DALLAS — After a groundbreaking ceremony that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Children’s Health hosted on Dec. 5, construction has started on a new psychiatric hospital in Dallas — the Texas Behavioral Health Center at UT Southwestern.

“Texas is making an unprecedented investment in helping people with serious mental illness. Throughout the state we are expanding, renovating and rebuilding our state psychiatric hospital system from the ground up. When complete, this much-needed hospital will offer hope, healing and recovery for the most vulnerable Texans living in the surrounding Metroplex,” said HHS Executive Commissioner Cecile Erwin Young.

The state’s plan is to increase inpatient psychiatric beds, and this new facility will make that achievable.

HHSC and UT Southwestern Medical Center have partnered together on the project to design and construct the new facility, along with community stakeholders. The completion date is estimated to be in 2025.

Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Legislature approved $282.5 million in funding for the mental institution. While at it, Children’s Health contributed $200 million toward the facility’s pediatric wing, which will only treat children and adolescent patients. The hospital will have 296 beds, with 200 for adults and up to 96 reserved for pediatric patients.

“We have been working on many fronts in Texas to address the growing need for mental health services,” said state Sen. Jane Nelson. “Securing funds for this hospital was a wise investment that will have a major positive impact on our ability to care for Texans in need of treatment.”

“The new hospital fills a great need in our community for more psychiatric hospital beds. I am proud to have worked on this project since the beginning of the 85th Legislature in 2017,” said state Sen. Royce West. “I am particularly excited that this facility will provide patients a true continuum of psychiatric care—both in-patient and out-patient—to help treat those persons suffering from severe mental illness.”

“The new Texas Behavioral Health Center at UT Southwestern is an exciting and long overdue addition to our region’s ability to address mental health challenges,” said state Rep. Toni Rose. “The full range of patient services offered by the new hospital combined with UT Southwestern’s world-class research truly marks a new day for mental health care in North Texas.”