Bob Brown\u2019s service to My Health My Resources of Tarrant County began when he heard that former commissioner Marti Van Ravenswaay\u2019s office was in search of a lawyer to serve on the board.<\/p>\n
Brown is a lawyer and also had the personal experience of having a cousin who had an IDD \u2014 an intellectual or developmental disability.<\/p>\n
Due to his background, Brown expressed his interest in being a board member and was appointed. Nearly three decades after he began, his service has extended beyond MHMR.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBob represents MHMR, translates MHMR and connects people to its mission,\u201d said Catherine Carlton, chief of staff for MHMR of Tarrant County, in an email to the Fort Worth Report. \u201cHe leads with his professional expertise and deep care for people most in need. He is a champion of our employees and our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s long-term commitment to the county\u2019s mental health community resource earned him a nomination for 52 Faces of Community<\/a>, the Fort Worth Report\u2019s weekly series highlighting unsung local heroes.<\/p>\n Brown is a graduate of the University of Texas Law School, where he took a course about mental health commitments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got to actually do some appearances in court for people who were being committed under the statutes in effect at the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Brown has used his legal experience to help veterans, participating in the pro bono legal organization Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans. He is also a veteran \u2014 he attended the United States Military Academy and served in the Army for five years.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBob represents MHMR, translates MHMR and connects people to its mission. He leads with his professional expertise and deep care for people most in need. He is a champion of our employees and our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n Catherine Carlton, chief of staff for MHMR of Tarrant County<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n At the organization\u2019s clinics, Brown advised veterans on legal issues such as adoption or landlord-tenant disputes.<\/p>\n Brown helped to start and served on the board of directors of the Veterans Coalition of Tarrant County, a nonprofit that brought together organizations serving veterans so they could collaborate and fill gaps in services.<\/p>\n He currently represents MHMR of Tarrant County on the Texas Council of Community Centers.<\/p>\n Traveling to Austin with representatives of other mental health authorities statewide, he advocates for the needs of MHMR of Tarrant County by meeting with legislators or their staff and by testifying in front of congressional committees.<\/p>\n A particularly memorable effort came from the early 2000s, when the council lobbied against efforts to turn the work of the centers over to private insurance companies.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what impact my testimony had, but I know that the Texas Council was able to get that stopped,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He also previously served a term on what is now called the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, doing similar work in Washington, D.C., representing organizations in Texas and other nearby states.<\/p>\n For Brown, he is driven to volunteer because it allows him to make an impact beyond himself, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think mainly that that\u2019s kind of something that I can give back to the community and to those people who are the most vulnerable people in our state, our country,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n McKinnon Rice is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Her position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n