The Monarch Community

We know the courage and resolve it takes for residents (and families) to come through the door and commit to improving your mental and physical health, and quality of life. We hope that during your time with us, you explore with a sense of safety and curiosity, gain insight, enhance your resilience, and learn to draw deeply on your strengths. Our therapeutic efforts are based on a dedication and respect for your dignity and choice.

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 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.  Dr. Benjamin L. Weinstein, Chair of Psychiatry at Houston Methodist, serves as a consulting psychiatrist and is 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 schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Monarch’s combination of medication management, intensive psychotherapies, and an immersive community program serves adults from Texas and all over the country.
Our Mission

The greatest risk to mental health is losing touch with our shared humanity, social connections, and physical health. Monarch Community provides a residential treatment center 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 allowing for a fulfilling integration into the Montrose community of Houston.

Available around the clock nursing care in a safe, fully open residential treatment center allows residents to take greater personal responsibility when symptoms abate, and step up for additional support when needed. Clinicians team up 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. To achieve this, personalized medical interventions target symptoms of mental illness while intensive group, individual, and family therapy enhance emotional resilience and understanding of self and social relationships. A warm, supportive therapeutic community with a skills-based program achieves social and vocational success for residents.

Our Values

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
The Monarch Community is a voluntary residential treatment center in the heart of Houston’s Montrose neighborhood specializing in the treatment of adults with long-standing complex psychiatric illness.