Community leaders, healthcare providers, and advocates gathered for the East Texas Behavioral Health Summit, working to remind families they are not alone.<\/p>\n
Mental Health Awareness Month is bringing attention to a growing need across East Texas and in Tyler that conversation was filled with compassion, connection, and hope.<\/p>\n
Community leaders, healthcare providers, and advocates gathered for the East Texas Behavioral Health Summit, working to remind families they are not alone.<\/p>\n
Inside the W.T. Brookshire Conference Center, dozens of organizations lined the halls with one shared purpose, helping East Texans find support, understanding, and hope during life\u2019s hardest moments.<\/p>\n
The free summit brought together nearly 100 vendors, community discussions, food trucks, and resources designed to connect families with the care they may not even realize is available to them.<\/p>\n
Dr. John Gregory Pogue, chair of the Robert M. Rogers Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas at Tyler School of Medicine, says the region continues to face a significant shortage of providers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been a long-standing, very dire shortage of mental health providers in the region,\u201d he daid.<\/p>\n
While the need remains critical, Pogue says progress is being made through partnerships and outreach efforts that expand services into rural communities:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can deliver mental health services in communities close to where they live and work, it\u2019s going to make it more accessible to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
For organizations like NAMI Tyler, the mission goes beyond resources \u2014 it\u2019s about reminding families that healing starts with support and understanding.<\/p>\n
Kathy Riffe, board president of NAMI Tyler, says connection makes a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople get relief, they don\u2019t feel alone, and we teach them not to give up hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advocates say many East Texans still face barriers when seeking help, including cost, transportation, and not knowing where to turn during a crisis. Events like the summit aim to bridge that gap and help families better support loved ones living with mental illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen family members understand their loved one, they can communicate better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leaders at Andrews Behavioral Health say lasting change will only happen when communities continue working together and talking openly about mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one person or no one system can solve this problem. We need to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many attending Tuesday\u2019s summit, the message was simple but powerful \u2014 no one should have to face mental health challenges alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hopeful that they\u2019ll have resources that they need when they find themselves or a friend in a mental health crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers say the summit continues to grow every year, creating more opportunities for East Texans to find support, build connections, and know that help and hope are always within reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Community leaders, healthcare providers, and advocates gathered for the East Texas Behavioral Health Summit, working to remind families…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-290513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290513","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=290513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}