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Border Region
Behavioral Health Center is a
non-profit, tax-exempt contract agency
of the state of Texas that is governed
by a nine-member board of trustees
appointed by
the county commissioner
courts of Webb, Zapata, Jim Hogg, and
Starr Counties.
The Laredo State Center was established
as a facility of the Texas Department of
Mental Health and Mental Retardation in
1979 by the 66th Texas Legislature to
provide mental health and mental
retardation services and supports to the
citizens of Webb,
Jim Hogg, Starr, and
Zapata counties. Previously, from 1969
to 1979, the center operated as a mental
health outreach clinic of the Rio Grande
State Center, headquartered in
Harlingen.
Laredo State Center’s administrative and
outpatient offices were located in a
former Air Force-Base Hospital. The 73rd
Texas Legislature approved bond funding
for construction of a modern facility
through a rider to the General
Appropriations Act. Groundbreaking
ceremonies for the new facility were
held in January 1996, on 14.5 acres of
land provided in a trust to the Center
by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services in 1982. The Center was
built to be culturally sensitive and
designed to accommodate growth in the
number of persons served.
On September 1, 2000, the Laredo State
Center transitioned into a community
center. Community Centers such as
Border
Region MHMR, were established in local
communities throughout Texas to provide
mental health and mental retardation
services to persons most in need of
services – especially those individuals
identified as priority population i.e.
primarily at risk of hospitalization or
State School placement; or exiting from
one of these facilities). The driving
principal was that persons with mental
illness and persons with mental
retardation should be educated and live,
work, and play in the same setting as
all Texans – in their community near
family and friends.
In 2011, Border Region MHMR
changed its
name to Border Region Behavioral Health
Center. Today, the Center employs 270
people to serve 3597 clients with a
budget of 13.9 million dollars. Border
Region Behavioral Health Center is
designated as a Local Mental Health
Authority and a Mental Retardation
Authority.
This designation reflects the
delegation of the State’s authority for
planning, policy development,
coordination, resource allocation and
resource development for and oversight
of mental health and mental retardation
services in the local service area.
Border Region Behavioral Health Center does not
discriminate against race, color, religion, sex
(including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation),
parental status, national origin, age, disability, family medical
history or genetic information, political affiliation, military
service, or other non-merit based factors. These protections
extend to all management practices and decisions, including
recruitment and hiring practices, appraisal systems, promotions,
training, and career development programs.
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