The Network of Behavioral Health Providers was created in 2004 when United Way of Greater Houston convened a group of local mental health and substance abuse agency Executive Directors at the request of Good Neighbor Healthcare Center and asked them to consider the formation of an entity which could work together to address shared concerns and challenges. That group, The Behavioral Health Providers Network (BHPN) operated with Family Services of Greater Houston serving as its fiscal agent for its first two years and was supported by funding from United Way of Greater Houston, The Rockwell Fund, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities.

During that time, the Network also received foundation support for specific collaborative projects including a Shared Psychiatric Resident Program (supported by the Cullen Trust for Healthcare) which provided half and full day Baylor College of Medicine psychiatric residents to Network member agencies. In 2005-06, the Network was asked by United Way to carry specific key responsibilities in the coordinated Project Resiliency response effort for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita victims. When a major source of public funding for treatment beds in private hospitals was in danger of being lost in 2007, a group of Network members representing both private AND public agencies briefed lawmakers in Austin on the dire potential consequences of their pending action, and the funding was retained.

In 2007, the Network changed its name to the Network of Behavioral Health Providers and received its IRS nonprofit status designation. As a stand-alone entity, the Network collaborates in all its work with both individual Network member agencies as well as other local umbrella entities. For instance, in 2009 the Harris County Healthcare Alliance received funding in the first round of Hogg Foundation for Mental Health Public Policy Grants. That award was used to support a major effort to reconceptualize the local behavioral health service delivery system. Network Executive Director, Dr. Marion Coleman, served as the contract project manager on the project and numerous Network members served in key leadership roles during its implementation.