LifeWays Marks 50 Years of Community Mental Health
The state of Michigan has come a long way in the last five decades when it comes to the mental health of its residents. There are many who remember a not-too- distant time when our mentally ill family members were locked away in institutions. Too many within the mental health system have first-hand experience of our bleak national mental health history. Little effort was done to provide adequate mental health treatment alternatives to institutionalization until 1963, when President John F. Kennedy called for a “bold approach” to mental health care by signing the Community Mental Health Act into law. This law led to the creation of community mental health centers throughout the U.S. that would offer comprehensive mental health care and would allow people currently housed within state institutions to return home. States and counties were just beginning to align themselves to meet the Community Mental Health Act standards. Fortunately, Jackson and Hillsdale counties were better situated than most to meet their communities’ needs. A pioneer in providing mental health services, the Beth Moser Clinic, a small clinic serving the mental health needs of the children of Jackson and Hillsdale counties, had been operating for nearly a decade and had…