Revolutionizing How People Get & Stay Mentally Healthy
The mission of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is to:
- Train mental health professionals to become 21st-century leaders in the fields of psychiatry and psychology;
- Provide culturally informed, evidence-based clinical care for individuals and families in the community;
- Execute cutting-edge basic and clinical research that illuminates the underlying neurobiological causes of psychiatric disorders, transforms clinical practice and identifies novel treatments;
- Foster a culture that values and supports diversity, equity and inclusion; and
- Promote innovation in training methods, research and service to the community.
Focus Areas
With partners in the community like Ascension Seton, Integral Care, the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, the National Alliance on Mental Illness Austin, Mental Health Texas and the Pregnancy and Postpartum Health Alliance of Texas, the department is building scalable models of care to meet the needs of Central Texans. The collaborative care team, an innovative clinical model deployed at UT Health Austin, exemplifies the department’s efforts to provide person-centered mental health care.
The department also partners with the Steve Hicks School of Social Work to facilitate the Institute for Military and Veteran Family Wellness. The institute addresses the unique needs faced by this population through research, training, graduate education and community collaboration.
Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences links and integrates individual research endeavors within the department as well as across Dell Medical School, other schools within The University of Texas at Austin, and indeed the entire University of Texas System, facilitating innovative research collaboration that fosters the career development of faculty and trainees with overlapping interests. Areas of expertise include mood disorders, trauma and stress, addiction, reproductive mental health and health system design.
Education is a critical element to the mission of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Educating, training and inspiring a diverse workforce of physicians and scientists through excellence in medical education is one of the department’s highest priorities. The team works to train the next generation to disseminate innovative care models as widely as possible.
The department also plays a key role in reimagining the entire continuum of care for brain health as part of the Austin State Hospital redesign led by Dell Medical School in partnership with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Researchers, clinicians, physicians in training, social workers and youth advocates partner together to address the full spectrum of care for mental health, supporting people and families in Central Texas and beyond. Download an overview to learn more about the collaborative approach.
As a member of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium, Dell Medical School is committed to increasing access to clinical care for the youth of Central Texas. The department is a hub for the Child Psychiatry Access Network and Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine initiatives.
The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences also collaborates with the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences and is home to the the Center for Youth Mental Health and the Institute for Early Life Adversity Research.