Harris County-Mental Health Update and Trends

Jennifer Battle, MSW

Jennifer is the Vice President of Community Access and Engagement at The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD in Houston, Texas.  Jennifer is proud to help support Harris County and the surrounding region’s mental health by overseeing operations of 988 for 49 Texas counties and 24 hour Crisis Lines for 7 Texas Local Mental Health Authorities. Jennifer led the development of the first of its kind in the nation 911/Behavioral Health co-located response system in partnership with Houston Police and Fire Departments and the Houston Emergency Communications Center.

Jennifer’s team offers a robust mental health and suicide prevention training portfolio to individuals, universities, businesses, faith communities and non-profits as well as coordinates and delivers information and awareness about behavioral health in culturally appropriate and community centered ways across the county.

In addition to these projects, Jennifer serves in several national roles including the Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for the National 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. She also serves on the Clinical Advisory Council for Crisis Text Line, the Board of the National Association of Crisis Center Directors and the Board of the Texas Alliance of Information and Referral Systems.