About Us

Years ago, Gulf Bend began with a vision . . . one place, close to home, that would offer comprehensive mental health and intellectual/developmental disability services for all the people of our region. With that vision, communities came together to make Gulf Bend Center a reality, a unique non-profit, comprehensive mental health facility managed locally to meet the needs of the citizens of our communities.

Gulf Bend Center was created under the Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act of 1965, which established a statewide system of locally, governed public community mental health and intellectual & developmental disability centers. In 1970, after considerable research and planning by community and state leaders, the Center opened its doors to the people of Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Jackson, Refugio, and Victoria counties. In 1974, Lavaca County joined the local service area.

Today, Gulf Bend is the only Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic in this 7-county region.  For the first time in history the BHC industry has a state and national accreditation standard for Community Behavioral Health.  And in January 2021, Gulf Bend Center was awarded this standard.

In late 2021, Gulf Bend took the next step forward by continuing to change and improve their intake and services environment to offer customers a level of care unlike anything this community has ever seen. The Center has changed the intake process by streamlining the system and offering services based on need and expanded services to address a wider array of mental health conditions. Gulf Bend is making access to care more accessible by offering transportation services in the seven-counties served plus the use of technology to help meet customer needs.

Each year, the Center serves approximately 1,900 adults with mental illness, 550 children and adolescents with an emotional disturbance or mental disorder and 200 people with developmental disabilities. Since its opening, the Center has provided services to over 50,000 people in the Crossroads Region, improving their quality of life and their personal relationships with family and friends.