Roger B. Burt Ph.d.

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health?: a Retrospective Set in Baltimore's Inner City and a Call for a Reassessment of Mental Health Roger B. Burt Ph.d.

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health? is the story of the beginning of the community mental health movement in the 1960s as displayed through experiences in the inner city of Baltimore in one of the first programs. It portrays bold, groundbreaking initiatives taken by a young staff to deliver services to the impoverished residents while fulfilling their preventive mission. The story is given life in the form of a memoir by one of its earliest staff members and conveys the lessons learned, the viable service model developed as well as the shortcomings of the professional community. The lessons learned are outlined along with the presentation of issues of philosophy and management. Although the movement as originally intended foundered as the result of professional conservatism and changes in national commitments, this book brings the experiences forward in time and demonstrates the applicability of service and consultation activities today as they apply both to treatment and prevention. The implications of this story also serve as the basis for a call for a fundamental re-evaluation of what mental health is and to what it should be committed in the future.