Originally a volunteer effort of the Jail Ministry Program Committee at the First Presbyterian Church of Houston to address the prison overcrowding situation in Texas, Homeward Bound was chartered in the state of Texas as a private, non-profit corporation in July, 1980.

Homeward Bound's first program was a pilot project in the Dallas Metropolitan area serving first offenders and probation violators who appeared to the courts and probation departments to need stability and employment rather than a prison sentence.
Experience with these client populations resulted in the identification of substance abuse and/or chemical dependency as a major contributing factor to their criminal behavior patterns.

The program design was then modified to incorporate the principles of recovery and resources of twelve-step peer support groups as a primary service component.

In 1989, Homeward Bound obtained a TCADA "Intensive Residential" treatment facility license for the Trinity Recovery Center, 1015 Browder Street, and began providing chemical dependency treatment services for the pretrial and probation client populations. In 1991, the TCADA license was expanded to incorporate a non-acute detoxification service component, primarily in response to the growing "Crack" Cocaine epidemic.

In 1995, due to increasing demands from the courts and probation department for services for female offenders and probationers, Homeward Bound established and obtained TCADA licensing for a second facility, the Trinity Recovery Center for Women, at 912 N. Peak Street. In 1996 we consolidated our programs at the former Oak Cliff Medical –Surgical Hospital with TCADA licensing for Level 1 Residential, Level 2 Residential, Level 3 Outpatient, and Level 4 Outpatient services at both sites. As noted above, historically Homeward Bound's client populations have been adult criminal justice system referrals, both first offender/pretrial defendants and probationers at risk of revocation.

Homeward Bound has a 26-year history of working in the criminal justice - mental health - substance abuse network of the greater Dallas area. Homeward Bound has had contractual arrangements with the Dallas County Court System and the Dallas County Community Supervision and Correction Department (probation) for twenty-two (22) years.

We also have had contracts with the Texas Youth Commission (8 years) and the Denton County Community Supervision and Correction Department (7 years) to provide specialized substance abuse detoxification and intensive treatment programming. We were awarded the Collin County TAIP and CSCD Intensive Residential contracts in 1997 and more recently the Grayson County TAIP contract. We also provided the Dallas area, U.S. Probation and Pretrial Department counseling services to monolingual, Spanish-speaking substance abusers in a supportive outpatient setting for two years.