Friday, April 19, 2024
Teresa Thomas might be alive today if affordable mental health services and facilities were available.
On Aug. 6 the beloved elementary teacher was beaten to death, allegedly by her 37-year-old son at their Granbury home, according to law authorities.
Wesley Paul Males, charged with murder, remains in Hood County Jail on $750,000 bond.
A friend said Thomas tried everything she could to help her son. She researched and tried to find the right combination of therapy, her friend said.
Still, she was scared of what he might do. At night she locked his bedroom door before locking hers.
“What happened to Teresa Thomas should never, ever happen again,” longtime Granbury School Board member Nancy Alana said.
“Day in and day out,” Alana said, “parents of children and of adult children are begging for help. They are frustrated by the lack of housing that is affordable. So many of our homeless population have mental issues and are unable to hold down jobs. They don’t want to live at home with their parents, and to be honest, most parents don’t want them living with them either. Yet, they need a place to live that is safe and provides light supervision.”
She has asked nominated state representative Dr. Glenn Rogers to sponsor legislation that would provide additional housing and care for mentally ill adults.
Rogers agreed without hesitation, Alana said.
“I am very passionate about this,” Rogers said. “My brother suffered from schizophrenia before he passed away. Dispelling the stigma surrounding mental health is very important to me.”
Rogers is not expected in Austin until January, but he’s begun talking with other lawmakers and mental health groups “about how we can work together to address this growing problem in our society.
“I will examine all avenues to determine how to provide the best care for those individuals in our communities that need this help. Mental health is paramount for everyone, and mental health care should not be ignored.”
SHORTAGE OF BEDS
There’s a shortage of inpatient state hospital beds in Texas, law and health officials say.
“Statewide the numbers of spaces available for our mentally ill adults is drastically low,” Alana said. “Our goal is to get funding for additional housing.”
Sheriff Roger Deeds knows the importance of treating and housing the mentally ill. He and his deputies deal with people in crisis almost every day, he said.
“More state facilities and beds are needed,” he said. “I totally support their goals and will help all I can with input and ideas.”
CHALLENGES LIE AHEAD
Solving mental health issues will be challenging, if not overwhelming, experts suggest.
“Expanding state hospital bed capacity is important and drastically needed, but expanding outpatient community treatment options is equally important,” said Coke Beatty, executive director of Pecan Valley Centers for Behavioral and Developmental HealthCare. “Texas has put a lot of effort and funding into crisis intervention services but not so much into long-term care once the individual returns back to the community from an inpatient stay.”
State hospitals are not utilized for long-term treatment but rather for crisis stabilization just long enough to return the individual back home, Beatty explained.
The mentally ill sometimes cannot live independently without a daily support system.
“Oftentimes those supports come from family members, and things go well in most cases,” Beatty said. “But, there are certain times when a person needs more than what a family can offer.”
Also, many homeless people have mental illness, Beatty said.
“Many do not have a family home, not capable of paying rent or maintaining a home, and are not severe enough to qualify for inpatient psychiatric care,” he said.
All mental health services provided in an outpatient clinic are voluntary, Beatty pointed out.
“So, if an individual chooses to not accept help, there is little to nothing to prevent that according to current Texas mental health law,” he said.
FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE
Alana’s fellow trustee, school board president Mark Jackson, has first-hand knowledge of mental illness because a family member was diagnosed with schizophrenia several years ago.
Jackson supports Alana’s passion for legislation, which he believes could be termed “Teresa’s Law.”
“The way the system is designed,” Jackson said, “there are few places to house mentally ill patients. The system focuses on acute treatment (the first 2-3 weeks after a patient has a ‘breakdown’/mental psychosis). The goal seems to be to ‘stabilize’ the patient then send them back out into the world whether it’s to a family’s house or back to their own home.
“Oftentimes, many have no such support system outside of the hospital. They get lost in the bureaucratic labyrinth.
“I’m not sure the realistic solution is to simply build more mental hospitals and/or ‘halfway’ houses with the state’s current budget crisis. Funding will not likely be there for building more brick and mortar institutions for the mentally ill. What I do think is possible, is to take down some of the barriers during treatment. You see with HIPPA, it’s nearly impossible for a family member to know what’s going on with their loved one’s treatment. The first call from a case worker seems to be, ‘When can you pick them up?’ There needs to be a way to ‘relax’ the rules in times of need so that communication is timely and clear on what the patient’s needs are.”
TIGHT BUDGET?
Alana knows that state lawmakers may be reluctant to spend more money.
“This upcoming legislative session will be extremely difficult due to a low budget, but we hope to make this issue known,” Alana said. “Mental health is seldom talked about until there is a school or mall shooting, and then everyone sees it as a problem.”
Alana said she she’s never written a bill or even considered approaching a legislator about a bill, “but someone needed to step up. It was my turn, and Teresa should be remembered.
“We hope someone in Austin will hear Teresa’s story and agree with us.”
editor@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 245
“So, if an individual chooses to not accept help, there is little to nothing to prevent that”
COKE BEATTY Executive director of Pecan Valley Cent for Behavioral and Developmental HealthCare
