North Texas State Hospital

Have you heard we’re hiring?

Join a team that cares.

We have openings for:

  • Food Service Workers
  • Building Maintenance Workers
  • Custodians
  • Psychiatric Nursing Assistants
  • Nurses
  • Social Workers
  • Physicians

We offer outstanding benefits and career advancement opportunities.

Learn more at our careers page.

About Us

North Texas State Hospital — part of the HHS Health and Specialty Care System — consists of three campuses in Wichita Falls and Vernon.

These campuses provide inpatient psychiatric services to adults, children and adolescents. The hospital also provides psychiatric services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Our Campuses

The campuses serve people who have been screened and referred by their local mental health authority. They provide child and adolescent psychiatric services, adult forensic psychiatry services, and competency restoration to adults and adolescents involved in the criminal justice system.

Services Provided

  • Adult forensic services
  • Adolescent forensic services

Vernon

Main Campus

4730 College Drive  
Vernon, TX 76384 
940-552-9901  
Fax: 940-553-2500

Adolescent Forensic Program

8407 FM 433W  
Vernon, TX 76384  
940-552-9901  
Fax: 940-552-1007

The campus serves people who have been screened and referred by their local mental health authority.

Wichita Falls

6515 Kemp Boulevard  
Wichita Falls, TX 76308  
940-692-1220  
Fax: 940-689-5538

North Texas State Hospital Tours

Limited tours are available by calling the Community Relations Office at 940-552-4185. Tours must be arranged at least 72 hours in advance and approved by the superintendent. Tours of the Vernon campus adult and adolescent programs are limited due to additional patient privacy restrictions. If you have questions or requests please email Ronna Akins.

Visitor Information

There are a few things everyone should know before visiting us:

  • Before your visit, please contact the patient’s treatment team to coordinate any visits or releases.
  • There’s a speed limit of 15 mph on all campus streets.
  • Weapons, contraband items and tobacco products are prohibited on all campuses.
  • Our security officers will greet you and provide specific instructions for visitors and guests.

We hope you come visit us and your loved ones in our care soon!

Visiting Hours

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, visitation hours may be restricted. Please contact the patient’s assigned social worker in advance to make visitation arrangements, or contact each facility for the latest visitation information.

Helen Farabee Family Living Center and Vernon Paradise House

The Helen Farabee Family Living Center at North Texas State Hospital’s Wichita Falls campus and the Vernon Paradise House offer rooms for friends and families visiting residents of the Wichita Falls and Vernon hospital campuses. Rooms must be reserved and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Volunteer Services Council

We’re proud to work with the Volunteer Services Council to enhance patient care and make connections in the community. To learn more and volunteer, visit our Volunteer Services Council website.

Our History

Forerunner to the North Texas State Hospital, the state of Texas created the Northwest Texas Insane Asylum in 1917 on a 940-acre tract just south of Wichita Falls.

By 1925, the name changed to Wichita Falls State Hospital, and the facility included a modern surgical operating room and equipment. At the height of the Great Depression, the hospital was a self-sustaining community with an agricultural enterprise that included farming and raising hogs, chickens and cattle. Most of the staff lived on campus.

World War II brought about a wartime shortage of available employees with only 234 staff members serving a patient population of about 2,400. Staff worked 12-hour shifts six days per week to cover the needs of the facility that had grown to include 35 brick buildings and 60 frame structures.

Following the war, the staff jumped to over 500 by the early 1950s, and in 1951, Vernon State Home was activated as a branch of Wichita Falls State Hospital. The Vernon facility was located at the now unused Victory Field Army Air Corps training field and served about 400 patients. The 1950s and ’60s saw the addition of a volunteer coordinator and social workers to the staff. Administration added major renovations to the facility as well.

In 1971, the Texas Legislature chose Vernon as the site for a statewide treatment facility for drug addiction in youth. After major renovations, the facility received its first patients in 1974. Over time the mission changed to helping the underlying mental health issues that often lead to addiction.

The 1980s saw Vernon State Hospital redefined as the state’s forensic psychiatric facility, resulting in expansion of the hospital’s service area from 23 to 53 counties.

In 1983, Vernon State Center’s name was changed to Vernon State Hospital (VSH) to maintain continuity throughout the larger system.