The DFW Hospital Council (DFWHC) Foundation’s Community Health Collaborative (CHC) will present findings from its Regional Behavioral Health Needs Assessment on January 9 at a location TBD. Please mark your calendar. The presentation is from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon and lunch will be provided.

The report will cover the behavior health needs of 16 counties including Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Erath, Grayson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Navarro, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant and Wise.

Objectives of the assessment include:
• Identify the regional behavioral health trends;
• Investigate disparities associated with behavioral health;
• Provide resources for stakeholders to make informed decisions to improve the behavioral health of residents in the region.

The DFWHC Foundation’s CHC represents 11 area health systems with a strategic goal of improving mental health services over the next three years. The collaborative has established the following goals:

1. Finalize and present a Community Health Needs Assessment focused on mental health and substance misuse;

2. Train more than 10,000 lay-people in the national Mental Health First Aid curriculum throughout the region;

3. Support the Dallas County ReJuvenATE grant program, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which is designed to strengthen resilience in the face of civil unrest in the community;

4. Convene health systems to exchange information through the Meadows Smart Justice Project to provide meaningful services to high risk patients better served with consistent outpatient support rather than law enforcement action.

If you are interested in lending your expertise, please contact Dr. Sushma Sharma, the DFWHC Foundation’s director of public and population health research, at ssharma@dfwhcfoundation.org.