Clinical Care
Providing culturally informed, evidence-based excellent clinical care for individuals and families in the community is a key component of the department’s mission. The department’s strategy is to design innovative mental health care delivery and illness prevention models that will meet the needs of residents of Central Texas and that are scalable to the state and beyond.
Partners
The department and its community partners work to evolve the mental health care system in Travis County and help make Austin a model healthy city — improving patient outcomes, increasing patient and provider satisfaction, reducing health care costs and improving the functioning of the mental health system. Partners include:
Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences at UT Health Austin
Psychiatric services are offered through the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences. A range of skilled clinicians provide specialized care for medical conditions affecting the brain or central nervous system such as depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, women’s mental health and more.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
UT Health Austin’s Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation service is used in the treatment of major depressive disorder in adult patients when antidepressants have failed to provide relief or patients cannot tolerate side effects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a noninvasive procedure with limited side effects, and it involves delivering a series of focused magnetic pulses to an area of the brain (left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) known to be underactive in major depression.
Bipolar Disorder Center
In the Bipolar Disorder Center in the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences, individuals living with bipolar illness engage in a six-week program focused on treating depressive and manic symptoms with a focus on enhancing function. The team of specialists provides consultations to psychiatrists in the community and long-term care for complex cases using team-based, data-driven models and processes employed by UT Health Austin clinics.
Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Program of Texas
Women’s Reproductive Mental Health of Texas at the Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences at UT Health Austin provides psychiatric consultation, prevention services and treatment for mental health conditions, including pregnancy and postpartum mood, anxiety, trauma-related and substance use disorders; peri-menopausal disorders; and premenstrual dysphoric disorders. Care is also available to women and couples who experience pregnancy or infant loss.
Comprehensive Diagnostic Treatment & Evaluation Program
The department offers a unique comprehensive diagnostic treatment and evaluation program for people with psychiatric conditions. Each patient undergoes an individual evaluation by a team of board-certified psychiatrists and psychologists, including neuropsychological testing. Patients receive a comprehensive report and treatment referral.
Ascension Seton Adult Mental Health
Dell Medical School faculty provide a full range of psychiatric services in a number of settings, including Seton Shoal Creek inpatient psychiatric hospital; Ascension Medical Group Seton Behavioral Health Outpatients Clinic; general hospital-based services, including a dedicated psychiatric emergency department at Dell Seton Medical Center; and consultation-liaison services across multiple Ascension Texas hospitals.