Robert Lee Sutherland Seminars

Dr. Robert Lee Sutherland, first director of the Hogg Foundation, brought people and ideas together for 30 years to promote innovation and collaboration for mental health initiatives in Texas. These seminars honor Sutherland and continue his legacy of convening stakeholders to discuss critical issues in mental health. The Hogg Foundation has convened these seminars biennially since 1978.

Seminar XVII (2012)
Spiritual Crossroads: Faith, Mental Health and the African American Community

On May 15 and 16, 2012, nearly 350 key stakeholders from around the state, including consumers and family members, faith leaders, mental health advocates, policy makers and service providers met in Fort Worth, Texas for the 17^th biennial Robert Lee Sutherland Seminar, “Spiritual Crossroads: Faith, Mental Health and the African American Community.” The conference took place at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Seminar XVI (2010)
A Call to Action: Achieving Mental Health, Recovery and Wellness Together

The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health hosted a one-day conference on Oct. 7, 2010 in East Texas to create a common
knowledge base and dialogue about mental health, recovery and wellness. Conference attendees learned about experiences with recovery and wellness from mental health consumers, youth and their families. Mental health leaders in East Texas and at the state level discussed how we can all work together to achieve this goal.

Seminar XV (2008)
Integrated Health: Connecting Body and Mind

Publication: Connecting Body & Mind: A Resource Guide to Integrated Health Care in Texas & the U.S

More than 400 stakeholders met in Austin in September to discuss bringing to Texas an emerging national movement to improve people’s health by treating physical and behavioral illnesses together. The Hogg Foundation convened the conference to share the knowledge and experience of more than 50 national, state and local physical and behavioral health care experts, providers and consumers with experience in systematically coordinating physical and behavioral health care.

Seminar XIV (2006)

Transforming Mental Health Services in Texas: Building Bridges between Cultural Competence and Evidence-Based Practice

About 150 people attended the fall seminar, which focused on how to modify and use evidence-based practices to provide treatments that are consistent with the cultures of diverse populations. The goals of the seminar were to provide stimulating sessions on cultural competence and evidence-based practices, and to promote linguistically- and culturally-appropriate treatment, training and education.

Seminar XIII (2004)

Safe and Appropriate Behavioral Interventions: Changing the Culture of Care

Publication and DVD: “Safe and Appropriate Behavioral Interventions: Changing the Culture of Care”

This fall seminar focused on standards and practices for using emergency interventions for persons with behavioral disorders. By convening participants from a number of agencies and localities, the seminar aimed to begin building a common language and a data collection framework to better implement federal restraints and seclusion standards within the context of quality service provision in Texas. About 240 people attended the first day, which included presentations from local and national experts and involved interactive sessions based on descriptions of hypothetical situations. The second day took a different format, with about 50 people working in groups to discuss specific kinds of situations and identify constructive responses as an alternative to seclusion and restraint.

Seminar XII (2002)

Juvenile Offenders with Mental Illness

Publication: "Juvenile Justice and Mental Health: Appropriate Assistance, Breaking Barriers, Collaborating Communities"

Community teams met in September to develop plans to address the needs of juvenile offenders with mental illness. The goal of the seminar was to promote coordination and collaboration of juvenile justice agencies, local and state law enforcement, mental health officials and community members in effectively identifying, treating and supervising juvenile offenders with severe emotional disturbances in a manner that promotes public safety, public health, institutional order and maximization of available resources.

Seminar XI (1998)

Ethnic Minority Mental Health in Texas

Publication: "Cultural Competency: Practical Guidelines for Mental Health Services"

This seminar focused on identifying the most pressing mental health needs facing ethnic and racial minorities in Texas and proposing strategies to address those needs. The outcomes of the seminar helped shape the foundation's minority mental health initiative to improve access to and quality of services and impact public policy. Focus groups were held with mental health consumers and families, service providers, and administrators in Austin and Houston representing African American, Hispanic, Native American and Asian American/Pacific Islander populations.

Seminar X (1996)

Mental Health for Children in Houston

A “Convening of Community Leaders” in Houston in November brought together key stakeholders committed to improving the quality of life for Houston’s children. The seminar assembled those Houstonians most concerned with children’s issues to encourage the collaborative design, funding and implementation of a model program for children that could be replicated in other urban centers. A major public forum, the collaborative funding alliance known as the Greater Houston Collaborative for Children, grew out of the seminar and consisted of more than two dozen funding agencies and providers of children’s services.

