From "Alienist-Run" Asylum to Neighbourhood Campus--You CAMH a Long Way, Baby

Despite a subway delay due to some signalling problems and a streetcar that had to disgorge 50-plus day-camp kids, MicroSkills participants, including Mike and Jenan, made it under the purple awning of Unit 4 of CAMH on the dot.


Mr Arthur McCudden was on hand to show us around the expansive grounds of Canada's premier clinic and research centre for people with mental and biochemical disorders. First off, we saw a historical display about what was then called the "lunatic asylum." Built in 1850, initially to house 200 inmates outside the then city of York, the complex was the largest in the whole of Ontario, or Upper Canada, as it was called. Exceeding the asylum's capacity from the outset, inmates were treated by "alienists" (as they were alienated by society and psychiatry had not been established) and served as entertainment on weekends. It had the only buildings with indoor plumbing and also served as a military lookout in case the Americans attacked.


Today, the whole approach has changed. Modern psychiatry seeks to reintegrate patients into the outside world, and the new CAMH buildings and programs coming up all around are designed to do that. With volunteer assistance, patients are able to do banking, clothes shopping, gym exercise, library reading, and other functions of life in-house, and soon, they may be employed in that new integrated neighbourhood to work in regular stores open to the public.

Then Nine Ninety-Nine Queens, now 1001.

The tower above the water tank was a handy lookout over Lake Ontario in case the American imperialists came!

Nurses no longer dress in uniform.

Of course, there will be an area for forensic psychiatry, for those detained and undergoing court assessment for suspected criminal activity. But the free, carefree environment of today's CAMH is about to become even more open and welcoming, with no stigma.

After Arthur bade us goodbye, we had coffee, served by one of the patients. Would you like to lend a patient a hand in trying on clothes at the "store"? Or be his or her basketball partner? Or do something else for CAMH? Talk to Jenan or Mike, or check out their volunteer website!