Travis County began the initiative to bolster mental health services in September 2021, when a $1 million contract for community-based behavioral health services was approved and a committee to evaluate the best organizations for the project was formed.
The evaluation committee chose Young Women’s Christian Association of Greater Austin, a nonprofit that has been active in the community for over 115 years, and LifeWorks Austin, which works to end youth homelessness.
The YWCA will provide mental health services, such as talk therapy, yoga therapy, somatic experiencing therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing—a type of psychotherapy used to treat PTSD.
The YWCA's goal is to provide services to 200 people, said Laura Gomez-Horton, a licensed clinical social worker at the YWCA.
“We address behavioral health through a trauma-informed lens that asks not what is wrong with this person, but what has happened or is happening to them,” Gomez-Horton said at the meeting.
LifeWorks provides behavioral health services to residents ages 16-26 with significant trauma, such as experiencing homelessness. It is a community-based organization, meaning specialists can meet with clients anywhere in the county, including parks, libraries and coffee shops, said Rob Thurlow, director of community services at LifeWorks.
The nonprofits will provide services to underserved ZIP codes, many of them in eastern Travis County, and will receive a quarterly performance review with data on how they are serving specific demographics.
The contracts are one-time funding that will last until Sept. 30, 2024.
