During a Legislative Roundtable sponsored by Mental Health Connection on November 27, 2006, area officials announced the formation of a Blue Ribbon Committee on mental health in the workplace. Local corporations agreed to have representatives sit on the Committee for one year. At the end of that year, on December 3, 2007, the committee reported back to the community.
The Findings
Final Report Brochure
Detailed Final Report
Mental Health Coverage in Tarrant County - Survey Executive Summary
Mental Health Coverage in Tarrant County - Full Report
Founders and Co-chairs
Blue Ribbon Committee Members
Matt Byars, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Brent Carr, Tarrant County Criminal Court 9
Lida Coburn, City of Arlington
Nancy Cychol, Cook Children’s Medical Center
Joseph DeLeon, Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber/ Harris Methodist Hospital
Robert Earley, JPS Health Network
Brenda Goodman-Vitemb, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics
John Grigson, Cook Children’s Heath Care System
Brooke Hambrick, Senator Jane Nelson’s Office
Kevin Kaufman, BNSF Railway
Don Lampe, Freese and Nichols, Inc.
Lee LeGrice, Lena Pope Home
Steven Lytle, The Arrow Project
James McDermott, PhD, MHMR Tarrant County
Judy McDonald, Workforce Commission
Jeromy Mueller, The Arrow Project
Ramona Osburn, Harris Methodist Springwood
Elizabeth Poster, PHD,
University of Texas at Arlington
Bayard Pratt, Martin
United Methodist Church
Beth Rivers, Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP
Lindy Rose, Harris Methodist Fort Worth
Arthur Saucedo, Bell Helicopter
Don Snyder, Alcon
Julie Strittmatter, Baylor All Saints
Mitch Weatherly, United Way of Tarrant County
Goals
- To educate companies about the cost of mental illnesses to them in their workplace.
- To determine strategies for cutting those costs resulting directly or indirectly from mental illness.
- To ensure inclusion of mental health benefits in company insurance programs.
- To continue to work to develop positive relationships with insurance companies to include more Tarrant County providers on their panels and to negotiate new contracts to increase reimbursement rates.
- To create strategies for recruiting and sustaining a qualified mental healthcare workforce.
Educating the Workforce
For successful case studies on educating employees about mental health and mental illness, please click here. From this Home Page, you can find corporate case studies, an anxiety tool kit, a depression tool kit and other information designed to help you encourage a mentally healthy workplace.
Anti-Stigma Materials
People who need help for a mental illness face three major barriers: a lack of knowledge and understanding, a lack of financing and stigma. Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County has an ongoing anti-stigma campaign, and can offer your business posters, payroll stuffers and newsletter inserts to help you fight the stigma. To see the materials, click here.
Links to Articles
Mental Illness Costs U.S. Billions in Lost Earnings
ajc.com from a report in the American Journal of Psychiatry
The Supply of Mental Health Professionals in Tarrant County - 2005
Texas Department of State Health Services, Center for Health Statistics, Health Professions Resource Center
National Business Group on Health
Home Page
An Employers Guide to Behavioral Health Services
National Business Group on Heatlh
The Mental Health Workforce in Texas: A Snapshot of the Issues
Hogg Foundation for Mental Health - May 2007
"Innerworkings: A Look at Mental Health in Today's Workplace"
Partnership for Workplace Mental Health, A Program of the American Psychiatric Foundation - 2007
"Mental health survey reveals problems and opportunities"
by Lynn Grisham
Employee Benefit News - May 2007
Benefitnews.com is free, but registration is required.
"An Action Plan for Behavioral Health Workplace Development" Executive Summary"
Prepared by The Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) - 2007
Anti-Stigma Campaign
