Lessons from the periphery: psychiatry in Saskatchewan, Canada, 1944-68.
The government of the Saskatchewan Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation, when elected in 1944, established programmes for the state-funded care of all those suffering from mental illness. It enacted legislation covering the care and treatment of the mentally ill and created a division of the Department of Public Health, the Psychiatric Services Branch (PSB), which both recruited and trained psychiatric staff, meeting the need for nonmedical staff by creating a programme for the training of psychiatric nurses in Saskatchewan. The PSB devised the Saskatchewan Plan for the delivery of rural services, centred on small mental hospitals of a revolutionary design. Even though never fully instantiated, the Plan commanded worldwide attention. Saskatchewan was also remarkable for its research programmes, covering almost all aspects of psychiatry.
Mills
John A
JA
University of Saskatchewan. millsj@telus.net
D000323:Adrenochrome / Q000266:history; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history* / Q000458:organization & administration; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history / Q000628:therapy; D012525:Saskatchewan
D000323:Adrenochrome