The Monarch Community

We know the courage and resolve it takes to commit to improving your mental and physical health and securing a better quality of life. Being part of Monarch will help you explore the underlying causes and triggers of your symptoms. We will join you in creating a sense of safety and curiosity as you gain insights, fortify your resilience, and learn how to draw deeply on your core strengths. Our therapeutic efforts are focused on developing a safe, trusting relationship that honors your dignity and power to choose.

Restoring hope and health in adults with serious mental health challenges through comprehensive and enduring care of the mind, body, and spirit. Monarch is a compassionate residential therapeutic community fostering an enhancement of the quality of life.
Our Story
The Monarch Community is a private, non-profit, residential treatment facility that provides both short- and long-term treatment for adults with serious mental illness. In close collaboration with Houston Methodist Hospital, Monarch was formed to enhance and expand the services provided by its predecessor, The Shaunty Healing Center (originally the Mental Health Co-op). All clinical services are provided by Houston Methodist Hospital staff who serve full-time at Monarch. J. Christopher Fowler, PhD serves as Executive Clinical Director responsible for shaping the treatment model and guiding the quality of care for all residents. Benjamin L. Weinstein, MD is Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Houston Methodist, and serves as a consulting psychiatrist and sits on the Board of Directors of the Monarch Community. Located in the Historic Montrose District of Houston, Monarch is a therapeutic community that specializes in the treatment of severe psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Monarch’s combination of medication management, intensive psychotherapy, and an immersive community program serves adults from Texas and across the nation.
Our Mission

The Monarch Community’s mission is to provide the best coordinated specialty care in a therapeutic community to achieve social and occupational success for our residents.

Monarch provides treatment that is grounded in the understanding that social and emotional bonds are crucial to breaking through isolation, loneliness, and alienation. Our community provides supportive, therapeutic engagement for residents through a series of step-down programs that promote a fulfilling integration into their world of family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

This safe, fully-open facility allows residents to take greater personal responsibility when symptoms abate or to access additional support when needed. Clinicians collaborate with residents and families to form a coordinated specialty care system. The goal is to maximize functional capacity, reduce symptoms, and improve physical health and quality of life—all with around-the-clock nursing care available. To achieve this objective, personalized medical interventions target symptoms of mental illness while intensive group, individual, and family therapy strengthen emotional resilience and understanding of self and social relationships. Over time, the warm, supportive, therapeutic community achieves social and vocational success for Monarch’s residents.

Our Values

The Monarch Community shares the I CARE values adopted by its clinical partner, Houston Methodist Hospital: Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence.

Integrity

Compassion

Accountability

Respect

Excellence

Testimonials

My 37-year-old son came to The Monarch Community in the fall of 2019 with a diagnosis of Autism, Schizo-Affective Bipolar type. Due to the sudden loss of his father, he had started exhibiting aggressive behaviors. After several admissions to a psychiatric hospital, I realized a long-term care facility was needed for him that addressed medication management, behavior redirection, and counseling, all in one place. The Monarch Community was not intimidated by a complex diagnosis or by an adult with a developmental disability. He has been able to get medication and behavioral management, grief therapy, and counseling in a controlled residential setting. After the first few weeks of my son’s arrival, I saw remarkable improvement in his psychological and physical well-being. For the first time in his life, he is thriving. Additionally, The Monarch Community has provided a safe environment for him during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am blessed to have found such a wonderful place at such a difficult time in our life.
Mother of a Resident
The Monarch Community has been a Godsend for our family. We contacted this facility after our son was a resident at several other facilities. His condition was not stable and although some of the prior facilities were more nicely furnished and fancier they were not effectively helping our son and they were substantially less affordable. During the time that our son has been a resident, we have gotten to know most of the key staff. Most have worked at this facility for years and they are a dedicated group. They coordinate well with each other and with the families. They get to know their clients and they structure individualized plans. They create a warm and welcoming environment. They meet regularly to review the progress and clinical information related to each client and they are flexible and creative in their approach. The food is ample, nutritious and appetizing. As compared to the other facilities that we’ve been through, the Monarch Community has been the MOST EFFECTIVE and the MOST reasonable. We have lived through the hard times and grief associated with having a loved one with mental illness and we feel great relief and appreciation for all the progress and stability that The Monarch Community has brought to our loved one and our family.
Father of a Resident

This is a place of healing on your time. I have been here twice. Both times the staff Psychiatrist took care of my medications and leveled me out. And my meds are challenging at best. The day staff are amazing. The night staff are even better. The therapists all care about what they are doing, or they wouldn't be there. This is not a last ditch effort to make progress, but rather is the diamond in the rough. If you live in Houston or the surrounding area, this can be the treatment center for you. Learning about life skills as simple as personal hygiene to job coaching where you prepare from application to interview to reminders about where the job is and what you are doing. As I said before, I graduated twice and was allowed to return home to my family. The treatment goal is not to return home for everybody. Sometimes the treatment goal is just to graduate. But everyone has their own treatment goal(s).

Former Resident