Hill Country MHDD, in collaboration with Gillespie County Mental Health and National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) held a mental health awareness event at LBJ Municipal Park in Fredericksburg on May 4th.
The event was a collaborative effort as the three groups worked together to coordinate the event which was created to increase awareness for mental health needs, and the plan was to corroborate with May 4th being a Star Wars theme.
Mental health Deputies James Kurse and Wayne Hudson from the Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office also helped with the event, and Laura Sandoval, Clinic Director for Hill Country MHDD said that Kurse and Hudson are the very first mental health deputies in Gillespie County.
“We added a wellness Event and made it dog friendly for awareness because so many have emotional support animals. . We had dogs available for adoption with Hill Country SPCA,” Sandavol said.
“Our guests were invited to dress their dogs in Star Wars costumes. Susan Becmer of Hill Country MHDD also helped us to develop this event.”
“We were all pleased by the great turnout. We had free BBQ for our guests, live music, and a photo booth for pictures with their dogs.”
Sandavol said that the BBQ and live music were furnished by NAMI, and Hill Country MHDD provided the photo booth. Waters and sports drinks were donated by Fredericksburg HEB.
Gillespi County Chief Deputy Chris Ayala said that the event was awesome and was the kick off for Mental Health Awareness Month in Gillespie County.
“A lot of footwork and good people with the same vision, passion, and heart came together to make this happen. Our goal was to create awareness for mental health with some fun thrown in. With the groundwork we set we hope to do this again in October.”
Ayala said that the new pilot program is called PULSARA. PULSARA allows deputies and law enforcement to use their phones to connect with Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) and Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Committee (STRAC) to locate beds and facilities for those who need them.
Five counties are currently in the early pilot program. These are: Wilson; Comal; Gillespi; Kendall; and Bexar. There is lots of work to be done for a very worthy cause.
“We started this program on January 2nd along with two mental health deputies for Gillespie County. They are doing a great job in coordinating resources for the MHDD center for Gillespie
