The courtyard of the Texas Behavioral Health Center, a new psychiatric hospital in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
A highly anticipated state psychiatric hospital is opening in Dallas, and elected officials and hospital leaders alike hope the new facility will help to ease chronic bed shortages across the state.
The hospital, called the Texas Behavioral Health Center, was built with $384 million in state funding plus another $261 million provided by Dallas-based Children’s Health.
UT Southwestern Medical Center is operating the facility, which is near Harry Hines Boulevard and Medical District Drive.
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The Texas Behavioral Health Center is a 292-bed facility, according to the state Health and Human Services Commission, with room for up to 200 adult patients and 92 youth patients. The first adult patients are expected at the end of June. There’s not yet a clear timeframe for the first pediatric patients, but hospital leaders estimated December.
The Dallas hospital is the first state psychiatric hospital in the Metroplex. The next-closest state hospital is in Terrell. Many patients arrive at state hospitals from the justice system, after being deemed incompetent to stand trial or found not guilty by reason of insanity. The Dallas facility also has beds for civil patients.
The Texas Behavioral Health Center’s construction and opening is part of a broader state investment in mental health services. The state Legislature has invested $2.5 billion in the state hospital system since 2017, according to Texas Health and Human Services.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (left) shakes hands with Dr. Daniel Podolsky, president of UT Southwestern Medical Center, after speaking during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Texas Behavioral Health Center, a new psychiatric hospital in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
At a Tuesday afternoon ribbon cutting event, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the hospital is the result of bipartisanship at the state level. Patrick placed the hospital opening in the context of other state efforts, including the recent creation of a dementia research institute.
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“We have invested your tax dollars into the health of Texas,” Patrick said.
“The state of Texas has to help those who need help, whether it’s with Alzheimer’s or cancer or heart disease or mental illness.”
A strained system
State hospitals aim to provide mental health services to people who are in crisis. The facilities are designed to stabilize patients so they can be safely referred to outpatient services.
Dr. Kala Bailey, interim chief medical officer at the Texas Behavioral Health Center, talks to the guests at the in-patient unit during a tour of the new psychiatric hospital on June 16 in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
The new Dallas hospital — along with other renovation and construction projects across the state — aim to relieve chronic shortages for psychiatric inpatient beds. The bed shortage has meant that people with urgent mental health needs struggle to access care, and often end up in emergency rooms or backed up in jails.
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A late 2025 report from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission provided details on the wait list for forensic inpatient beds — meaning folks coming from the justice system. The latest data showed there were nearly 500 people waiting for maximum security beds and nearly 1,300 people waiting for non-maximum security beds.
The average time on the non-maximum security wait list, according to the most recent data, was 178 days. That’s nearly six months. The average time until admission for folks on the maximum security wait list was even longer, at 202 days.
Interventional psychiatry unit at the Texas Behavioral Health Center, a new psychiatric hospital in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
Of the Dallas hospital’s 200 adult beds, a total of 125 will be forensic beds for patients coming from the criminal justice system. Dr. Kala Bailey, the interim chief medical officer for the hospital, said that patients in forensic beds are likely to stay at the hospital for three to four months at a time.
Other adult patients may stay 30 to 60 days, Bailey said, and the pediatric patients will have a wide variety in stay length. Bailey said the hospital can accept pediatric patients as young as three years old, although she expects that about two-thirds of pediatric patients will be teens.
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The hospital
The brand-new Dallas hospital has been designed and constructed specifically for psychiatric patients.
The building is massive, at more than 450,000 square feet. Rachael Rome — a designer from the architecture firm HKS — said the building is 3 feet longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall.
The exterior of the new Texas Behavioral Health Center.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
Because the hospital was purpose-built — as Bailey described it, “designed from a blank piece of paper” — it looks different than psychiatric units that are embedded in other facilities.
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The adult wing and pediatric wing are fairly similar to each other. Every patient bed in the building is in a private room with a private, en-suite bathroom.
A patient room in the adult wing at the Texas Behavioral Health Center.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
Each patient room also faces out onto a courtyard, where patients can get fresh air and exercise or relax.
A patient room at the Texas Behavioral Health Center.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
On the adult side, one of the large courtyards features landscaped hang-out space. Another adjoined courtyard is more activity-focused, with built-in corn hole, a half-basketball court, two ping pong tables and a small putting green.
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For patients who don’t want to or are not able to go all the way outside, the building features “porches” — screened-in areas where patients can still get fresh air and sunlight.
A ping-pong table and basketball court in the courtyard of Texas Behavioral Health Center, a new psychiatric hospital, in Dallas.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
Throughout the building, there are also exercise rooms, sensory rooms, a barbershop and salon, a teaching kitchen and classroom space for children who might need to continue their schooling while hospitalized.
A hair salon at the Texas Behavioral Health Center.
Chitose Suzuki/The Dallas Morning News
Dr. Daniel Podolsky, the president of UT Southwestern, described the hospital as “forward-looking” in its embrace of state-of-the-art treatment approaches.
“It’s a restorative building, informed by the best science,” he said.
The state is planning a number of other state hospital expansions, including a new, 75-bed hospital to open in Amarillo and a new, 50-bed state hospital to open in Lubbock. Those two facilities are scheduled to be completed in 2027.