AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas State University was recently awarded a federal grant of more than $1.3 million to help improve its crisis intervention programs.
The $1,390,000 grant will go toward improving security through crisis intervention programs like violence prevention and crisis response training for law enforcement and school resource officers, firearm safety training for community members, and data collection, technology, and information-sharing to reduce violence, according to a press release from Sen. John Cornyn’s office.
According to Cornyn, a portion of the grant was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s STOP School Violence Program, and it was authorized by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act . That act was co-sponsored by Cornyn and signed into law on June 25, 2022, following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde.
TXST offers a range of mental health services on campus, including having medical professionals available to provide evaluation and medical management of common mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and ADHD, according to the university’s website.
The university also has a crisis intervention sector of its mental health services. It has urgent appointments available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for students experiencing thoughts of harm to themselves or others or who have recently experienced a traumatic event, its website says.
“The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is about mental health, school safety, and ensuring that the tragedy that struck Uvalde was not in vain,” Cornyn said in the release. “I’m grateful this law is giving schools across our state the resources needed to keep students, staff, and teachers safe.”