Evening star., 1960-06-05
New Venture in Psychiotry
Miss Doniger Pounds q Halfway House
BY NATALIE d. SPINGARN
Contributing Writer


Where should he go? What
should he do? Joan Doniger,
who has worked in and
around mental hospitals for
a dozen years, has provided
an answer, at least in the
Washington area.
This is Woodley House, a
so-called Halfway House."
where such a person can live
while he receives psychiatric
treatment and works in the
community. 1t is one of Is
or so pioneer residence
houses in the country seek
ing new ways of dealing with
serious psychological prob
lens outside of overcrowded
understaffed mental hos
pitals.
Miss Doniger's point of
view about the comfortable
town houSe-reSidence club
she heads is simple: Every
day out of the hospital is a
good day." And her object:
ITO have residents lead the
life they want to lead"
Fourteen people have lived
at Woodley House since it
opened its doors a year and
a half ago. Some of them
have been in mental hos
pitals. Others are trying to
stay out.
Uniquely, all are encour-
aged to work outside of the
house, and the more they
work-either at a paid job,
a volunteer job or at school
the less their residence fee.
Limited Capacity
Woodley House has a ca
pacity, at any one time, of
about 10. Though admission
is dependent neither on age,
sex or diagnosis, most of the
residents have been young
adults in their 20S and 30s.
They are given consider
able freedom-the house is
often unattended; they have
their own house keys and are
encouraged to come and go
as they wish. So they must
be people who can care for
themselves, be responsible
for their own rooms and for
certain household chores,
and show some willingness
and ability to plan their own
lives and get on with other
people.
Miss Doniger. an intense
hard-working brunette, first
started thinking about the
possibility of such a home
like place as Woodley House
when she was travelling in
the Midwest. An occupational
therapist by training, her job
was to try to help hospitals
and boarding homes plan ac-
tivitieS for eX mental pa
tientS.
The Dreary Day
II would go into these
crowded boarding homes" she
recalls, "and talk to staff
people about their plans for
things patients might do. The
main thing wrong was that
the patients day was so
dreary.
They would sit around all
day, sometimes in their bath
robes, doing nothing. How
could they get we'll? l asked
one woman running a board
ing home, DO you let pa
tientS help you in the kitch-
emp She said. she didn't be-
cause the patients were too
slow and inefficient.
Around this time Miss Doni-
ger started reading about the
Halfway Houses that had
been started in England and
the few that have been set
up in the United States since
1850. She wondered If such a
House could be established in
Washington to avoid need
less or overlong hospital COM
mitment and to provide spe-
cial attention and temporary
detachment from home for
people for whom hospitaliza-
tion is not indicated.
She worked for a year,
talking to community leaders
and social agencies, before
Woodley House officially
opened it's doors in January
1859.
Its parent corporation, the
Potomac Residence Club, has
a board of trustees which in
cludeS such well-known mem
bers of the local psychiatric
community as the Rev. Ern-
est Bruder, protestant chap
lain at st. ElizabethS: Mrs.
Otto Will, psychiatrlc nurs-
ing conSultant: DR.. Robert A.
Cohen, director of clinical in
vestigation, National Insti-
tute of Mental Health: DIR.
George Metcalf, director of
the District Bureau of Mental
Health; DR.. Leon Yochelson,
director of George Washing
ton University's Psychiatric
Services, and Mrs. A. Powell
Davies.
The Satisfactory Part
The project mushroomed.
For Miss Doniger, the most
satisfactory part has not
been in pushing results
showing how many people
the house has cured" but
in helping her residents pro-
vide themselves with the full
est, most active and happy
lives of which they are cap
able.
Activities are no problem
here because they are part
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