The National Mental Health Foundation, Inc. was established in May 1946. It was a layperson's movement toward an improved, representative, and democratic mental health program, especially through stimulating research and providing information regarding the causes and prevention of mental afflictions and the needs and care of the mentally ill. The Mennonite Central Committee joined with the American Friends Service Committee and the Brethren Service Commission in helping to finance its operations. Orie O. Miller served on its Board of Directors until it dissolved, and various Mennonites filled key staff positions. On 13 September 1950 it was merged with the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and the American Psychiatric Foundation into the National Association for Mental Health. It owed its origin largely to the stimulus provided by CPS (Civilian Public Service) men of  Mennonite, Brethren, and Quaker connection, who had worked in mental hospitals and as a consequence got a vision of the need for a better type of care for the mentally ill.   

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 813. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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