CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Rural Health Mental Health Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville is set to open their doors on Sept. 1.
"It promises to be a game changer because what we are going to do is we're going to be a type of hub for research, community engagement, policy initiatives," said Founding Director Steve Bain with the institute.
This week, Bain was at the state capital testifying at a joint select committee. He urged lawmakers to fund an initiative to put mental health care professionals in all school districts.
"Actually we have less than 20% of our youth who are receiving ongoing, consistent and effective counseling services as we speak," Bain said. "So, that means 80% of our youth are not getting the services, the timely services they need, the quality of services they need."
A&M Kingsville is also working to try and get future counselors well trained. Bain said it's the only university in the state and probably in the nation to offer a master of science in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis on rural mental health.
"I don't think it's so much a question of convincing your school districts to put a professional counselor or licensed social worker in their district its funding that position," Bain said.
Recently, the federal government stepped up and sent the university $1.3 million to provide more mental health assistance to its own students.
Rito Silva is the Vice President of Enrollment Services and Student Affairs at TAMU-K and said the money will help multiple students get the help they need.
"We are going to be able to help students by increasing the amount of tele-mental health services that we offer," Silva said. "We'll also be able to help students with their food insecurities by expanding our food pantry, and also by offering a meal plan to students that qualify for the program," Silva said.
At A&M Kingsville the talk about doing more to address mental health issues has now turned into real action and we will see if the rest of the state follows their lead.
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