
Chair of TTUHSC Department of Psychiatry
Serves as a clinical consultant
Dr. Nancy Trevino
Director of Texas Tech Mental Health Initiative
Serves as the facilitator

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