Our Center

Working together to improve lives…for over thirty years

The Burke Center has been providing care for East Texans since it was established in 1974. Originally known as Deep East Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services, the Center was formed by the area’s county commissioner’s courts to make community care possible for citizens of this region. The Center is a 5013(c), non-profit governed by a nine-member Board of Trustees, it has grown from a small organization offering limited services to a major behavioral health provider, serving over 5,000 individuals annually in a comprehensive array of mental health, mental retardation, early childhood intervention, and substance abuse services.

Ward and Annabelle Burke have been tireless advocates for persons with mental illness or mental retardation and were instrumental in making community care possible in Texas. In honor of their lifelong commitment, Deep East Texas MHMR became The Burke Center in 1994.

Today, the Burke Center is a recognized leader in outpatient and residential behavioral health care. Accredited since 1980 by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Burke Center offers affordable care close to home.

The Center owes a deep heartfelt thanks to the T.L.L. Temple Foundation for their support throughout the years in providing funding for construction of many of our facilities that allows us to use our resources for direct consumer service.