Cause Index

Cape Mental Health

Cape Mental Health was founded in 1913 following an international wave of developments in mental health care and a dramatic change in the treatment of mental illness.
Historically, people with mental disabilities were treated with fear and loathing. They were kept in chains; thrown into prisons with lepers, criminals and murderers; subjected to corporal punishment, shock treatment, bloodletting; or hidden away by families who considered them a shameful secret.
(Read More) The mental health wave gradually shifted from hospitalisation and institutionalisation to today's model of encouraging those with mental disability to function within the community through counselling, support, and rehabilitation.
As the oldest mental health organisation in South Africa and a founding member of the World Federation for Mental Health (formed in London in 1948), Cape Mental Health is proud of the ground-breaking work it has done in the past 106 years, especially in poorly resourced communities.

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