Turns out, Texas ranks near the bottom for child and adolescent mental health resources. In Lubbock and Midland counties, there are fewer than 17 providers for every 100,000 kids — and in the 87 surrounding rural counties? Zero. That’s right, your kid’s best shot at a psychiatrist might still be Dr. Pepper and a youth pastor.
Texas Tech researchers, disturbed by the phrase “mental health wasteland” (accurate, but ouch), snagged a $359,425 grant to figure out how to recruit and keep mental health professionals in the area. Their big idea? Study how we talk about it. Because nothing says “fixing a crisis” like a PR campaign to convince doctors to willingly move to West Texas.
The project will interview providers, wannabe providers, and burned-out ex-providers to learn why nobody wants to set up shop out here. Then they’ll develop persuasive messaging to lure them in. Maybe something like: “Come to Lubbock: the pay is low, the waitlists are long, but at least you’ll never run out of patients!”
Meanwhile, schools with fewer than 500 kids aren’t even required to have a counselor — and if they do, there’s no mandate for actual training. But hey, at least Tech professors are optimistic. They believe if they spin the right story, rural kids might someday have access to more than a Zoom therapist and a prayer chain.
West Texas: where mental health care is so scarce, we’re literally workshopping the sales pitch before anyone bothers to build the clinic.
