Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in May since 1949 and was started by Mental Health America, a nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of mental health, well-being and condition prevention.
The Mental Health America’s theme for 2025 is “Turn Awareness into Action,” emphasizing the importance of moving beyond recognizing the need for mental health support and actively working towards positive change.
In 2024, Denton County MHMR, My Health My Resources, provided services to 10,134 residents. Our MHMR center is at risk of losing over $400,000 due to the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations ACT and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. 1319), which provided relief to address the impact of COVID-19.
As a result, the Center could lose key staff resulting in the closure of programs and possibly enacting a wait list for services, which will affect individuals that are already desperately in need of services because of their significant mental health issues, according to Executive Director Pam Gutierrez.
With our increasing population – as nearly 90 people move to Denton County every day – making sure we have adequate mental health resources is a top priority.
Recognizing the growing need for resources, Denton County, along with United Way of Denton County, launched an online program called Credible Mind in January 2024. This online program at unitedwaydenton.crediblemind.com provides self-help resources for individuals. Since its launch, there have been more than 4,000 users and 165 accounts have been opened.
A recent Hike for Hope event in Denton served as a good opportunity to shine the light on mental health in the construction industry. Sunmount Paving, a construction and roadway paving company in Justin, joined forces with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to create the fundraiser. Sunmount area manager Debby Kennedy said, in her 25-plus years in the business, she has known of at least 10 craft workers and executives who have taken their lives. All were men.
State Representative Ben Bumgarner of Flower Mound has also taken the need for more resources seriously by proposing to slash $75 million from the Texas Lottery Commission’s scratch ticket contracts and earmarking the funds to build a new state mental health hospital in Denton County.
This amendment to the state budget would go a long way to addressing a significant need for additional resources here in our county.
Currently, we have very few available beds in area mental health agencies – private and public – and, with funding limitations for the MHMR center, we could find ourselves with even fewer programs and services for those suffering with mental health conditions.
We know from recent headlines that mental health services are in great demand locally and across the nation. It is imperative that we come together to address the need and earmark funds to make these services available.
Without them, we will continue to see increasing need and, potentially, more situations that could lead to headlines – headlines that we hope, one day, will become less frequent.
Let’s follow this year’s theme and act now!
Contact Commissioner Dianne Edmondson by email at [email protected] or phone her at 972-434-3960. You can also stop by her office in the Southwest Courthouse, 6200 Canyon Falls Drive, Suite 900, in Flower Mound.
