Dovie Ruffin

Spindletop MMR Services is a community mental health and mental retardation center located in Southeast Texas. It provides a variety of behavioral health care services to people with mental illness, mental retardation, developmental delays and chemical dependency. Currently there are 40 community mental health and mental retardation centers in Texas. The community center system was established after the passage of the Texas Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act of 1965. The purpose of community centers is to provide services to people with mental disabilities in an effort to allow them to live and work in the community. Spindletop MHMR Services was formed September 1, 2000 when Beaumont State Center and Life Resource joined forces. The center provides services in Jefferson, Orange, Hardin and Chambers counties and serves approximately 8,000 consumers a year. The center employs more than 400 full-time staff and is governed by a nine-member board of trustees appointed by the county commissioners' courts in the four-county area.