Mental Health Services and Resources

Mental health and wellness is important to everyone and, just like physical health and wellness, your mental health can change over time and affect how you feel, what you do, and how you interact with others. Many young adults leaving foster care have experienced trauma resulting from abuse and neglect (both before, during, and after foster care), and separation from their families. While in foster care, many youth receive multiple diagnoses related to their mental and physical health and are prescribed various medications over a long period of time. As you prepare to leave foster care, you have a lot of decisions to make about how you will make choices about your health when you become an adult.

You should think about the following issues and make a plan to address your needs

Decide whether to continue mental health treatment and choose a provider

If you want to maintain treatment of any mental health challenges you may have, you need to make sure you always have a follow-up appointment scheduled with your psychiatrist. If you remain on the STAR Health plan, you should be able to continue seeing the same psychiatrist you saw before you turned 18. If you want to choose a new psychiatrist, you can contact Superior HealthPlan, if you are on STAR Health, or your STAR plan provider to ask for help to find a provider who accepts your health plan.

Decide whether to continue some, all, or none of your medications

If you are on medications, especially psychotropic medications that affect how you feel, think, and act, you need to decide whether you want to continue or stop taking them when you turn 18. Many psychotropic medications can have serious side effects if stopped immediately, so you should talk with your psychiatrist before you stop taking your medications. You can learn more about making choices about psychotropic medications here.

Create a crisis plan

If you have ever experienced suicidal ideation or attempt or other mental health crisis, you should have a plan in place to get the help and services you need when you are living on your own. Consider the following resources and options for help if you ever need it:

  • Text HOME to 741741 to text with someone from the Crisis Text Line or visit this website to chat. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line in WhatsApp.
  • Find your Local Mental Health Authority (LMHA) here and contact their crisis line.

Identify helpful services for substance use disorders

Medicaid covers treatment services for substance use disorders. If you want help to begin treatment, you can find treatment centers in Texas at the Treatment Centers Directory, which lets you filter centers by whether they accept Medicaid and the type of treatment program. Some centers have programs specifically for young adults.

Consider creating a Declaration for Mental Health Treatment (also called a Psychiatric Advance Directive or PAD)

This is a legal document that lets you write down information about types of treatment that you may or may not want used in the future when you may not be able to make those decisions yourself. You can give instructions about what psychotropic medications you do or do not want, whether or not you want electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and how you want doctors and facility staff to try to calm you down in an emergency. A PAD is only used if you are found to be incapacitated by a judge, which means you are not capable of making your own mental health treatment decisions.

You can learn more about PADs here. You can also contact the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project if you want help to complete a PAD.