Transformation - Annual Report 2015 - The Harris Center | Page 6

Extensive process to change our name and to create a fresh brand identity. After a detailed research analysis and careful considerations that included feedback from consumers, partners, our employees and other members of the community, our Board of Trustees approved our new name: The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD. Our new tag line, Transforming Lives, highlights our commitment to provide high-quality and efficient services for the families and the individuals we serve to assist them in living a fully functioning life with dignity as contributing members of our community. While our name has changed, our mission to positively impact our community through the services we provide remains unchanged. The transition to replace our name and logo in all branded items will extend to the next fiscal year as the roll out of the rebrand project will impact almost every area of operations. Harris County experienced one of the most devastating flooding events on Memorial Day 2015. The high waters caused eight fatalities, 1,800 towed vehicles and hundreds of families displaced from their homes. While the physical loss was evident, the psychological impact the storm made in the lives of those affected cannot be ignored. Texans Recovering Together is a program designed to provide essential services to affected individuals in the Harris County Area. Working under the auspices of The Harris Center through the Texas Department of State Health Services, a team of licensed counselors from The Harris Center reach out to survivors to offer free grief and loss crisis counseling, disaster education and resource referrals to help meet immediate needs. Most people experience stress reactions following a traumatic event such as the Memorial Day flood. Crisis counseling helps reduce the intensity of a persons’ emotional, mental and physical behavioral reactions to these type of traumas, which is essential for recovery. New Division: Mental Health Forensics After a long history of collaboration with community criminal justice partners extending as far back as 1974 with the Children/Juvenile Services and 1976 with the adult jail-based services within the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, the Mental Health Forensics Division was created to implement and provide to patients involved with the criminal justice system a caring and humane integrated system of care based on recovery principles and evidence-based practices. Serving both adults and juveniles, the Forensics Division is designed to address recidivism within our local jails and detention centers by reducing the frequency of arrests, incarcerations and the number of days spent in these facilities. Services are delivered through a seamless collaboration among mental health providers, probation and parole providers and judicial stakeholders. Forensic programs are aimed at reducing the high utilization of emergency services within our local jurisdiction, such as hospitals, 911 and police, by providing patients with the support needed to access social services and physical health providers in a proactive way, stabilizing them and helping them become productive and contributing members of the community. We provided service to 48,102 individuals - a total of 1,600,479 services and 2,486,290.50 service hours through plans of care uniquely designed to meet the needs of each person. 4 | The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD