Ten-gallon hats. Belt buckles. Longhorn steer. Everything’s bigger in Texas, they say. But excess is not always a positive thing, particularly when it comes to alcohol and drug use. Like many states across the US, Texas continues to be impacted by the ongoing opioid epidemic, pervasive alcohol misuse, and a surge in underage binge drinking. The good news, however, is there is no shortage of free addiction recovery resources in Texas for those seeking to reclaim the healthy, happy, dependency-free lives they deserve.
Drug Statistics in Texas
Addiction Nonprofits in Texas
Homeward Bound Inc
This non-profit organization provides reduced and no cost addiction recovery services to low-income individuals and families across Texas. Their services include detoxification and inpatient, outpatient, and aftercare programs.
The Council on Recovery
This nonprofit organization provides addiction education, prevention, and recovery programs for youth, adults, and families, including community-based programs and outpatient clinical care. They also offer complementary therapies, including yoga and meditation classes.
Adults & Teen Challenge of Texas
This faith-based, 12-step-focused nonprofit organization provides long-term residential recovery programs for adolescents and adults, including gender-separate programs and recovery residences for women with children. They specialize in recovery-focused life skills development, including academic and vocational training and supported employment.
Recovery Resource Council
This nonprofit organization provides addiction education, prevention, and treatment for uninsured, underinsured, and indigent persons across North Texas. Their services include medical and mental health assessments, personalized care planning, and supported housing and employment. Specialized programs for veterans, homeless persons, families, and persons with co-occurring addiction and mental illness are available.
Texas Addiction Hotlines
The Texas division of the National Rehab Hotline, provides access to free resources available by phone and text, including free referral programs to connect callers to treatment programs in their city or county. Referral services for callers in crisis are available.
Harm Reduction Programs
Austin Harm Reduction Coalition
This program provides comprehensive harm reduction education and intervention services for clients experiencing opioid dependency, including overdose prevention programs. Specialized services are available for clients with or at risk of contracting blood-borne illness, including HIV and Hepatitis C.
Corazon San Antonio
This program provides comprehensive harm reduction services, including mobile outreach programs, at no cost to clients. They offer peer coaching, access to recovery specialists, sterile needle exchange, and overdose and infection prevention support and education.
Texas Harm Reduction Alliance
This nonprofit organization offers comprehensive harm reduction services for persons experiencing opioid addiction. Services include medical screenings and treatment, infection prevention programs, sterile syringe distribution and safe needle disposal, naloxone dispensing, and related support.
Texas Targeted Opioid Response
A division of Texas Health and Human Services (HHS), they offer community-based education, prevention, and treatment services for persons experiencing or at risk of developing opioid addiction. Specialized services are available for vulnerable populations, including pregnant and postpartum women, justice-involved and incarcerated persons, injectable drug users, and persons with co-occurring disorders.
TMA Opioid Crisis Resource Center
Created and administered by the Texas Medical Association (TMA), the program provides information for healthcare providers, first responders, attorneys and legislators, and related stakeholders. They also offer access to community-specific addiction prevention recovery resources, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) programs and overdose and disease prevention programs.
Government Grants & Resources
Texas State Rehabs
This resource, administered by the Texas Health & Human Services Commission, provides information about and connections to state-funded addiction recovery programs across Texas, including detox and crisis intervention services and inpatient, outpatient, sober living, and aftercare programs.
Medicaid and CHIP–Texas Health and Human Services
This state-funded program provides medical, mental health, and addiction recovery benefits for low-income youth and adults across Texas. They also provide specialized programs for pregnant and postpartum women, persons with co-occurring conditions, and other vulnerable populations.
Adult Substance Use Services
A division of Texas Health and Human Services, the program connects Texas residents of all ages to local resources, including state-funded programs offering a complete continuum of care, including withdrawal management, inpatient programs, outpatient care, and sober living support. They also offer access to specialized, state-based programs for vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, mothers of young children, and persons with co-occurring disorders.
Behavioral Health Services Grants
The Behavioral Health Services division of Texas HHS offers a variety of grant programs for Texas residents seeking addiction recovery services, including specialized grant programs for justice-involved persons, veterans and families, and persons with co-occurring addiction and mental illness.
Be Well Texas
This multi-year grant program funded by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission provides subsidies for young adults requiring recovery housing services. The grant includes housing vouchers for gender-separate sober housing as well as programs for special populations, such as formerly incarcerated persons.
College Addiction Resources
Substance Use & Recovery Services
A program administered by the Texas Christian University (TCU) system, they offer addiction education, prevention and recovery support for current TCU students. Their programs also provide mental health care and referrals for additional services as needed.
Recovery Services
Administered by Texas A&M University, this website provides information and access to addiction recovery resources within the Texas A&M University system and the Bryan/College Station campus community. Resources include addiction education, prevention, and recovery programs and mental health care support services.
