by Ismael M. Belkoura, Fort Worth Report
April 26, 2026
Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here.
Khadijah and Derrick Johnson began providing behavioral and mental health services for children and families in east Fort Worth just under a year ago. Texas Care Stop 6 offers counseling, skills training and support services that helps individuals with anxiety, attention issues and depression. The business is currently a verified provider with Care Solace, a coordination platform connecting families to behavioral health services.
The Fort Worth Report spoke with Khadijah Johnson about how the business first got its start. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Ismael M. Belkoura: Could you tell me a little bit about yourself, your upbringing, how long you’ve lived in Fort Worth and why you started your business?
Khadijah Johnson: I grew up in New York in the projects. I saw my mom go through different phases in her life where she was an addict, and then constantly seeing my younger and older brothers go through incarceration. Once I became an adult, my family was still living in the projects, and then not so long afterwards, my younger brother was murdered, and it still haunts us.
(My husband and I) moved out here to Texas, and we saw an opportunity on how we can help. We saw all the underprivileged people that were living here and all the different shelters and stuff like that. And we wanted to make a difference. So what my husband and I did was, we opened up a mental health and behavioral health center.
With Texas Care, we help with skills training and case management. When a family is going through issues, like if they’re behind on their rent, we try to help to figure out what resources we can find in the community. If they need help with food, we try to find pantries. We also try to help other case managers. If we have clients and they’re in a shelter, we try to help them find homes and resources.
We’re just about helping the community in any kind of way we can. We mostly deal with mental health, behavioral health, skills training, psychotherapy and rehabilitation. But when we see families that need targeted case management, we go with them and we try to figure out what’s the necessity of that. We try to assist them wherever we can.
Belkoura: When did you and your husband move out here to Fort Worth?
Johnson: We kind of made a decision around January last year. In September is when we officially opened, and in December, we kind of just took off and just started helping families.
Belkoura: Texas Care is a franchise model. So I did want to be clear, You and your husband are the full owners of the business?
Johnson: Yes. While Texas Care is a franchise model, this particular location that we have, this is our clinic. When I say, “We would love to branch out and work with other community centers and other programs,” that is our clinic trying to do that. We are branding and using their name, so it’s still Texas Care fundamentally doing it. But that’s us reaching out personally.
Belkoura: You talked a little bit about not focusing specifically on behavioral health, but then also looking at other aspects of what ends up contributing to behavioral health. Why is it important, from your perspective, to not just kind of be siloed in when it comes to thinking about providing behavioral health resources and being more holistic when it comes to helping folks?
Johnson: I always tell parents they have to be vulnerable with us. They have to tell us what’s going on. They have to allow us to be able to help them. Yes, we are here for mental and behavioral health services. But if you’re going through trauma, if you’re going through problems at home, problems at school, if you’re having problems with eating, problems with finding a job, everything kind of trickles down. That’s where our target case management really comes into play, because I let them know even if you only wanted to enroll your child into our services for behavior issues, for them acting out in school, for them being bullied, if they’re not being able to maintain essential functions in day-to-day life, all that will eventually trickle down.
Belkoura: In the first couple of months that you have been here, what has the community response been like to the service that you’ve been able to provide?
Johnson: At first, because no one knew of us, no one heard of us, it was kind of like, “I don’t know you. What is this service that you provide?” The services that we provide, they don’t have to come to us, we go to them. We let them know, “Hey, we are a community-based clinic. We come and meet you wherever you feel comfortable.” So if that’s your home, if that’s at school — as long as the school allows us —if that’s at a library, if that’s at a park, and if that’s coming into the clinic, you still have that option too. But the options for us are endless, because we also offer telehealth.
Belkoura: I know you guys also have hosted some community events?
Johnson: We had a grand opening at Meadowbrook Park over by the community center. There was another event that we did over by the Hurst Texas Care. And we’ve lately been going out to resource fairs and Medicaid events. We have now begun offering services at True Worth Place. What we now do is, twice a month, we volunteer our services down at True Worth Place and offer our mental health and behavioral health services. We would like to start offering some type of skills training, like a cooking class.
Belkoura: What do you see, as you finish out this first year, as your plans for Texas Care Stop 6?
Johnson: What I would want in the future is to be able to partner up with other mental health behavior services. To get with JPS Health Network, MHMR of Tarrant County, and to be a bigger referral source. I would also love to be able to open up more sites, where we can actually open up and help people at more locations.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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