A state-funded initiative to offer mental health services to children electronically has become a success story after rolling out in 2019. The Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine program, or TCHATT, is now available in over 7,000 schools and 956 school districts. This means over 4.5 million children -- more than 75% of the K-12 student population -- have access to mental health care when they need it.
While nothing beats person-to-person contact, telehealth is the next best thing. The option for children to connect with mental health professionals this way is now widely available across the state.
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Any public school, including charter schools, can enroll in TCHATT. The program partners with medical schools and connects patients with clinicians, psychiatrists or psychologists. Thirteen institutions are participating, including UT Southwestern Medical Center and UNT Health Fort Worth.
Private schools can also enroll, at the discretion of the health institution assigned to the region, according to the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium, which oversees the initiative.
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Where TCHATT is really making a difference is in rural Texas, particularly in areas where there are no child psychologists or psychiatrists. It has improved mental health care access in these underserved regions, with 1,793 rural schools enrolled and almost a million students able to benefit from the telehealth network.
How does it work? When a school identifies a child who needs behavioral services, a school counselor must first get parental consent and then call TCHATT. Parents themselves can reach out to the school for services. Neither parents nor schools are billed for the services.
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TCHATT specialists can deal with any mental health concern, but anxiety, depression and attention-deficit disorder are the most common. According to a 2024 report by the consortium that runs TCHATT, the service scored well in patient satisfaction. Over 55% of families that used the service reported that their child or family was "doing a lot better," while about 30% said their child or family was doing "a little bit better."
Most recently, in the aftermath of the Central Texas floods in July, TCHATT provided counseling for children experiencing trauma and grief, said Roshni Koli, chief medical officer at the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, a nonprofit that supports mental health services in Texas.
"This program is a shining star for Texas," Koli told us. "It is probably the most comprehensive school-based telehealth program for mental health conditions that exists in the country."
If there is a challenge for the program, it is broadband access. About 290,000 households do not have fast internet, according to the most recent report from the Governor's Broadband Development Council.
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Still, the Legislature has kept its commitment to mental health care and raised the funding for TCHATT from $50 million to $172 million for the next two years.
This is a program that has established the right partnerships to help children. Mental illness and behavioral issues are complicated problems to tackle, but TCHATT is making a difference by facilitating early interventions. This is what Texas families need.
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