Mental illness

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price was the sole dissent for an advisory group to run the mental health care provider's restructuring for more than half a million dollars.

Dallas County practices many of the successful approaches Florida's Miami-Dade County uses to reduce mental health-related incarceration, despite one key law difference.

Dallas County officials are exploring Miami-Dade County's jail and court processing model in Florida to reduce jail crowding and mental health-related recidivism here.

Dallas launched its RIGHT Care Program in 2018 to divert people experiencing a mental health crisis from hospitals and jails, when appropriate. Now, the program is testing out two teams that expand those services to mental health related 911 calls that involve children and adolescents.

JFS Dallas opened a 100,000 square-foot campus in Addison to provide comprehensive services to an "medically underserved area." JFS Dallas' CEO said the location could be the first community health center in North Texas to have comprehensive services on site.

UT Southwestern was selected by the state to run the Texas Behavioral Health Center — the first state behavioral health hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The new hospital, set to open this summer, will provide inpatient services for people with serious mental health issues

About $2 million was itemized for housing initiatives and more than $6 million was separated for possible general reallocation.

Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman said millions were promised to help curb homelessness but did not appear in the voter approval tax rate budget presentation.

Dallas County officials chose back National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which is Friday. Texas legislators have passed several pro-gun measures during this session.

Tarrant County sheriff's deputies shot and killed 19-year-old Christopher Loyo while serving a mental health warrant in January, according to the sheriff's office.

Tarrant County will put $4.5 million towards keeping the Mental Health Jail Diversion Center open. The center is an alternative to jail for people with mental health issues who are suspected of low-level crimes.

Georgia Kay Baldwin died in jail custody in 2021. Her cause of death was severe hypernatremia, an imbalance of sodium usually caused by dehydration.