Bryce, what do you do exactly? Usually when I explain to folks what a social worker does, I tell them my job is to help connect the dots Almost a year ago I left UTSA’s Department of Social Work to work with mental and behavioral health here in Kendall County. I’m employed through a grant through Hill Country Family Services that specifically states that I work with our 2 mental health deputies with Kendall County Sheriff’s Office (Mike Cokerham and Michelle Quade), and Boerne PD (Rebecca Foley).
Our mental health deputies and officers are often called out and relied upon in mental health crisis situations. Whenever someone is a danger to themselves or others, all our officers and deputies have to make decisions on how to handle those situations, keeping in mind what is in the best interest of the individual and those around them to keep everyone safe.
I have an image of a mental health spectrum on my desk that goes from green (healthy) to yellow (stressed), orange (struggling) to red (crisis). All of us live within that spectrum, and all of us have been in one of those areas at some point in time. What I have learned working with our mental health team is that people tend to remain in the orange and red because of missed opportunities in the green and yellow. In a perfect world we would never be in the orange (struggling) or red (crisis), but we all know times of struggle and crisis are going to happen in our lives, it is our ability to respond and cope that determines how long we stay in those areas.
Our county is growing quickly, but our resources for behavioral health are not keeping up with that growth. Your county and city leadership are working together to offer more helping opportunities here in Kendall County for our citizens, so that everyone is able to spend more time in the green and have better opportunities to get out of crisis. The Kendall County Sheriff’s Department and Boerne Police Department are on the front lines of addressing this issue. Our deputies and officers encounter folks who are in crisis every day, and when they search for help, it is often hard to find.
While working on this issue I tell folks it’s like trying to change a tire on a car while it’s still going down the freeway, and we can’t stop the car. Every day we are working on issues and problems around mental and behavioral health, the problems are ever present, and at the same time we are trying to plan (change the tires) to address these situations as we move forward.
There are some great things happening in your community right now that are addressing those problems and issues. My friends Don and Mary O’Connor have been leading a Family-to-Family Mental Health Group at St. Peter’s Catholic Church for years, and they are starting a new course May 5th. Visit www.nami-sat.org/family- to-family to register today. I look forward to sharing more with you on ways we are addressing mental and behavioral health here in Kendall County. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, if you or someone you know is struggling, please know the national suicide hotline is now 988, text or call 988 to be connected right away with someone that can help navigate this process. If you have any questions, or you just want to connect the dots please email me at bryce.boddie@ hcfstx.org
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