Public Safety

People Need Help Sooner

A Youth Mental Health and Early Intervention Agenda

For Safer Communities and a Smarter County Government

This is an early intervention approach to public health, public safety, and county government.

Tarrant County has more than 2.1 million residents, including more than half a million children. National data show mental health needs often begin long before they become public-safety emergencies.

Nearly

1 in 4

U.S. adults lives with
a mental illness

Nearly

0 %

of teens 13–18
have experienced a
mental disorder

But families in Texas face real barriers to care.

Texas has the highest child uninsured rate in the country, with nearly 12% of children uninsured in 2023. Tarrant County also has the highest concentration of medical debt among the nation’s 20 most-populated counties, with 27% of residents reporting medical debt.

For youth already involved in child welfare, the warning signs are even clearer:

as many as 90% of foster youth will come into contact with the juvenile justice system before leaving child welfare. That means county systems often know where the risk is long before the courtroom becomes involved.

When families cannot find or afford help early, the system pays later through schools, emergency rooms, law enforcement, courts, detention, and jail.

That is backwards.

What this policy does

People Need Help Sooner is Commissioner Alisa Simmons’ plan to expand youth mental health support, strengthen early intervention, and stop relying on the jail to absorb failures that should have been addressed much earlier.

This policy is built around a simple idea: when Tarrant County government steps in sooner, fewer young people fall through the cracks, fewer families are left on their own, and fewer people end up in court or in jail.

Expand youth mental health support

Increase access to school-connected mental health services across Tarrant County, including charter schools, and strengthen partnerships that help young people get support earlier.

Make it easier for families to find help

Support stronger connections between schools, MHMR, hospitals, and county systems so families are not left trying to navigate a crisis alone.

Divert people with mental health needs away from the justice system

Build earlier intervention, diversion, and crisis-response pathways so the county is not waiting until someone is already in trouble to act.

Take pressure off the jail, courts & emergency systems

Use county government more responsibly by investing in prevention and community-based support instead of paying more for crisis, incarceration, and system failure later.

Policy In Action

1. Expand Youth Mental Health Partnerships Countywide

The sooner a child can get connected to help, the less likely a mental health need is to spiral into school discipline, court involvement, or crisis. And that help should come from trusted community institutions, especially churches, where families already turn first.

  • Support and expand Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) access across Tarrant County
  • Establish a county-level access agreement guaranteeing every public school student the same telemedicine and counseling referral pathways.
  • Strengthen partnerships with My Health My Resources (MHMR) Help Me Grow / Help Me Thrive programs by embedding MHMR navigators in pediatric clinics, WIC sites, and family resource centers countywide connecting families to mental health support at their first point of contact.
  • Pilot a Mobile Mental Health Unit to visit churches in high-vulnerability areas and other low-socioeconomic areas, helping build trust, connect families to resources, and reinforce the drug and addiction counseling many churches are already providing

2. Connect Youth & Families to a Stronger Support Network

Youth in Tarrant County deserve support before they end up in the justice system. Tarrant County can strengthen the connections between systems that already exist so that no child or family has to navigate those systems alone.

  • Create stronger county coordination between schools, MHMR, JPS Health, Texas DFPS, and other systems to begin interventions early and break cycles for kids no matter their situation
  • Support family navigation in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese so parents know where to go and how to get help
  • Improve referral pathways before families hit a breaking point
  • Prioritize adequate funding for MHMR and JPS Health facilities, beds, and equipment

3. Strengthen Crisis Response & Diversion

Tarrant County should not keep using the justice system as the default answer to unmet behavioral health needs.

  • Build a countywide crisis response system that coordinates 911, 988, MHMR, EMS, and specially trained law enforcement, with clinician-backed triage, mobile crisis teams, and clear safety protocols so behavioral health calls are stabilized before they escalate into arrest, detention, or violence.
  • Expand pre-arrest diversion and crisis-response partnerships, including 24/7 drop-off and referral pathways, so families and law enforcement can connect people to treatment, stabilization, medication support, and case management instead of defaulting to jail during a mental health emergency.
  • Strengthen JPS and county behavioral health capacity by adding crisis stabilization options, mental health beds, medication-bridge services, outpatient follow-up, and real-time bed and transport coordination so help is available before crisis, during crisis, and after stabilization or release.

Helping families starts with a County Judge who decides to show up for our kids.

Join the fight to bring true Public Safety to all of Tarrant County.