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