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\u201cDistressed\u201d ZIP codes had on average only 1.9 licensed mental health professionals, and 39 ZIP codes had none at all, the study found.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDespite nearly half of Greater Houston zip codes showing a lack of mental health providers, a University of Houston \u201cmental health deserts\u201d study found Missouri City and Sugar Land\u2019s mental health needs mostly met.<\/p>\n
The study, published Oct. 15, found that even neighboring ZIP codes may have sharp differences in accessibility to mental health resources, as areas with lower education levels and higher poverty rates had fewer\u2014sometimes zero\u2014licensed mental health professionals.<\/p>\n
\u201cProsperity should not be the deciding factor on whether a population, a community, is mentally healthy and has access to mental health [care],\u201d UH researcher Chakema Carmack said.<\/p>\n
About the study<\/p>\n
Carmack and co-author Damien Kelly coined the term \u201cmental health deserts\u201d after deciding to compare the availability of mental health resources in Houston using the concept of food deserts.<\/p>\n
The pair told Community Impact their findings closely aligned with their hypothesis: communities in ZIP codes with higher incomes and more development had greater mental health care options.<\/p>\n
Kelly and Carmack said they mapped resources using data from Psychology Today\u2019s registry of licensed mental health professionals and the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s Distressed Communities Index, or DCI.<\/p>\n
The DCI rates ZIP codes as \u201cdistressed,\u201d \u201cat risk,\u201d \u201cmid-tier,\u201d \u201ccomfortable\u201d and \u201cprosperous\u201d based on poverty, job growth, education level and other factors, per the study.<\/p>\n
The local impact<\/p>\n
Locally, the Sugar Land area ranks consistently \u201cprosperous\u201d\u2014with only ZIP code 77498 considered \u201ccomfortable\u201d\u2014on the distressed communities index.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Missouri City has three ZIP codes in the \u201cprosperous\u201d or \u201ccomfortable\u201d range, while ZIP code 77071\u2014which consists of Fondren Park and the east side of Brays Oaks\u2014is considered \u201cdistressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, Stafford ZIP code 77477 sits at \u201cmid-tier\u201d distress, according to the map<\/p>\n
“><\/p>\n
The big picture<\/p>\n
Of the 96 ZIP codes mapped, 43% were considered \u201cdistressed\u201d\u2014averaging only 1.9 licensed mental health professionals, with 39 having none at all, per the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cDistressed\u201d ZIP codes had on average only 1.9 licensed mental health professionals, and 39 ZIP codes had none at all, the study found.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe same thing that comes with food deserts often happens with mental health deserts as well, meaning you don\u2019t have access to transportation [and] there\u2019s economic disinvestment in these neighborhoods,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n
The action taken<\/p>\n
In a continuation of their work, Kelly and Carmack said they\u2019re partnering with Harris County Precinct 4 to explore potential policy solutions. The duo said they\u2019re expecting to release a follow-up report in spring 2026.<\/p>\n
Potential policy recommendations from the Oct. 15 report included:<\/p>\n
Incentives or stipends for professionals to practice in underserved areasPrograms to promote mental health awareness and normalize seeking helpInsurance reforms to cover travel for care or telehealth services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite nearly half of Greater Houston zip codes showing a lack of mental health providers, a University of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57,2125,37097,513],"class_list":["post-123135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-deserts","tag-university-of-houston"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}