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This article mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call, text, or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Mental health issues are among the leading public health challenges in Texas and a main contributor to disability and death, especially among adolescent Texans. “Compounded by historic underservice, Texas has faced an uphill battle when it comes to providing sufficient mental health resources to its growing population, but state leaders …are committed to turning the tide,” wrote UT System Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs John Zerwas, MD, and UT System Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer David Lakey, MD in an op-ed published in the Dallas Morning News last year.
“Texas, among all states, is grappling with a rise in the percentage of youth who experienced a major depressive episode in the past year without treatment—a staggering 73.1 percent according to Mental Health America. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth in Texas, according to the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. UT Southwestern Medical Center recently conducted a study of 1,000 young Texans, aged 8 to 20, who are being treated for depression, and found that nearly half of them reported at least one suicide attempt during their lifetime,” wrote Zerwas and Lakey.
The need for mental health services in the Lone Star State is rising. “Texas 988 centers in 2021 answered 60,000 calls, a 92 percent increase compared to 2018,” reported Stephen Simpson in the Texas Tribune in December 2023. “The average state call line receives 3,300 calls per month; Texas gets 14,000 calls per month. In May [2023], the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline answered 11,502 total contacts from Texas. According to a 2021 survey by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 8.22 percent of Texans 18 or older had a major depressive episode, 5.33 percent had serious thoughts of suicide, and 1.78 percent made suicide plans in the past year.”
Simpson described the case of 13-year-old Orlando from El Paso, who mentioned suicide during a virtual class in 2020, sending his mother into a desperate search for an in-patient mental health facility. None of the four nearest in-patient psychiatric facilities had a bed for her son. “In every facility, every clinic, and even the main hospital in town, the answer was always the same. No availability and not enough providers,” she told the Texas Tribune.
Home to almost eight million children, “Texas tops the list as the worst state for mental healthcare for the second time in two years due to a combination of factors that create significant barriers to accessing treatment,” Jason Metz, the lead insurance editor at Forbes Advisor, told Healthline. “The state has a high rate of uninsured adults with mental health illness, 21.4 percent, the second highest in the US. Additionally, nearly 75 percent of youth with depression do not receive mental health services, and 19.4 percent of youth with private insurance lack coverage for mental health problems,” Metz told Healthline. “Texas has a limited mental health infrastructure, ranking the third lowest in the number of treatment centers, with only 8.4 per 10,000 businesses. Overall, two-thirds (62.3 percent) of adults with mental illness in Texas go untreated, highlighting the state’s challenges in mental healthcare.”
IMPROVING ACCESS TO MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
BasePoint wants to help change all that. Kimberly Dobbins, MD, is the chief medical officer at BasePoint, bringing over a decade of experience as a double board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. Dr. Dobbins treats a broad range of mental health conditions at BasePoint. “There’s a great deal of depression and anxiety,” she says—a lot of it driven by social media. “I think social media plays a big role in what we’re seeing in a lot of kids. There’s school anxiety and bullying, and the bullying can lead to depression and anxiety, even suicidal thoughts.”
Treating depression, anxiety disorders, trauma, and substance use disorder requires time and patience. “It’s important to have the time to meet with clients, spend time with them, get to know them, and see what they’re dealing with,” says Dr. Dobbins. “Being able to ask questions and taking the time to get to know them, so I can be their advocate as well for their parents, or other guardians. At BasePoint, we have weeks to see them, so I can offer the most important thing on the first day, or maybe the second visit, and then use the time getting to know what else they might need. I have time to start them, watch them, and see them throughout the week.”
The BasePoint team believes that providing the highest quality of care possible means utilizing evidence-based clinical and medical models, integrating patient outcomes to make active treatment decisions, and partnering with teens and their families to inform the therapeutic process.
“For years, BasePoint has been known as a provider for 11 to 18-year-olds, and we became known in the community for providing excellence in day treatment programming,” says
Blake Serpa, the founder and CEO of BasePoint Health Management.
In 2024, BasePoint responded to the increase need of young adult mental health treatment with the launch of BasePoint BreakThrough, an outpatient treatment option for 18 to 35-year-olds struggling with mental health and substance use disorders. The program offers partial hospitalization (PHP) and intensive outpatient (IOP) options for young adults.
It was a natural step to expand and work with a patient population that hasn’t received the attention it requires. “If you don’t focus on your mental health needs right now, your relationships, your schoolwork, your job—all of those things are at risk,“ says Jordan Anselma, LPC, the executive director for BasePoint in Arlington, TX. “We want to support you and guide you so that you can get back to the things that are important to you in life.”
BasePoint is a mental healthcare provider based in Forney, TX, with additional locations in Arlington, TX, McKinney, TX, and Frisco, TX. BasePoint operates as a clinical center focusing on teen and young adults’ mental health conditions. We specialize in outpatient treatment for teenagers aged 11–18 who are struggling with mental health and substance misuse issues.
BasePoint remains committed to extending mental health services across Texas. The recently launched BasePoint Texas, a virtual PHP/IOP program for teens and young adults, now offers individuals access across the state to mental health treatment during the daytime and evening.
BasePoint is available to speak with you to get your teen on the path toward optimal wellness. Contact us today to schedule a free mental health assessment with a licensed clinician at one of our mental health facilities. You can also get in touch to talk with a BasePoint mental health expert about treatment needs, care options, and your insurance coverage levels.
Call today to schedule a complimentary same-day assessment at (469) 530-3725.
