Tag: MHDD

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Beyond the Label

Beyond the Label Podcast: Flood Response and Resilience: Hill Country’s Crisis Counseling Program (CCP) with Sarah Stricker

Hosts Kelsi Wilmot and Tyler Townsend welcome guest Sarah Stricker, Director of Crisis Counseling Program at Hill Country MHDD Centers to the Beyond the Label podcast to share community updates from Mental Health Month, including proclamations in all 19 counties and clinic events, and then shift to the 2025 flood response and recent severe storms.

Sarah describes her background (military corpsman, nursing, neurofeedback, residential trauma treatment) and her current work leading the Crisis Counseling Program (CCP), which provides non-traditional, community-based support by showing up at events, connecting people to resources, and coordinating local help. The group discusses storm-related triggers, grounding and validation techniques, and how people can be affected even without direct losses (survivor’s remorse, secondary and vicarious trauma). They share coping strategies; music, guitar and songwriting, being outdoors, and sports all and invite community topic suggestions via Hill Country MHDD’s Facebook and YouTube.

Key highlights:

  • Podcast Mission and May Events
  • Storms and Flood Response Focus
  • What the Crisis Counseling Program Does
  • Community Outreach and Destigmatizing
  • Coping With Storm Anxiety
  • Survivor Guilt and Secondary Trauma
  • Autopilot Brain and Resilience Tricks
  • Favorite Coping Strategies Roundtable 

Resources: 

Hill Country MHDD

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Beyond the Label

Beyond the Label Podcast: May Mental Health Events and Crisis/Outpatient Care Overview with Dr. Kristopher Steinke

Welcome to the newest podcast on the Texas Hill Country Podcast Network, Beyond the Label. This podcast is the story of the Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers (the Hill Country MHDD Centers). Today, the Hill Country MHDD Centers is one of 39 agencies that deliver mental health and developmental disability services in communities across Texas. Hill Country MHDD Centers has 22 locations, including 15 mental health clinics, serving a population of approximately 816,000 across a 22,714-square-mile area.

In this first episode of Hill Country MHDD’s podcast, Beyond the Label, we introduce the staff and the purpose of Hill Country MHDD: to share mental health knowledge, recovery stories, and community support across 19 counties. The team outlines May Mental Health Awareness Month activities including a Harry Potter-themed Fredericksburg School of Wellness and Recovery (12–3 at Marktplatz), a Junction summer carnival featuring a mobile clinic van, art shows in New Braunfels and Llano (including kids’ art with Facebook voting), and a May 30 San Antonio Missions “mental health night” with jersey fundraising and the CEO throwing the first pitch. Psychiatrist and CMO Dr. Kristopher Steinke describes his training and Hill Country roles, the CSU’s 14-day crisis diversion model, access barriers (distance, transport, acuity limits), prescriber recruitment via contracts and UT San Antonio telemedicine rotations, outpatient services across ages, and clinical overviews of major depression, bipolar I, schizophrenia, and related conditions, emphasizing help-seeking, medication adherence, and therapy (including CBT).

Key highlights:

  • Podcast Mission
  • May Events Rundown
  • Telehealth for Rural Care
  • Outpatient Services Overview
  • Understanding the Big Three
  • Kids’ Diagnoses and ODD

Resources: 

Hill Country MHDD

Categories
Beyond the Label

Beyond the Label Podcast: Hill Country MHDD’s Family Partner Program and the YES Waiver

Welcome to the newest podcast on the Texas Hill Country Podcast Network, Beyond the Label. This podcast is the story of the Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers (the Hill Country MHDD Centers). Today, the Hill Country MHDD Centers are one of 39 agencies that deliver mental health and developmental disability services in communities across Texas. Hill Country MHDD Centers has 22 locations, including 15 mental health clinics, serving approximately 816,000 people across a 22,714-square-mile area. The members are Kelsi Wilmot (Director of Community Development), Tyler Townsend (Communication Specialist), and Wanda Ferguson (Lead Family Partner).

They introduce Hill Country MHDD’s new podcast, intended to help audiences learn about staff, lived experience, and agency programs. Ferguson explains the Family Partner role, emphasizing advocacy for caregivers, collaboration with schools and juvenile justice, and skills-based supports such as the nurturing program to help families accommodate a child’s needs while maintaining structure and boundaries. She shares personal motivation connected to her son Ryan’s mental health challenges and death in 2016 and provides examples of helping families avoid juvenile detention, address safety risks, and stabilize at home. The team describes the YES Waiver as a wraparound, grant-funded service designed to keep children in their homes and reduce hospitalizations or residential placements and notes that services are optional and Medicaid-billable.

Key highlights:

  • Why This Podcast
  • What Family Partners Do
  • Parenting Tools and Real Stories
  • YES Waiver Explained
  • New Programs and Facilities
  • Getting Enrolled 

Resources:

⁠Hill Country MHDD

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Hill Country Hustlers

Hill Country Hustlers: Let’s Talk About It: Hill Country MHDD’s Family Partner Program and the YES Waiver

We take things in a different direction today as Zach steps back from behind the microphone to produce an episode with members of the Hill Country MHDD Center. The members are Kelsi Wilmot (Director of Community Development), Tyler Townsend (Communication Specialist), and Wanda Ferguson (Lead Family Partner).

They introduce Hill Country MHDD’s new podcast, “Let’s Talk About It,” intended to help audiences learn about staff, lived experience, and agency programs. Ferguson explains the Family Partner role, emphasizing advocacy for caregivers, collaboration with schools and juvenile justice, and skills-based supports such as the nurturing program to help families accommodate a child’s needs while maintaining structure and boundaries. She shares personal motivation connected to her son Ryan’s mental health challenges and death in 2016, and provides examples of helping families avoid juvenile detention, address safety risks, and stabilize at home. The team describes the YES Waiver as a wraparound, grant-funded service designed to keep children in their homes and reduce hospitalizations or residential placements, and notes that services are optional and Medicaid-billable.

Key highlights:

  • Why This Podcast
  • What Family Partners Do
  • Parenting Tools and Real Stories
  • YES Waiver Explained
  • New Programs and Facilities
  • Getting Enrolled

Resources:

Hill Country MHDD