Virtual mental health organization makes Texas expansion as the state has 'lack of mental health resources'

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Charlie Health is a virtual mental health clinic that began in Montana last year. | Twitter

A virtual mental health clinic is expanding its services to Texas.

Charlie Health partners with community stakeholders, hospitals, insurance companies, schools and local therapists to provide individualized treatment for patients who require more than weekly individual therapy or who are transitioning back to home and school after residential or hospital-based treatment, told by a press release by Charlie Health.

"As a native Texan, I've seen firsthand how devastating the lack of mental health resources is here," Charlie Health Director of Outreach in Texas Amber Buchanan said, told by the press release. "Research on rural mental health has found that 97% of Texans live in an area where there's a shortage of mental health providers. Charlie Health immediately meets the needs of teens, young adults and families who are seeking care where they are."

According to the press release, the company was founded in Montana last year and is the first-of-its-kind virtual mental health clinic providing treatment programs for high-acuity patients.

The press release reports that with its expansion into the Lone Star State, Charlie Health seeks to address the three main obstacles to mental health care: Access, availability and acceptability.

"The fact that Texas' rates of youth depression are higher than the national average and that most of these same young people are living without appropriate support, it's more than tragic," Geanne Weaver-Hepler, director of outreach at Charlie Health said, told by the press release. "It's unacceptable. Charlie Health fills a critical gap in the mental health care continuum, and I am thrilled to share its urgently-needed services with our communities in Texas."