Val Verde County marks Mental Health Awareness Month as demand grows

Val Verde County used its Mental Health Awareness Month proclamation to put a sharper focus on a question residents often face in private: where to get help, how fast, and at what cost. Commissioners took up the item during their regular term meeting on May 21, 2025, at 9 a.m. at the Old County Court-At-Law Building in Del Rio, placing the proclamation among the court’s regular business.

Alejandra Garcia, the clinical lead for the Del Rio office of West Texas Counseling and Guidance, told the court, “May is a very important month for us.” Garcia, a licensed professional counseling supervisor and registered play therapist, said she wanted to draw attention not only to awareness, but to the services available locally. West Texas Counseling and Guidance opened its Del Rio clinic in 2018 with one full-time counselor and 31 clients, 28 of whom needed financial help to pay for therapy. By 2025, Garcia said, the office had grown to 514 clients and 5,289 sessions, a sign of rising demand in Val Verde County.

Garcia said the clinic uses grants and a sliding scale to keep therapy within reach. Veterans, active-duty service members and their dependents can receive therapy at no cost, and the agency also provides veterans’ case-management services. For residents in immediate danger, Garcia said the clinic handled 122 “zero suicide crisis appointments” in 2025, cases that are always prioritized for immediate intervention.

The local outreach fits into a wider crisis network. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is a nationwide system of more than 200 local crisis centers available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by call, chat or text. Callers can press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line and press 2 for Spanish-language support. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says suicide remained one of the leading causes of death in the United States, with more than 49,000 deaths in 2023, or about one every 11 minutes. Mental Health Month has been observed each May since Mental Health America founded it in 1949.

For residents looking for help close to home, Hill Country MHDD Centers lists a Val Verde County mental-health center at 1927 N. Bedell in Del Rio, with a crisis hotline at 1-877-466-0660 and service coordination at 830-775-2610. West Texas Counseling and Guidance is at 906 E. 11th St., Bldg. 2, in Del Rio. Garcia also said staff will provide free zero-suicide presentations to schools, organizations and other groups that want to reduce stigma and improve suicide-prevention awareness.

The proclamation gave the county a moment to recognize Mental Health Awareness Month, but the larger message was practical: in Val Verde County, access to care depends on knowing where to turn, and those resources are being stretched by real and growing need.