History

On the afternoon of May 6, 1908, a small group of people came together with Clifford Whittingham Beers (1876-1943), a 32-year-old Yale-educated gentleman with an extraordinary story to tell.

Clifford Beers’s autobiography, “A Mind That Found Itself” (1908) was a groundbreaking tale of his three-year experience in various psychiatric hospitals, where he and his fellow patients experienced horrific abuses by the inept staff.

In an attempt to effect change, Beers documented his experiences by publishing his autobiography, which aroused a storm of protest and public concern about the care of people with mental illness. In his book, Beers called for the creation of a mental health advocacy organization that would work to improve care and treatment for those with mental illness, educate the community to reduce the stigma of mental illness and promote treatment and recovery, and prevent mental illness disability and the need for hospitalization.

That afternoon, with Beers’s book and vision as catalysts, the mental health movement, which would eventually evolve into the organization known as Mental Health America, was launched.

Today, Mental Health America of Los Angeles (MHA) continues Beers’s legacy to further the concept of recovery in a host of advocacy and service programs. MHA has recognized the vital role affordable housing plays in the recovery process, and founded Clifford Beers Housing, Inc., in 2005 as an affiliate agency.