Special Health Resources for Texas emerged from two programs joined in an effort to serve the HIV population of East Texas.In 1989, the Substance Abuse Division of Sabine Valley Mental Health and Mental Retardation identified a need for HIV prevention programming. Within two years, the prevention team had discovered several cases of HIV and a grant was written to provide services to the infected population nearer their homes. In 1991, Sabine Valley was named as the lead agency for the East Texas Council of AIDS Service Providers Consortium. This governing body distributed Ryan White and State Services monies for the treatment of HIV positive individuals in a 14 county health service delivery area.
Meanwhile, a group of concerned citizens formed AIDS Help of Texas (AIDS Help), an all volunteer agency. AIDS Help, completely supported by fundraisers, was designed to support the work performed by the newly funded HIV program. Sabine Valley provided a food pantry, medication assistance, and utility deposits, as well as a voice in the community.
In 1994, plans were developed by the Board of Directors for both non-profit agencies to transfer the HIV programs funded by the Texas Department of Health from Sabine Valley to AIDS Help. Both boards of directors now agreed that the HIV program did not mesh well with the mission of Sabine Valley, being primarily a mental health, mental retardation facility. The transfer of staff and $900,000 in grant funds was successfully transferred to AIDS Help of Texas. This was the birth of Special Health Resources for Texas (SHRT).
Three divisions of the agency have emerged, one continuing to concentrate on HIV/AIDS prevention, case management, medical, and psychosocial needs, the second concentrating on substance abuse prevention, intervention, and outpatient treatment for adolescents and the third concentrating on primary medical care through the community clinic, which is an FQHC (Federally Qualified Health Clinic) Look Alike program.. Each of these divisions have been developed to include a vast array of cutting edge treatment and care for HIV, Substance Abuse, and general community medical clients.