{"id":353633,"date":"2026-03-29T12:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/353633\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T12:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:02:15","slug":"40-of-houston-zip-codes-have-no-mental-health-providers-heres-where","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/353633\/","title":{"rendered":"40% of Houston zip codes have no mental health providers. Here\u2019s where"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States is grappling with a mental health crisis<\/a> as rates of depression, anxiety and other conditions surge among Americans, particularly children and teens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But most Houston residents live in \u201cmental health deserts\u201d where there are not enough providers to meet the demand for services, according to a study<\/a> by University of Houston researchers.<\/p>\n

More than 40% of Houston ZIP codes have no mental health providers, and the neighborhoods that lack access to those services typically have higher poverty rates and a greater share of minority residents.<\/p>\n

Most ZIP codes with more in-person providers per capita can be found on the west side, the western half of the Inner Loop and the areas just north and south of it \u2014 the area that forms the \u201cHouston Arrow<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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READ MORE: Houston leaders want to transform the city into a hub for brain health to spur economic growth<\/a><\/p>\n

The study, published in the journal Frontiers of Public Health<\/a>, highlights one of the many barriers that Houston residents may encounter while trying to access mental health care. It also illustrates how residents living in low-income communities are more likely to face obstacles compared to those living in prosperous neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Lead author Damien Kelly and senior author Chakema Carmack\u00a0coined \u201cmental health deserts\u201d as a nod to \u201cfood deserts,\u201d a term used to describe neighborhoods with limited access to nutritious and affordable food. They created a map of Houston\u2019s mental health deserts for the study they conducted at UH\u2019s HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were not surprised, but it was still startling to see it in black and white,\u201d said Carmack, an associate professor in the department of psychological, health, and learning sciences at UH\u2019s College of Education. \u201cUs being mental health professionals and working in that line of work for the past 20 years, it was kind of jarring to see that in (Houston).\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers shared the data from their study with the Chronicle, which used the data to produce its own map of Houston\u2019s mental health deserts.<\/p>\n

Living far away from any mental health providers can be a significant deterrent, along with other issues such as cost and a lack of transportation, said Angelina Hudson, the executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness\u2019 Greater Houston affiliate.<\/p>\n

Driving or taking public transportation to therapy can be more difficult for someone with a mental health disorder, or for a parent or guardian with more than one child, Hudson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no way in the world a (parent) with five children is going to take their kid all the way across town,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat are they going to do with the other kids?\u201d<\/p>\n

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What the data shows\u00a0<\/p>\n

In their research, Kelly and Carmack juxtaposed mental health provider availability with the socio-economic characteristics of Houston\u2019s ZIP codes by using the Distressed Communities Index. The index takes census information about poverty rates, average educational attainment, and business development in a ZIP code to label the community on a scale from \u201cprosperous\u201d to \u201cdistressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stark differences emerge. Over half of \u201cdistressed\u201d and \u201cat-risk\u201d ZIP codes have zero mental health providers, but the same is true for only about 17% of \u201cprosperous\u201d and \u201ccomfortable\u201d ZIP codes.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: UTHealth researchers hope lab-grown mini brains reveal clues about cause of schizophrenia<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Chronicle also found similar trends when looking at race. Almost half of majority-minority ZIP codes \u2014 where racial minorities make up more than 50% of the population \u2014 have no mental health providers. On the other hand, only about 10% of majority-white ZIP codes have no providers.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, the \u201cprosperous\u201d ZIP code 77024, which consists of Memorial Park and Greater Uptown, and the \u201cdistressed\u201d ZIP code 77092, which includes the Fairbanks\/Northwest Crossing neighborhood in northwest Houston.<\/p>\n

Both ZIP codes have similar populations and sit west of downtown. But 32 mental health providers practice in 77024, while zero are in 77092.<\/p>\n

Nearly nine out of 10 distressed ZIP codes like 77092 have fewer mental health providers than the average Houston ZIP code. Again, a similar trend is true for majority-minority ZIP codes, two-thirds of which have fewer providers than the average.<\/p>\n

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Not all ZIP codes follow these trends, though. Downtown Houston \u2014 ZIP code 77002 \u2014 is \u201cdistressed\u201d based on its socio-economic indicators, but has 32 providers, the most of any ZIP code in the metro area.<\/p>\n

