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Beyond the Bio

Beyond the Bio

Meet the JCMH Commissioners and Collaborative Council members. We're going "beyond the bio" to find out more about our members and why they are passionate about the intersection of mental health and criminal justice.

Justice Forward President and CEO

Judge Devon Anderson

Judge Devon Anderson’s path to becoming a lawyer started when she saw the cover of a magazine. She didn’t know much about law school or being a lawyer, but as a senior in college at the University of Texas at Austin, she read the cover story of a Parade Magazine issue about the top female prosecutors in the county.

Hogg Foundation for Mental Health Director of Policy

Alison Mohr Boleware

The Texas Capitol gets a lot more crowded each odd-numbered year. This January marked the start of the 88th Legislative Session in Texas, and the start of a busy season for Alison Mohr Boleware. As the Director of Policy for the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, Mohr Boleware leads the policy unit at Hogg, overseeing policy initiatives and collaborating on projects designed to catalyze change and improve the mental health of all Texans.

Disability Rights Texas (DRTx) Senior Attorney

Beth Mitchell

Beth Mitchell likely would not be an attorney for Disability Rights Texas, advocating for the rights of her clients who are in institutions, if it wasn’t for a University of Miami School of Law professor who got her interested in mental health law.

Grayson County Justice of the Peace Precinct 4

Judge Rita Noel

Hon. Rita Noel has held many roles in Grayson County prior to her appointment as Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4. Judge Noel worked for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, the county health department, and most recently, the county sheriff’s office as a Deputy Sheriff. Before that, she attended Grayson College in the 1980s where she met her husband, David.

Williamson County Juvenile Services

Matt Smith

When Williamson County Juvenile Services Assistant Chief Matt Smith began college at the University of Texas at Austin, he had a family friend who was a senior there to help guide him. That friend is Justice Jeff Brown, a federal District Judge for the Southern District of Texas and former Associate Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Justice Brown and Smith grew up in Dallas, and Justice Brown’s brother, Keith, is Smith’s best friend.

HHSC Office of Mental Health Coordination, Associate Commissioner

Dr. Courtney Harvey

When she was in middle and high school, Dr. Courtney Harvey rode the bus often in her hometown of Corpus Christi. On the bus, people would sit next to her and tell her about all kinds of problems they were having. That’s when her path to becoming the Associate Commissioner for the Office of Mental Health Coordination within the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) began.

Rowlett Municipal Court

Judge Pamela Liston

Traveling is one of Judge Pam Liston’s passions. She’s been all over the world, citing Ireland, Japan, Italy, and Rome as some of her favorite destinations. But Texas will always be home for the JCMH Commissioner & Rowlett Municipal Judge, and it has been for generations. Judge Liston is a 5th generation Texan. Her ancestor, Jacob Harrell, was the first settler of the Austin area. Her ancestors owned the land where the state Capitol sits now, then sold it and moved to Williamson County...

Tarrant County Criminal Court No. 9

Judge Brent Carr

Generations of the Carr family have answered the call to public service. Judge Brent Carr’s father worked with migrant workers, and his mother was an elementary school teacher. After graduating from the University of Tampa, Judge Carr continued his family’s mission of serving the public by joining the Marine Corps. His time in the service took him to Washington D.C., Oklahoma, Korea, and Japan. Judge Carr’s next step brought him to Houston, at the South Texas College of Law...

NAMI Texas, Executive Director

Greg Hansch

Greg Hansch became interested in mental health policy in large part because of a book he read by journalist and author Pete Earley. The book is called Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, which details both Earley’s son’s story of battling mental illness, and his own investigation into the Miami-Dade County Jail. It discusses how the criminal justice system is often used as a de facto mental health treatment system...