Seminar IX (1994)

Psychiatric Assessment of Mexican-Origin Populations

Publication: "Psychiatric Assessment of Mexican-Origin Populations"

This two-day seminar convened a diverse group of experts from Texas and Mexico to discuss adapting various psychiatric and diagnostic instruments for use in the border region. Seminar goals were to encourage behavioral scientists to discuss research and training opportunities using the same psychiatric assessment techniques; to develop collaborative research and training activities; to discuss strategies for implementing trans-cultural psychiatric research in the border region; and to provide an overview of past and current collaborating research efforts.

Seminar VIII (1992)

Shared Opportunities for Schools and Communities

Publication: "Shared Opportunities for Schools and Communities"

The overall goal of the September seminar was to foster improvement in human development and establish a vision of the school of the future as a site for multiple services to support students and their families. The main purpose of the seminar was to share recent information about the nature and effectiveness of school-linked services, policy options for implementing such programs, and future prospects for parents and teachers to participate in educational reform. More than 300 leaders from various professional fields throughout the state examined school-linked services for children and their families, ranging from prenatal care through high school.

Seminar VII (1990)

Mental Health Research in Texas

Publication: "Mental Health Research in Texas: Retrospect and Prospect"

In connection with the Hogg Foundation's 50th anniversary, this scientific meeting was held in February to highlight the best Texas has to offer in advancing scientific frontiers in the field of mental health and underlying behavioral sciences. It brought together almost 200 Texas researchers with the goals of (1) systematically reviewing recent and current mental health research in Texas and identifying both strengths and challenges; (2) broadening and strengthening networks for collaboration among mental health researchers in the state, and (3) developing strategies to enhance the quality and increase the amount of mental health research in Texas.

Seminar VI (1988)

Community Care of the Chronically Mentally Ill

Publication: "Community Care of the Chronically Mentally Ill"

This fall seminar brought together key individuals committed to improving the care and treatment of people with chronic mental illness in Texas. The 150 invited delegates from around the state participated in four task groups that reviewed and discussed the activities and concerns of the foundation’s Commission on Community Care of the Mentally Ill.

Seminar V (1986)

Mental Health Issues of the Mexican Origin Population in Texas

Publication: "Mental Health Issues of the Mexican Origin Population in Texas"

This seminar focused on mental health services for the Mexican-origin population in Texas, including the incidence and prevalence of mental health problems and associated risk factors among people of Mexican origin, prevention and treatment programs that are most suitable, and the impact of economics and political decision-making process on mental health services for this population. The seminar convened a select group of scholars, practitioners and state leaders for four half-day sessions over a two-day period to offer an overview of present mental health needs and services, identify the most pressing problems, and propose viable solutions for these problems.

Seminar IV (1984)

Looking Forward: Texas and Its Elderly

Publication: "Looking Forward: Texas and Its Elderly"

This seminar focused on current issues and future dilemmas related to the aging population in Texas. Invitees were a mix of age, economic status, education levels and ethnic groups living in various sections of the state. They shared a common interest in the situation of the aging iand a determination to generate positive results on behalf of those older members of the population.

Seminar III (1982)

Houston’s Children In Crisis & Ima Hogg Centennial

Publication: "Houston's Children in Crisis"

This seminar combined a centennial celebration in July in honor of Miss Ima Hogg with the third Sutherland Seminar on Houston’s children in crisis. More than 1,000 people attended the pre-seminar event commemorating Miss Ima's birthday and highlighting her contributions to and interest in mental health services for children and families in Houston. The second day involved 250 attendees participating in five breakout sessions to discuss responsibilities for children who are ill or have disabilities, who come from diverse cultures, who are educationally and vocationally unserved, and who are acting out or have behavioral disorders.

Seminar II (1980)

Private Initiative in Support of Public Purpose - Mental Health in Texas

Publication: "Private Initiative In Support of Public Purpose"

This seminar convened about 800 people in October to discuss how the private and public sectors can better help one another meet their common goals, to examine effective roles for foundations in mobilizing grass roots support for mental health planning, and to discuss and evaluate roles for the private sector in the area of mental health.

Inaugural Seminar (1978)

Mental Health For The People of Texas

Publication:"Mental Health for the People of Texas"

The first seminar brought together more than 1,000 delegates for three days in May to examine the implications for Texas of the President’s Commission on Mental Health Report. First Lady Rosalyn Carter was the keynote speaker.