Kelly and Carmack explained that providers might choose to practice downtown due to its central location, and pointed to a large facility there, St. Joseph Center for Behavioral Health, that increases the number of providers in this area.<\/p>\n

Limited access to telehealth<\/p>\n

While many people benefit from telehealth, it may not be an ideal solution for residents in low-income communities who may not have reliable internet access or a computer or tablet they can use to meet with a provider, Kelly and Carmack said.<\/p>\n

The availability of telehealth may also depend on someone\u2019s insurance plan. Some providers do not accept Medicaid or plans that are more affordable but offer less coverage, which may be more common in lower-income areas, Kelly said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Social media is ubiquitous among teens, but experts say it might pose risks to their mental health<\/a><\/p>\n

Telehealth has other limitations, too. Someone in an abusive relationship may be unable to discuss their situation with a provider if the abuser can hear their conversation, Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Providers also tend to form stronger connections with patients and observe clues about their mental health when they meet in person, Hudson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot to healing and recovery that doesn\u2019t come from words. Sometimes it\u2019s a nod. Sometimes it\u2019s a sigh. Sometimes it\u2019s the tapping of a foot,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t get the full communication through a screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional research in Houston<\/p>\n

The map of Houston\u2019s mental health deserts is intended to help community leaders and policymakers address disparities in accessing treatment, the researchers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kelly and Carmack are now working with Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones\u2019s office to conduct more research and develop policy recommendations for improving access to mental health care. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The partners are creating a dashboard that will provide information about mental health care available in Precinct 4 neighborhoods when it is released publicly within the next few months. They also held community meetings where residents cited cost, transportation and language differences as barriers to care, Briones said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reinforced what we were seeing on the ground,\u201d Briones said. \u201cAnd frankly it just made us want to focus even further and deepen our commitment to expanding access to mental health care.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kelly and Carmack said they hope to work with other Houston and Harris County leaders on similar projects in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other barriers to mental health care\u00a0<\/p>\n

While proximity to a mental health provider can be a significant barrier to treatment, researchers and experts said other factors also play important roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if a provider is available nearby, parents or guardians may still need to take time off work to bring a child to an appointment, or find child care for their other children, Kelly and Carmack said. The cost of treatment can also be prohibitive for people who are uninsured or underinsured. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you need a therapy session every week, that can be very costly. And insurance doesn\u2019t cover a lot of those (services),\u201d Kelly said. \u201cSo there\u2019s still lots of work that needs to be done in these areas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The UH study includes several recommendations for improving access to care, such as stipends for providers to practice in\u00a0underserved areas and insurance reforms to cover the cost of transportation. \u00a0They acknowledged that securing funding for those recommendations could be difficult, as the budgets for the city of Houston and Harris County are already strained. \u00a0<\/p>\n

However, Kelly and Carmack believe the recommendations could have broad community benefit, as studies have found mental health disorders can have a significant economic impact. Treatment can be costly, and indirect costs \u2013 such as the effects on a community\u2019s workforce \u2013 can also be substantial. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Hudson, from NAMI Greater Houston, noted that improving access to services won\u2019t fully address the problem. While attitudes toward seeking treatment have evolved over time, many people remain hesitant to do so, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, she believes eliminating barriers to mental health care, either by enticing providers to practice in underserved areas or through other means, would benefit Houston residents who currently struggle to access treatment. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just keep chipping away at the different barriers to access,\u201d she said. \u201c(Proximity) is one of them.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

About the data in this story\u00a0<\/p>\n

The data shown on this page was provided by the University of Houston and was sourced from a peer-reviewed study<\/a> conducted at UH\u2019s HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention. The researchers identified public and private mental health providers in Houston using Psychology Today\u2019s database. The data was accessed by UH researchers in November 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Distressed Community Index data for Houston ZIP codes was also provided to the Houston Chronicle by UH. The index was created by the Economic Innovation Group to measure economic disparities in U.S. communities and uses U.S. Census data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Population counts for each ZIP code were sourced directly from the Census.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States is grappling with a mental health crisis as rates of depression, anxiety and other conditions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[134,554,555,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-353633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}