Dallas Mental Health Resources
If you’re looking for mental health help in Dallas, you don’t have to understand the whole system before you make a call. The Mental Health Hotline can talk through what you’re dealing with and point you toward the kind of support that fits. Call 866-903-3787 any hour of the day or night.
If this is an emergency
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911.
If you are in emotional distress or thinking about suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.
In Dallas County, the North Texas behavioral health authority answers 24/7 at 866-260-8000 and can send a team to you.
The Mental Health Hotline is an information and referral service. It is not a substitute for emergency services.
If you’re looking for mental health help in Dallas, the reason could be almost anything: depression that has flattened everything out, anxiety that won’t switch off, drinking or using more than you meant to, a diagnosis you’re still learning to live with, or a stretch that has simply gotten heavier than you can carry on your own. You don’t need a referral or a diagnosis to start asking, and none of it needs to reach an emergency before it counts.
Dallas County’s crisis system starts with one number. The North Texas Behavioral Health Authority answers 866-260-8000 around the clock and keeps mobile teams on duty every day of the year; they can meet you at home or wherever things are happening, and their job is to keep a bad night from ending in a hospital or a jail cell. If you’d rather walk in, the Deflection Center at Homeward Bound on University Hills Boulevard is open 24/7 and takes people voluntarily. And the Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas has answered 214-828-1000 since 1968 for anyone who just needs to talk it through.
Cost is the other wall people hit, and it is a tall one here: nearly one in four working-age adults in Dallas has no health insurance, the fifth highest rate among the 100 cities in this series. Metrocare Services, the county’s largest provider, sees people regardless of ability to pay and works out fees on a sliding scale at the first appointment. There’s more on mental health insurance coverage if that’s the sticking point.
You don’t need to know which of these is right before you reach out. The figures further down describe Dallas in aggregate; they aren’t a description of you. Whether you’re looking for yourself or for someone you care about, the Mental Health Hotline can help you sort through the options at 866-903-3787. More Texas mental health resources are collected on the state page.
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Where to Get Help in Dallas
These are the numbers and addresses worth having. Some are for the worst night of your life and some are for a Tuesday afternoon when you just can’t face the week, and both of those are reasons to call. If you’re not sure what happens when you dial, here’s what 988 actually does.
Mental Health in Dallas, by the Numbers
Three figures that say something about the conditions people here are dealing with. They set context for the resources above rather than explaining any one person’s situation.
Figures come from the CDC PLACES 2025 release, which models city-level estimates from 2023 BRFSS survey responses for adults 18 and over. Dallas ranks 5th of the 100 cities in this series for adults without health insurance, where 1 is the highest rate, but 71st for diagnosed depression and 47th for frequent mental distress. A low diagnosis rate alongside a high uninsured rate often says more about who has been able to see someone than about how people feel. Frequent mental distress means 14 or more poor mental health days in the past month. Loneliness and social support were not measured in Texas. Model-based estimates describe a population, not any one person in it.
Working out where to start is often the hardest part, especially when you’re already worn down and the list of numbers is long. The Mental Health Hotline can talk through what’s going on and help you find the right next step in Dallas, at any hour. Call 866-903-3787 when you’re ready.