Willard State Hospital Minutes of Committee on After Care

Chronological.

This series consists of meeting minutes of the Willard State Hospital Committee on Mental Hygiene and After Care. Members of the committee were mostly private citizens interested in the well being of patients after they were discharged from Willard State Hospital . Committee members attempted to visit or otherwise contact former patients in their homes and report to the committee on their conditions. The minutes of the earliest meetings are largely taken up with establishing the goals and policies of the committee and determining the roles to be taken by members. Later minutes typically include date of meeting; members present; procedures of order; summaries of addresses by outside speakers; and reports of the members on former patients contacted in their districts.

The member reports on former patients include name of member reporting; committee case number; name of patient; date released or paroled; and narrative summary of progress. Recommendations of the committee members for further supervision, rehospitalization, or other measures are sometimes mentioned. Ongoing supervisory care, financial aid, or employment arranged by committee members for former patients is sometimes mentioned. There are some gaps in the records.

These records were transferred to the State Archives from Willard Psychiatric Center at the time of its closure in April, 1995.

Data on patients is restricted in accordance with Mental Hygiene Law, Section 33.13, relating to confidentiality of clinical records. Access is permitted under certain conditions upon approval by the Office of Mental Health.