Hello everyone,

My name is Samantha Meyer and I am the founder of ATX Mental Health Fund and a mental health counselor in Austin. I just wanted to write a quick note introducing myself and thanking you for your support as we launch our fundraising efforts.

Yesterday ATX Mental Health Fund began fundraising to provide direct cash assistance to Austin residents who need help covering expenses related to mental healthcare.

We created this mutual aid fund to respond to two trends that are happening right now:

1. COVID-19 is negatively impacting people’s mental health.

2. Because of the pandemic, people are losing financial resources (jobs, insurance) that ensured their access to mental healthcare.

Our community is now facing a crisis where folks lose access to mental healthcare right when they need it most. Mental healthcare was prohibitively expensive for many people before Covid, and the pandemic has made things much worse.

I had the idea for ATX Mental Health Fund back in July, when like many other mental health professionals and community members, I saw the looming crisis and thought “Well, this is bad. This is really, really bad.”

But while I was doomscrolling, I saw another trend emerge, one that gave me hope that things could get better. I saw the Austin community spring into action with mutual aid projects, grassroots advocacy, and vital protests. Volunteering with Austin Mutual Aid, ATX Free Fridge Project, and Undoing White Supremacy Austin made me see what is possible when we take collective action to meet the needs of our community. Together, we decided that we cannot wait for the powers that be to decide that we are worthy of survival and care. We can take care of each other.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this project and helped it come together. This fund would not exist without the awesome team that created it.

If you feel comfortable, please consider donating to our fund or sharing the link to our fundraising page. Thanks to our fiscal host Open Collective Foundation, all donations are tax deductible.

Tl;dr: ATX Mental Heath Fund is now fundraising provide mental healthcare to the Austin community!

In solidarity,

Samantha