Monthly Monday Primary Care Talks is dedicated to interviewing guest speakers from across Texas, covering a wide range of primary care topics. Each month, TPCC will bring you informative episodes as your go-to resource on all things primary care in Texas.

Mental Health Awareness Month is observed every May to increase awareness about the critical role mental health plays in our overall health. In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, you will hear from Diane Arms and her work at The Council on Recovery. She shares her perspectives on addiction and recovery, and about her work helping primary care recognize addiction as a chronic medical disease.

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‍Diane Arms

Director of Community Behavioral Health, The Council on Recovery

Diane Arms currently serves as the Director of Community Behavioral Health at The Council onRecovery and oversees the Center for Co-Occurring Disorders. She has dedicated her career to serving the Latino population in the health field, including mental health and substance use. She received both her bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees in Clinical Psychology from The University of Texas atEl Paso. Arms has served in roles such as Director of Health Integration andDirector of Prevention and Counseling. She has worked facilitating leadership meetings amongst local Federally Qualified Health Centers to proactively identify, address, and resolve systemic issues. She has successfully implemented programs such as Multisystemic Therapy in a Mental Health Setting and Transition Age Youth, assisting transitioning clients from children’s services to adult services in the mental health system. She spearheaded the transition of in-person clinical and behavioral health services of a healthcare agency to telehealth services to accommodate social distancing and stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19. Previously funded projects consist of identifying relationships between stress, depression, and anxiety to substance use and parenting styles in young adult Latinos, investigating the effects of chronic illnesses on children’s health-related quality of life in the Colonias, an underserved and impoverished neighborhood along the Texas-Mexico border, and exploring effective decision making aids on colorectal cancer for the agingLatino population. She is a fellow of the American Leadership Forum, Class 44,a graduate of the Mujers de HACE program, 2019, and an advisory committee member and trainer for the National Hispanic and Latino Mental HealthTechnology Transfer Center.  

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Questions for Diane Arms?
Feel free to connect to her here: darms@councilonrecovery.org.

‍Questions, comments, or feedback for the TPCC team?
We would love to hear what you thought of today’s episode! If you would like to participate in our Monthly Monday Primary Care Talks as a guest or recommend a guest, please contact Nishi Singhal at nsinghal@texashealthinstitute.org.‍

‍Missed a previous episode?
View Monthly Monday: January 2024 with Dr. Laurel Williams

View Monthly Monday: February 2024 with Elena M. Marks

View Monthly Monday: March 2024 with Dr. Stacy Ogbeide

View Monthly Monday: April 2024 with Dr. Ryan D. Van Ramshorst and Emily Rocha