Mental Health Awareness Month 2023

For the month of May, the Hogg Foundation is celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month. Throughout the month we’ll be highlighting stories of recovery, strides in mental health policy, and the many things our grantee partners are doing to transform mental health in their communities.

Video Submissions

May is mental health awareness month and we want to hear from you! The Hogg Foundation is asking for videos up to 45-seconds from Texas residents describing what mental health means to you. The first 25 complete submissions will receive a $20 Amazon gift card as a thank you.

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month - Submit a Video

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Week 4 – Mental Health Matters for Youth

The theme for this week is, “Mental Health Matters for Youth.” During this week we are highlighting how mental health matters to young people, and what young people themselves are doing to transform mental health in Texas.

New Voices Showcase for Youth

The New Voices Showcase for Youth was an opportunity for young people ages 16 to 24 to answer the question, “How would the world be different if it cared about my mental health?”

New Voices Showcase: Aysha Alibin-Skinner

Aysha Alibin-Skinner is a Sophomore at Blanson Career and Technology High School in Houston, Texas. Watch her winning video.

New Voices Showcase: Ashlee Young

A video created by Ashlee Young, a graduate student at Texas Southern University.

If Only

Ms. Droddy is a 22-year old who has struggled with schizophrenia and hopes to make a difference in this world.

Muted

“I am striving to find avenues where I can express my creativity through the medium of film.”. -Eli Fischer

Joshua Styles: New Voices Showcase

Watch Joshua Styles’s prize-winning video in the New Voices Showcase for Youth.

Winona’s Monster

In the summer of 2022, the Hogg Foundation launched the New Voices Showcase for Youth. The goal of this project is to highlight the voices of young creatives aged 16-24 and address the question, “How would the world be different if it cared about your mental health?”...

In Tune: Music Therapy for Kids

Into the Fold, Episode 148

In this episode of Into the Fold we’re talking about music therapy as a uniquely powerful way to help kids with their mental health, even for those dealing with severe challenges such as parental incarceration, suicidal ideation, and trauma.

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A Royal Visit

Last fall, the Hogg Foundation joined forces with our wonderful grantee partner, Resilient Bastrop County, to co-host a unique event: a visit by her royal majesty, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

Queen Máxima has a passion for youth mental health, and as a part of her US tour last week, she visited with rural Texas youth. Read Story

In September, Bastrop played host to an extraordinary gathering. Hogg staff, community leaders, and international mental health leaders met with Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. Watch Video

New Voices Showcase: A Compilation

The New Voices Showcase was an opportunity for talented and aspiring writers to submit personal essays describing how their mental health has been impacted during this time of heightened injustice, race-related trauma, and the COVID-19 pandemic. See all of the submitted entries.

American and Texas flags over the Texas Capitol

Week 3 – Mental Health Matters at the Capitol

The theme for this week is, “Mental Health Matters at the Capitol.” During this week we are highlighting important developments in public policy and their impact on mental health in Texas.

Family Services Center of Galveston

Policy Success Story

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Policy Podcasts

The Hogg Foundation podcast, Into the Fold, frequently features in-depth discussion on mental health public policy in Texas. Here are some recent examples.

Policy Academy and Policy Fellows: Learning from the Past to Serve the Future

A statement by our executive director, Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr., on an important change to the Hogg Policy Academy and Fellows initiative.

The Behavioral Health Effects of the Medicaid Unwinding in Texas

Because Medicaid is the largest payer of mental health and substance use care in the nation, Texans with mental health or substance use conditions who may lose coverage during this unwinding–erroneously or correctly–will lose out on life-saving care

Hogg Policy Academy and Policy Fellows to Focus on Child, Youth, and Family Mental Health and Well-being in Next Cohort

The 2024-25 cohort of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health Policy Academy and Policy Fellows initiative will focus on supporting child, youth, and family mental health and well-being.

Rosalynn Carter: Her Legacy as a Mental Health Champion Lives On

An unwavering, steadfast leader, champion, and advocate for mental health. That was Rosalynn Carter.

Data Justice for Mental Health: A Q&A with Taylor Payne, postdoctoral fellow

In July of 2023, the Hogg Foundation hired Taylor Payne as its newest postdoctoral fellow. In this Q&A we talk with Taylor about her role and her goals for the future.

Addressing Community Needs with Community Expertise

It’s time to recognize community members as the experts in their communities. Effective and sustainable community-level change can’t and won’t happen unless community members are actively involved in the decision and policy-making process.

Hogg Foundation Statement on Migrant Mental Health

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health feels compelled to publicly respond to recent harmful rhetoric regarding people who immigrate to Texas.

Life Lessons From My Sons on How to Cope With School Bullying

You more than likely don’t anticipate your child coming home upset that they experienced bullying by another kid at school. What do you do when all your good intentions and thorough preparation falls short in that area?

