Hood County Substance Abuse Council revamps program, name

Beginning in 2023, the Hood County Substance Abuse Council will be expanding its services and operating under a new name — Mindful Decisions.

“Moving forward we will be doing business as Mindful Decisions as we plan to grow our programs to reach more youth and families of Hood County by providing education, prevention, and intervention for a substance-abuse-free community,” said Silver Barns, executive director of HCSAC.

Although the program will still offer services like Teen Court and Teens Making a Difference (TMAD), some programs will be expanding to other areas.

“We want to service more than just one part of the county,” Barns said. “We're going to try to move TMAD back into Granbury High School and Tolar, not just at Sandy Beach. We're going to also start having some services in the Cresson Pods. I know they were doing some life skills in Oak Trail Shores and Rancho Brazos, but we're going to offer life skills and TMAD in all those areas.”

Barns said along with prevention and education of substance abuse, the program will now also start to focus on intervention.

"By working with Weatherford College, we’re using some of their LCDCs (licensed chemical dependency counselors) to provide some kind of substance abuse counseling to families who are in need in those major areas, so we can offer that intervention part to better serve our community,” she said. “Really, our job in that is to focus on how substance abuse affects the family and the children of those families, because lots of times we overlook and we just look at the person that is the addict and not the children that are affected by their parents' usage.”

One big reason for the name change, Barns said, is the stigma that the program has unintentionally created in residents — a problem she noticed when she became the executive director in November.

"I went to different board meetings and heard some people talking and if our name had Hood County in it, they thought their tax dollars went to us and that's not true, so they didn't want to donate,” she said. “Other people didn't want to donate because they thought all we were doing was providing services for substance abuse and not really educating anyone else. By changing our name, that opens it up. We want to be able to touch more people and not be limited to just a name.”

HISTORY

The Hood County Substance Abuse Council was formed in 2006 after United Way of Hood County performed a county-wide assessment to identify needs in the community. The results found that youth and adult substance abuse were at the top of the needs in the county.

In 2009, United Way of Hood County awarded a Drug-Free Communities grant to HCSAC to address alcohol, tobacco and prescription drug use. In 2014, the DFC grant was renewed.

In 2018, HCSAC became its own independent nonprofit organization. Following the DFC grant expiration in 2019, the HCSAC entered into a partnership with United Way of Hood County in 2020 to implement the STOP grant for alcohol.

In 2021, HCSAC was awarded its first independent grant, the Comprehensive Alcohol Recovery Act, or CARA, grant through the federal government.

“We’re also working on adding (grants) that can provide more intervention to the community,” Barns said — adding that Misty Sklark is also the program’s new CARA grant program director.

CHANGES FOR THE BETTER

Barns said she hopes that the changes for HCSAC — now Mindful Decisions — will allow the program to service Hood County better.

"We want to lower the substance use and we want to educate more kids, so they have the ability to make mindful decisions on their own, because (drugs are) always going to be around no matter where you're at,” she added. “We’re trying to be mindful of the community and these kids, and we want to educate them so they’re able to make mindful decisions for themselves. If we educate and provide enough prevention, the community can make better decisions as a whole.”

For more information, visit the program’s future website at mindfuldecisions.org, which will be up and running soon.