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Officials say MHMR crisis residential unit is diverting people from jail; county funding cited as essential
Summary
Denton County MHMR and probate court officials told the commissioners court the crisis residential unit (CRU) is being used to step people down from inpatient care and to transition individuals out of jail; family testimony highlighted continued gaps in services.
Denton County officials and service providers told the commissioners court on March 4 that the Denton County MHMR Center's crisis residential unit (CRU) is providing short-term care that helps move people out of jail and inpatient psychiatric settings and into community services.
Pam Gutierrez, executive director of Denton County MHMR Center, thanked the court for one-time county funding and said the CRU, on a 10-acre site in Crum, Texas, runs a 14-day residential program offering meals, daily programming, therapy and case management. Gutierrez said the program averages about five individuals served each week and that the county's one-time $600,000 contribution "has exponentially helped." She described the CRU as a bridge to longer-term services.
Judge Jan, who handles probate and civil mental-health commitments for Denton County, said the court and MHMR have coordinated to place people in the CRU after release from inpatient care or jail, and that a steering committee tracks use and outcomes. "We have had an increase in patients stepping out of the jail into the crisis residential unit and then being able to successfully transition through to those services," Jan said, adding that bed utilization has at times hit full capacity.
Paul Barrows, a retired federal agent who spoke about his adult son, said MHMR's CRU intervened at a critical moment after his son was released from jail and that without the CRU "he would have been on the streets in Denton, walking around homeless and scared, I'm sure." Barrows described his son's long history of psychosis and repeated hospitalizations and urged continued funding and the development of additional observation capacity.
Court discussion highlighted that county leaders previously approved $600,000 for the crisis residential unit and a separate $400,000 allocation for substance-use services, which county officials characterized together as roughly $1 million in near-term support for behavioral-health and recovery services. Commissioners and the judge said they plan to continue coordinating with MHMR, the courts and nonprofit partners to identify sustainable funding and to expand capacity where appropriate.
Ending: MHMR leaders and judges asked the court to consider longer-term investments and to continue the interagency steering committee to monitor outcomes and bed utilization.