Mental Health Goes Back to School

During this especially divisive time, a strong partnership between two Austin nonprofits is providingmuch-needed mental health support to students, families, and school communities.

Trust for America’s Health

The first in a series spotlighting the co-signers of the Hogg Foundation’s Declaration of Racism as a Mental Health Crisis, Trust for America’s Health.

Safe and Supportive Schools for Every Texas Student

As we all look at COVID-19’s effects, the mental health and emotional impact on our kids is evident: trauma, depression, substance use, and suicidal thoughts have all risen the last two years. While the pandemic undoubtedly exacerbated our youth’s struggles, their need for mental health supports is not new. Students have witnessed mass shootings targeting schools and specific populations, national conversations on race, and extreme weather events. These experiences have profound impacts on children’s mental health.

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Week 2 – Why Mental Health Matters

The theme for this week is, “Why Mental Health Matters.” During this week we are showcasing voices from the community who give their thoughts on why mental health matters, and what it would look like for their world to value mental health.

Videos: What Mental Means to Me

Throughout the month we are asking for short videos from Texas residents describing what mental health means to them.

New Voices Showcase for Adults

The New Voices Showcase highlighted talented writers and creatives who are living with or in recovery from mental health challenges.

Combat Fatigue

I found myself screaming obscenities at the retreating truck, daring the two White guys in it to come back and face me.

NVS Winner: Sincerely, Hurt

To my Asian brothers and sisters, Take it from me: we have been so tragically fooled.

Aren’t I a Human Being?

I am a human being… right…? I was born into this world by human beings. Just as everyone else was, If that’s the case…why do I feel like such an alien…?

My Marathon Journey to Mental Health

When the pandemic forced the shutdown of my job in March 2020 it wasn’t the first time I faced major setbacks in my recovery journey.

Triggered by Lights: Red, White, and Blue

What I remember most were the blinding red and blue lights! At four years old, I was very frightened as a police officer took me from my home.

Dear Pandemic Child

The second you were born, I knew that something special happened in the world. You were certainly born a fighter!

Visionary Voices on Mental Health

These blog posts offer thoughtful reflections on hope, healing, and history.

Thabiti Boone: On Moving Toward Hope, Healing, and Happiness

Raza History and Heritage

History is Our Heritage: Centering History & the Psychology of Who We Are

Moore Fellowships

The Harry E. and Bernice M. Moore Fellowship is to doctoral students from UT Austin who demonstrate a primary research interest in the human experience in crises. Learn more about their groundbreaking work.

New Voices Showcase for Family and Caregivers

The New Voices Showcase also highlighted the unique experiences of family members and caregivers of people living with mental health challenges.

My Husband, My Hero

I swore I was destined to be alone. I watched my mother get married to the same man with a different face four times and each marriage ended in disaster.

Pizza! Pizza! Read All About It!

“Pizza” is probably not the first word that comes to mind when recalling the recent pandemic and its profound effects on the state of a family’s mental health.

Black Family Mental Health 2020

I sat in my writing room with my headphones on in hopes of drowning out the sounds of everyone’s Zoom meetings. I was miserable from all our family togetherness.

Stephany June Bryan: Bold Spirit of Achievement Scholarships

The Hogg Foundation awards $5000 annual scholarships in honor of Stephany June Bryan, a beloved Senior Program Officer and Consumer & Family Liaison at the foundation for over 12 years, until her untimely passing from COVID-19.

Stephany June Bryan Bold Spirit of Achievement Scholarship Winner: Fostering Safe Spaces for Healing

Graduate student Crystal Rhodes chosen as recipient of 2023 Stephany June Bryan Scholarship.

Stephany June Bryan Bold Spirit of Achievement Scholarship winner: Empathy, Guidance and Healing

Elliott Niblack, has been selected as one of two 2022 recipients of the Stephany June Bryan: Bold Spirit of Achievement Scholarship.

Stephany June Bryan Bold Spirit of Achievement Scholarship winner: Transformation and Ministry

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health has chosen Keneisha Johnson, a student pursuing an Associate of Arts degree in Biblical Studies, as one of two 2022 recipients of the Stephany June Bryan Bold Spirit of Achievement Scholarship. The award will allow Johnson to...

Week 1 – Look Around, Look Within

This theme was created by Mental Health America as a way to talk about the connections between mental health and the natural and built environment – the places where we are born, live, learn, work, play, and gather.

Healthy Outdoor Communities

Last fall, Healthy Outdoor Communities, a Houston-area collaborative created as part of the Communities of Care initiative, visited five school campuses for a hands-on gardening workshop. Scroll to view images.

Communities of Care Year Three Showcase

Our grantee partners are currently engaged in numerous projects designed to enhance well-being in their communities. Here are several examples from our Communities of Care grantee partners.

Asian Americans Attaining Awareness
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