Counseling and Mental Health Center
A service provided by the University of Texas system, CMHC offers mental health care and addiction education, prevention, and recovery support for students. They also provide connections to off-campus, community-based services as needed.
Center for Students in Addiction Recovery
A program offered by the Texas Tech University system, they provide addiction education, prevention, and recovery services for students, as well as access to mental health care.
Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE)
This national program provides training, resources, and support for administrators, faculty, and stakeholders at post-secondary campuses across the State of Texas and beyond.
LGBTQ+ Resources
LGBTQIA+ Resources
This website provides information and access to addiction recovery programs providing specialized services for members of the LGBTQIA+ community across Texas. They also offer information regarding addiction prevention and mental health.
Support and Crisis Hotlines
Administered by the nonprofit organization, Equality Texas, this website offers information and access to a wide variety of federal, state, and local resources for LGBTQ+ individuals and families, including an array of mental health and addiction recovery programs for LGBTQ+ youth and adults.
LGBTQ+, Family, and Substance Use
This webpage, administered by the Partnership to End Addiction, provides information on mental health and substance use disorders (SUD) and their impact on LGBTQ+ youth and their families. They also offer access to mental health and addiction recovery programs geared toward LGBTQ+ youth, adults, and families.
Mental Health Resources–LGBTQ+ Community
A website administered by the nonprofit Grant Halliburton Foundation, they offer access to federal, state, and community-based mental health and addiction recovery resources for LGBTQ+ youth, adults, and families. Their resources include crisis hotlines and no cost treatment referrals.
Texas Center for Justice and Equity
This program provides access to mental health and addiction recovery services for LGBTQ+ youth and adults, including specialized services for justice-involved persons, homeless and housing insecure persons, and persons with co-occurring conditions.
Veterans Programs
Mental Health Programs for Veterans
Administered by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, they offer access to mental health and addiction recovery programs for veterans, military personnel, and families across Texas. This includes crisis intervention, peer counseling, and comprehensive clinical care.
Mental Health Resources
Administered by the Texas Veterans Commission, this website offers access to specialized mental health and addiction recovery programs for military personnel and veterans. They offer access to toll free crisis hotlines and resources for special veteran populations, including women veterans, military families, and justice-involved veterans.
Texas Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Program Locations
Administered by the US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), this website offers descriptions and contact information for VA programs providing addiction recovery services, including inpatient, outpatient, and supportive living
Texas Veterans Network
This statewide organization connects military personnel and veterans to more than 250 community organizations and government agencies, including access to local mental and behavioral health care services for veterans, active duty military, and their families.
211 Texas
211 Texas provides access to a wide array of low and no cost services for military personnel, veterans, and their families, including crisis hotlines, counseling and outreach, and referrals to state and local mental health and/or addiction recovery programs.
Indigenous & Tribal Programs
American Indian Center of Houston
This website, administered by the American Indian Center of Houston, provides access to low and no cost resources for American Indian and Alaska Native youth and adults in the greater Houston area, including linkages to mental health and addiction recovery programs for Native youth, adults, and families.
IHS
Administered by the Indian Health Service, this website enables viewers to search for behavioral health programs serving American Indian and Alaska Native populations in cities across Texas and around the US.
Family Program for Native American Families
This free online program administered by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation provides addiction education, prevention, and recovery support for Native American and Alaska Native individuals and families. Their programs are culturally responsive and draw on Native healing traditions and practices.
We R Native
This website provides information and resources regarding mental health care and addiction prevention and recovery for American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents and young adults. In addition to educational videos and chat groups, they provide access to culturally-responsive, age-specific mental and behavioral health services.
988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline
Administered through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), they offer culturally-responsive mental and behavioral health resources for American Indian and Alaska Native persons, including crisis intervention hotlines and access to local addiction education, prevention, and recovery programs throughout the state of Texas and beyond.
Drug Laws in Texas
Texas Drug Possession Laws
This resource provides comprehensive and up-to-date information on Texas drug statutes, including information on the possession, manufacturing, and distribution of controlled substances in Texas.
Texas Overdose Good Samaritan Laws
Texas’s Good Samaritan Laws protect individuals from criminal prosecution when they call for assistance in the event of an illicit drug overdose. The laws are designed to encourage bystanders to call for emergency services, rather than delaying care due to fear of being prosecuted for illegal drug activity.
Texas Laws and Penalties
This resource provides comprehensive details on Texas statutes and penalties related to the possession of controlled substances and drug paraphernalia, with linked references to Texas law codes.
Cannabis and the Law
This resource provides information and explanations of the state of Texas’ cannabis laws, including statutes on the possession of cannabis. The site also discusses recreational marijuana prohibitions and penalties.
Adult Substance Use Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)
Administered by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, this site describes state statutes relating to medication assisted treatment (MAT) programs and their lawful administration in facilities across Texas.