Mental Health’s Role in Public Defense Since 2007, TRLA has offered public defender (PD) services. In fact, TRLA is the largest provider of PD counsel in Tex-
as, serving fourteen southern counties out of four offices.
or outside support system realize, “I’ve been where you are.” This first-hand connection allows them to build trust.
One unique aspect of PD at TRLA is our Mental Health Peer
Bob Strause, a peer specialist with TRLA since 2021, works pri-
Since 2017, the program has served Bee, Live Oak, McMullen, and
experientially credentialed, so my life on both sides of ad-
Specialist program, which operates out of our Beeville office.
marily with clients dealing with addiction. He explains, “I’m
Refugio counties.
diction is my college. . . Both sides of my recovery and addiction are used to help others.”
Access to mental healthcare is
“. . . by the time I found out that there
a severe problem for Texas resi-
dents. Texas’s most extensive
was a way out of my addiction, I had
mental health facilities are in
almost given up. I was 52 years old,
jails, with Dallas County and Har-
and every time I tried to quit, I was
ris County jails taking the lead.
Indigent populations are historically affected by mental health
struggles at a much higher rate: 40% of those booked in local jails
and 35% of prison inmates, as of 2013, had received public mental healthcare in the past. TRLA’s
unable to, and it just – my life was devolving and getting more and more unmanageable until somebody swooped in when I was in the darkest day of my life and showed me that there was a solution to my problem. So now, being
two Mental Health Peer Special-
able to use the Public Defender’s office
ternatives to incarceration, such
has been really, really good for me.”
ists work with clients to find alas mental health treatment or addiction recovery services.
as a vehicle to do the same for others – BOB STRAUSE
With TRLA since 2017, Red Gil-
bert is triple certified as a Mental Health, Reentry, and Recovery Support Peer Specialist. These credentials, along-
side his lived experience of incarceration and reentry, make Red uniquely positioned to support all our PD clients. As Red puts it, clients who often have no visitors
Pictured: Red Gilbert, TRLA Menatal Health, Reentry, and Recovery Support Peer Specialist.
In the face of significantly rising prison populations, mental
health support like that provided by TRLA has gained traction in the
wake of a broader sweep of reforms instituted by the 80th Texas
Legislature in 2007. These reforms
have strengthened alternatives to incarceration and contributed
to reducing the recidivism rate in Texas to one of the lowest in the country.
The difference made in clients’
lives is incalculable. Bob’s experience both as a peer and a peer
specialist underscores the impact of this program. Connecting indigent populations
with resources to address their mental health and recovery needs is vital to reducing imprisonment and re-offense. Furthermore, as Bob describes, working in our PD division offers “the opportunity to put a ray of hope into people’s lives . . .”.
Pictured: Bob Strause, TRLA Peer Specialist.
OUR FIGHT 08
