Hogg Foundation Launches Official Website for Austin Area African American Behavioral Health Network

AUSTIN, Texas – The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health is pleased to announce the launch of a new website for the Austin Area African American Behavioral Health Network. The site serves as both a news and information source for the network and a referral tool for Austin-area African Americans who are seeking behavioral health services as well as culturally competent service providers.

The Austin Area African American Behavioral Health Network, known informally as 4ABHN, was founded in 2009 to provide networking and professional development opportunities for African American mental health professionals in the Austin area. In addition, the group seeks to bridge the disconnect between behavioral health professionals and the community by including consumers, family members and faith leaders in the dialogue. The group meets regularly to network, discuss current topics, and hear presentations by behavioral health providers, consumers and family members.

The 4ABHN website’s primary purpose is linking up Austin-area residents with behavioral health professionals who are either African American or who consider cultural competence and sensitivity areas of strength. Its main feature is a Resource Directory that contains an ever-growing list of behavioral health professionals who have volunteered their information. Their specialties include psychiatry, social work, licensed professional counseling, children and youth, substance use, intellectual and developmental disabilities and peer support.

The website can be found at https://hogg.utexas.edu/events-networks/4abhn.

“The new 4ABHN website represents a great leap forward for this network,” said Vicky Coffee, program officer for the Hogg Foundation and coordinator of the Austin Area African American Behavioral Health Network since its inception. “As a network, we felt that the time was right for establishing an identity separate from the Hogg Foundation, as well as building a resource that reflects the needs of the community we hope to serve.”

“The work being done by 4ABHN, right here in our own backyard, is a microcosm for what we aim to catalyze through our grant dollars statewide,” said Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., executive director of the Hogg Foundation and associate vice president for diversity and community engagement at The University of Texas at Austin. “I’m proud of the network for taking this next step toward a more visible presence in our home community.”

The Hogg Foundation advances recovery and wellness in Texas by funding mental health services, policy analysis, research, and public education. The foundation was created in 1940 by the children of former Texas Gov. James S. Hogg and is part of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at The University of Texas at Austin.