Travis County Commissioners Court

May 1, 2012 - Item 3
Agenda

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Item number 3, approve resolution recognizing the month of May 2012 as Mental Health Month and May 9, 2012, as Children's Mental Health Awareness Day in Travis County.
and the proclamation reads -- should I read it?
should I read the proclamation?

>> please.

>> it reads: whereas community mental health is essential to overall health and well-being for all.
whereas we live in a community where one in five of our children of all faces, races, tetanies times of drought and religious backgrounds is affect by mental illness.
whereas we see our community coming together to help children, youth and adults who live with mental illness lead full and productive actives positively impacting our community.
whereas we acknowledge that more must be done to help the estimated two-thirds of children and youth living with mental illness who do not yet have the support they need to succeed.
whereas we dedicated the month of may each year to bring our neighbors, friends and family members together to learn more about what good mental illness means.
whereas we recognize may 9, 2012, as children's mental health awareness day and see it as an opportunity to raise awareness about children's mental illness, reduce stigma and celebrate residency.
and whereas Travis County health and human services and veterans services continues to support implementation of the Travis County system of care to ensure children, youth and families have access to need, the services and supports that build up on their strengths and best meet their needs.
now therefore be it resolved that we the members of the Travis County Commissioners court do hereby proclaim the month of may as mental mental health month in Travis County and call upon the citizens, government agencies, public and private institutions, businesses and schools in Travis County to recommit our community to increasing awareness and understanding of mental health and the need for appropriate accessible services and for all -- for all people who have mental illness.
that's a mouthful.
move approval.

>> second.

>> seconded by the whole court.
yes.

>> good morning.
on behalf of the child and youth mental health planning partnership, which I have with me today, as well as the Travis County system of care initiatives, which we have a lot of our direct workers here with us today, we thank you for this proclamation.
each may we come here, we promote children's mental health awareness.
we work in our community with children, families and adults.
we link folks to services, we provide direct services, and we advocate.
our goal is always to increase awareness as well as to decrease stigma, particularly for our children and our families here in Travis County.
so again, we thank you for your support.
we've got lots of wonderful champions who are with us here today to celebrate.
thank you.

>> thank you.

>> thank you.

>> and I'm christy king and I work for Travis County health and human services and veterans services in the office of children's services.
and I thank you for your continued support and investment in all of the Travis County system of care initiatives and supportive services.

>> would any of the other beautiful champions like to give comments?

>> go ahead.

>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, andrea colunga.
also would like to thank you very much for ongoing support of your internal investments to the department and our division as well as our wonderful external community investments you have provided with our wonderful partnerships and collaborations.
I would like to take a moment and let folks quickly introduce themselves if that's okay.

>> my name is deborah price.
and I also work with christy, but -- community partners for children's.
I'm the coordinator.

>> sonia harmon, also work at health and human services and veterans services and the office of children's services.

>> good morning, my name is arturo hernandez, with Travis County mhmr.

>> good morning, my name is theresa wright.

>> good morning, my name is theresa wright and I work in the office of children's services with christy and deborah, actually with everyone here.

>> [laughter]

>> good morning, my name is pam thomas and I also work in the office of children's services.

>> good morning, my name is willie williams with the city of Austin health and human services.
we are pleased to continuously work with our partners Travis County and Austin-Travis County integral care.
I am with the community based resources and the liaison for the mental health activities of health and human services.

>> good morning, gloria, Travis County, happy to be part of this group for many years and we know underaged drink ing is part of the overall picture of wellness and prevention for our children and our community.

>> good morning.
my name is vina wedge and I am one of the worker bees with direct care but I am also one of the assistance of care champion and humbled to be here because I am an adopty and I am a parent liason and I'm thankful you all adopted this because I am a champion with a family voice.
and so it's very important to me that you all took on the parent lee say I also liais.
I educate the family piece.
thank you.

>> I'm gloria peterson and I'm a supervisor and program manager for the office of children services.

>> good morning, I'm lisa hill and I work at the office of children services also.

>> good morning, justin priestkey.
I work at the children's partnership.

>> hi, I'm chris anna hail, also a parent liaison with Travis County and I wanted to say really quickly thank you so much for not only having us parent liaisons but your support of children's mental health awareness.
this has been a trying year for my son.
he's been hospitalized three times and currently is in residential treatment and I'm so thankful to work in this collaboration and also have the support of my employees, but also to be able to give back to the parents that I work with.
and I couldn't do it if I wasn't in a community that supports children's mental health.
so thank you.

>> did we miss one?

>> I'm chris downing with community and schools and co-chair of the child and mental health planning partnership.
thank you very much for having us here.

>> sherri fleming, county executive for health and human services and veterans services and I just want to close out by saying thank you again for the investment in programs that truly benefit the families and children here in our community and ensure they have the resources that they need to be successful both now and in the future.
so we certainly thank you for that.

>> thank you all.

>> thank you all very much.
we appreciate all of you and all that you do and keep up the good work.

>> thank you.

>> [applause]

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