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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s just a regular Wednesday at the Smithville Public Library, and that means there\u2019s a lot going on. Past the regular patrons in the main reading room, a back room bustles with activity: around a dozen women \u2014 some fairly young, some well into their golden years \u2014 are gathered on folding chairs, stretching their arms and legs into careful poses.<\/p>\n
Smithville resident Cheryl McNeil says it was a game changer when the library started offering these free \u201cchair yoga\u201d classes. Without them, she might have to drive out to Bastrop to take a class like this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just needed to get moving and stretching. I hadn’t been doing all that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A second group of women sits behind the yogis, knitting hats for local veterans who are going through chemo. They call themselves \u201cThe Knitwits,\u201d and they\u2019ve been meeting for decades \u2014 but Library Director Judy Bergeron said she purposely co-scheduled the chair yoga class with the knitting circle earlier this year.<\/p>\n
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Laura Skelding for KUT News<\/p>\n
Tracie Dzenowski, left, and Rosie Johnson share a laugh after a chair yoga class.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few of them have come to join us from knitting, but others have been a little more shy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we have noticed that when we’re doing the leg stretches and stuff like that with the chair yoga, their legs are moving under the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smithville is one of eight Central Texas libraries receiving funding from the St. David\u2019s Foundation as part of the Libraries for Health<\/a> initiative, a pilot project aimed at boosting mental health support in rural communities. Since 2021, it has allowed libraries like Smithville\u2019s to incorporate programming like yoga and grief groups, and has provided funding for peer support specialists to provide one-on-one mental health support to library patrons.<\/p>\n Meeting people where they are<\/b><\/p>\n Abena Asante, a senior program officer at the St. David\u2019s Foundation, says the idea came after a community health needs assessment showed there was insufficient mental health support across the five Central Texas counties the organization covers.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking at the behavioral health workforce, we know that there’s a shortage of mental health providers, not only here in urban communities, but also more so in rural [communities],\u201d Asante said. \u201cIn rural [communities], the gap is compounded with transportation issues and so many other barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n Asante said her team wanted to identify existing assets in rural communities that could serve as access points for mental health support. Libraries came up \u201cagain and again,\u201d she said. Most communities already have libraries and rely on them \u2014 not just for books, but for all kinds of resources.<\/p>\n That\u2019s certainly true in Smithville, a small town located about 35 miles Southeast of Austin. Bergeron says for some people, the library is the only place they have access to computers and the internet.<\/p>\n Laura Skelding for KUT News<\/p>\n The Smithville Public Library.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not just coming in to use the computer, but it’s coming in because I have to fill out a critical social security benefits form, and I don’t know how to do it, and how can I get help?\u201d Bergeron said.<\/p>\n Other people who walk through the door might be veterans unsure how to access their benefits, people looking for help recovering from addiction or unhoused people looking for a space to warm up or cool off.<\/p>\n But library staff just aren\u2019t always equipped with the time or training to help. That\u2019s where Libraries for Health comes in; starting in 2021, the St. David\u2019s Foundation gave grants to libraries in Smithville, Taylor, Elgin, Martindale, San Marcos, Buda, Del Valle and Jarrell, allowing them flexibility to fund the resources they thought would be most helpful, from yoga to books on mental health and community health fairs.<\/p>\n The foundation also provided funding for a peer support specialist \u2014 someone with lived experience who can talk patrons through mental health challenges and help them find resources.<\/p>\n In Smithville, that\u2019s Britany Khan Flores. She says she has experience with addiction and mental health challenges that help her identify with library patrons and build trust.<\/p>\n Laura Skelding for KUT News<\/p>\n Britany Khan Flores, mental health peer specialist at the Smithville Public Library.<\/p>\n \u201cI can tell a story \u2026 or hey, just share, \u2018You know, when I was in that situation, this is what I did,\u2019\u201d Flores said. \u201cI can’t say it’ll work for you, but it’s a possibility. If you\u2019d like to try it, we can maybe strategize on how to get you there.\u201d<\/p>\n The specialists were originally overseen by the nonprofit Via Hope, followed by Austin Mental Health Community when Via Hope shuttered last year. TaKisha Moore, an expert on the peer support model who oversaw the Libraries for Health peer support specialists through the end of 2025, said these non-clinical support figures are uniquely positioned to make a difference in rural communities. While access to clinicians can be important, Moore said trust often has to be built before people are ready to take that step.<\/p>\n \u201cThey feel more comfortable when they are just speaking to a regular person \u2014 someone that they feel is not like that therapist or that psychiatrist who has the power and ability to write on a piece of paper and maybe change their life in some kind of way,\u201d she said. \u201cI think this is a very low-staticky way to meet people where they are, with the least amount of friction and pushback to support and help.\u201d<\/p>\n A new library mindset<\/b><\/p>\n Up north at the community library in Jarrell, there are currently two peer support specialists who work with different groups that make up key portions of the growing Jarrell community.<\/p>\n \u201cOne works with young families and parenting and parents who have children with disabilities, and the other works with more of the senior citizens,\u201d said Susan Gregurek, the library\u2019s director.<\/p>\n That second specialist also works with veterans, American Sign Language speakers, and with people dealing with grief, anxiety and depression. Gregurek says the peer support specialists have dramatically expanded what the small library is able to do.<\/p>\n Laura Skelding<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n for KUT News<\/p>\n From left, library purchasing clerk Lisa Duty, Rosie Johnson, Judy Inman, library director Judy Bergeron and Jessica Cleghorn take part in a chair yoga class at the Smithville Public Library. <\/p>\n Seeing the impact of the Libraries for Health program also expanded Gregurek\u2019s idea of the library\u2019s role in the Jarrell community, a small town that has experienced rapid growth in recent years. She began reaching out to other organizations and nonprofits to set up partnerships. Representatives from Foundation Communities sometimes come by to assist patrons with enrollment in SNAP, Medicare and Medicaid. AGE of Central Texas comes to teach programs on personal finances and identifying banking scams.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw that we were becoming the hub of health, human, social services, business and educational services in the community, and so we rebranded from \u2018Jarrell Community Library\u2019 to \u2018Jarrell Community Library and Resource Center,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The pilot program for Libraries for Health ended in 2025, but the St. David\u2019s Foundation extended more funding to participating libraries, hoping to give them a runway to find long-term, sustainable funding for their new programming. Most will need to find additional funding sources by the end of 2026, either from grants or as part of city and county budgets.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the St. David\u2019s Foundation is trying to spread the word about Libraries for Health beyond Central Texas. Asante said a public toolkit<\/a> for the program posted online has already been downloaded over 1,000 times.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773715331_75_.jpeg\"\/)
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