$1.1 Million Grant Will Bolster Kids Respite Initiatives
WACO, TX – The Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network, through its Klaras Center for Families, was recently awarded $1.1 million by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) for the provision of child & adolescent mental health crisis respite programming.
These newly awarded funds will help mitigate unnecessary inpatient hospitalization for children living in McLennan, Bosque, Falls, Freestone, Hill, and Limestone counties.
“This funding represents a decades-long dream of securing ongoing funding for essential Child & Adolescent Crisis Respite programming in our region,” said Ron Kimbell, Director of Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health for the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network’s Klaras Center for Families.
Kimbell added the award will allow sustaining and expanding current programs such as the Chase House Facility, which was launched in 2019. The Chase House has been proactively developed and designed to create a safe, comfortable, and nurturing home-like environment—and purposefully not reminiscent of psychiatric hospital settings that can often exacerbate traumas for children and adolescents. The Chase House also fully integrates Trauma-Informed Care and culturally and linguistically appropriate services and has helped hundreds of youth since its opening.
“This program has filled an essential gap in services for vulnerable children and adolescents in need of comprehensive mental health crisis respite services,” said Tom Christian, Grants and Special Projects Director for the Heart of Texas Behavioral Health Network’s Klaras Center for Families. “There is nothing better that having another safe and therapeutic option, other than psychiatric hospitalization, for youth in need of a truly safe and supportive and healing environment to recover from a crisis episode.”
CONTACT:
Vince Erickson, Director of Community and Governmental
Relations
Cell: (254) 265-2030
