Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-11-14
CLINIC
OPENS FOR USE
OF CITY'S i'll
DR.. William E. Wright Has
I. Charge of New Free
Institution

Free information and advice on
any problem affecting mental health
will hereafter be available to the
citizens of Harrisburg and vicinity
through a free mental clinic which
opened for the first time this after
noon. DR.. William e. Wright, of
Harrisburg, will have the direction
of the work. On one afternoon each
week he will be present in the rooms
of the Bureau of Medical Inspection in
the School Administration bti:ding
in Chestnut street to consult with
those who are laboring under any
mental distress or handicap.
At a meeting of representatives os
more than a score of .he social, civic
and medical societies of Harrisburg
held in the School Administration
building yesterday permanent Men
tai Hygiene Committee was orgapiz-
ed. DR.. C. r. Phillips will act as
chairman and Austin Miller as secre-
tarX of the organization.
Dr. c. r. Phillips and Austin Miller.
signed the call for the meeting. pre-
sided. The purpose of the clinic was
explained by Kenneth l.. NJ. Pray,
secretary of the PublicN Charities
Association of Pennsylvanil, which
was instrumental in organizing the
movement in this city and elsewhere
in the state. He emphasized the fact
that the aim of the work was not
merely to give aid to those who were
actually suffering from any 4nrm OF
mental disease or defect, but that
its chief purpose was to offer advice
and help to those who We're being
hindered or hampered in their regu-
lar work by mental difficulties that
were hardly recognized by them or
those around them.
He indicated the many ways in
which the clinic would be useful, for
example, to social agencies and to
those who were served by them. In
the course of their work, ne said,
they often came upon individual and
family problems Of poverty, sickness,
or even worse, which were due not
so much to economic or physical
causes as to a wrong mental attitude
or mental incapacity TO perform the
normal duties. Such persons could
be greatly helped If the mental fac
tor in the case could be promptly
identified, and the work of the
agency, as well as the happiness Of
the individual, would be greatly
furthered
The enthusiasm Nth which the
clinic project was received by the
representatives of these agencies was
clearly shown by the remarks of
superintendent Dow1es, of the pub
lie schools, who showed how the
work of the clinic would help tc
guide the teachers in the treatment
and training of thei. exceptional pu-
pills. Austin Miller. who explained
that much of the problem of secur-
ing regular attendance arose from
difficulties that could be reached, in
part at least, by the clinic; Miss M.
G. Gottshall, and Miss Mary Il. Mil
Ter, representing the Associated Aid
Societies, the Visiting Nurse Society,
and other social agencies, who gave
specific instances arising in their
work where the mental examination
and treatment would be an important
help in meeting social problems; DIR.
Jesse Lenker, and Henry b. McCcr-
mick, who gave the project the em-
phatic endorsement of the medical
profession in Harrisburg and pledged
on behalf of the hospitals the most
earnest cooperation.
Professor Norbert j. Melville, Di-
rector of the Psychological Laoora-
tory of the School of Pedagogy in
Philadelphia and special secretary of
the Public Charities Association, gave
very interesting slde-Iight Oh the
work of the clinic as a result Of his
experience in the mental examination
of recruits at army camps. He point
ed out that the eXperince of the army
and navy demonstrated that by q
little foresight and by the thorough
study of each applicant for enlist
ment, the government had been able,
not only to weed ont of it's forces
those who would be liable to failure
under stress in The field, but had
also proved the possibility of adcptin :
the treatment and training of those
who were found to he suffering frcm
mental handicap to the individual
needs and capacities of each man,
thereby restoring many to useful
service tither in the army or at home.
The clinic aimed, he said, simply TO
apply the same principles and eX-
perience to civil life.