Mental Health & Mental Retardation Authority Of Harris County history

1908Beers founded the Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene in 1908, which would expand a year later to form the National Committee for Mental Hygiene.

Mental Health America (MHA), originally founded by Clifford Beers in 1909 as the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, works to improve the lives of the mentally ill in the United States through research and lobbying efforts.

1920's1920Mental Health America produced a set of model commitment laws, which were subsequently incorporated into the statutes of several states.

1930's1930Mental Health America convened the First International Congress on Mental Hygiene in Washington D.C., bringing together more than 3,000 individuals from 41 countries.

1949 Mental Health America launched Mental Health Week (which eventually became Mental Health Month) with the Jaycees to educate Americans about mental illness and mental health.

Other clinicians also suggested popular classification systems but the need for a single, shared system paved the way for the American Psychiatric Association’s 1952 publication of the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM).

In 1963, Congress passed the Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Health Centers Construction Act, which provided federal funding for the development of community-based mental health services.

Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 13(4), 337–351.Tseng, W. (1973). The development of psychiatric concepts in traditional Chinese medicine.

Bell, L. V. (1980). Treating the mentally ill: From colonial times to the present.

First patient admitted on October 22, 1986

In one investigation of the issue, led in 1988, specialists tracked down that 28% of the vagrants they contemplated had diagnosable psychological maladjustment.

1990's1990Mental Health America and the American Red Cross jointly published and distributed more than 250,000 copies of When the Yellow Ribbons Come Down, a guidebook to help Operation Desert Storm veterans and their families cope with readjusting to life at home.

An eight-hour elective in-service class titled “Dealing with the Mentally Ill” was developed in 1993.

In 1995, with the help of Doctor Schnee, the process was changed to the officer taking the consumer directly to the facility for evaluation and completing a three-page mental health packet at the facility.

Officer Webb met with Chief of Police Sam Nuchia and his command staff in 1996 to recommend piloting a Mental Health Response Unit (what is today’s CIT). Chief Nuchia decided to start by mandating 16 hours of mental health training for all patrol sergeants.

UTHCPC begins a pilot Patient Satisfaction Survey program, which was fully implemented in 1997, to ensure patients, family and others expectations were examined and addressed in a uniform manner

The NeuroPsychiatric Center (NPC) opened in October 1999.

Department-wide expansion started in March of 2000.

By January 2001, the Houston Police Department had the largest CIT program in the nation with over 700 CIT officers in 15 patrol divisions.

Officer Webb served in that capacity until August 2006 when the program got too big for Officer Webb to coordinate.

The Houston Police Department piloted a Crisis Intervention Response Team (CIRT) on May 5, 2008.

In 2009 the Felony Mental Health Court (FMHC) was unanimously approved by both the Harris County Criminal District Court Judges and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.

The FMHC was included in Harris County’s Budget Memo for 2010, but was not funded in the spring due to limited financial resources.

The Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) Started as a pilot program in January 2011.

Houston Police Department and Harris County Sheriff’s Office CIRT officers/deputies and their partner clinicians. (December 2012)

Captain Wendy Baimbridge became the first captain over the Mental Health Division in May 2013.

The Homeless Outreach Team was a Finalist for the IACP 2015 Community Policing Award for Demonstrating Best Practices in Partnerships, Problem Solving, and Trust Building Within the Houston Community

As of October 2016, the Houston Police Department has 12 full-time CIRT units.

Full implementation to include Houston Fire Department non-emergent mental health calls began December 15, 2017.