Big Sur Mental Health Clinic

*Created by: Jay P Hailey 
*Number of Members: 75 staff, 150-200 patients 
*Nature of Members: Staff - Therapists, doctors, nurses and service workers treating the emotionally and mentally disturbed<P>Patients - People who have been damaged by various encounters with the supernatural or hideous tragedies. People who have powers or qualities which have rendered them incapable of coping with life. 
*Organization: A Medical Hospital. 
*Game Role: A place for crazed PCs and NPCs to find safe harbor and perhaps treatment. 
*World Role: A very quiet, safe place for people who have seen too much.<BR>
*Relative Influence: In the larger world little - the Big Sur MHC is just another out-of-the-way facility holding people who cannot deal with life. In the world of B-13, large - It will be a very rare agent who hasn't visited the place either seeking clues to an old case or as an out patient, or maybe as an In-Patient. 
*Public or Secret?: The existence of the place is public and it's function as a mental health facility are known. It's deeper function - pulling people back from the abyss is not not widely known. 
*Publicly Stated Goal: To treat clients; ensuring their mental health and ability to cope with society. 
*Relative Wealth: Large - Big Sur MHC receives funding from several foundations and is a hidden Black Budget item. 
*Group advantages: The best medical technology, the best therapeutic psionics and magics available.</P><P>Big Sur MHC has a small emergency room and ambulances. These usually serve the vacationing pubic as BS-MHC is usually the closest medical facility in the Big Sur area.</P><P>The security Staff of the Big Sur MHC are retired and disabled agents. They are liable to bitterly resent any chaos or crises which interrupts their quiet. Security is a must as some of the patients are serious threats if loose. 
*Special Abilities: hidden among the Staff and patients of the Big Sur MHC are telepaths, psionics and mages who seek to use their abilities in therapeutic ways.
*Group disadvantages: The Big Sur Facility cannot move, or hide, except by obfuscation. 
*Special disadvantages: Sometime people and creatures have a very, very good reason for being mad...</P><P>Dangerous patients: Some of the people held there are extremely dangerous. The largest collection of Hannibal Lectors and like violently insane people you are going to find west of the Rockies.<BR> 
*Those who favor them: People who support mental health. Bureau 13 agents who like being more well adjusted. 
*Those opposed to them: Monsters, villains and things that creep into the subconscious when you're not looking. 
*Area of Operation: Big Sur, Ca, the Western United States. 
*Headquarters Location: Big Sur MHC - a Modern and well equipped mental health hospital. 
*Public Face: Gentle and professional guardians of mental health. 
*Notable Members: Dr. Martin Forrester: The director of the Hospital. A knowledgeable and skilled therapist, Dr Forrester has multiple degrees in Psychology, medical science, forensics, and abnormal psychology. </P><P>Casey. Almost seven feet of bland faced muscle, Casey is one of the strongest human beings on the planet. A former Bureau 13 Agent, Casey had his mind violated during a mission, and came to the Big Sur MHC an incoherent, screaming mess. It took months of psionic surgery to excise permanently twisted parts of Casey's mind. Then it took years of therapy to return what was left to any sort of independent functioning. Casey studied medicine and has earned medical assistant degrees. He continues his studies. As an Orderly, it's Casey's job to help manage "tough" cases. Casey was and still is an expert at hand-to-hand combat (In his former life, he specialized in killing supernatural horrors up close and personal) These days, Casey uses Judo and Aikido to expertly tie "Clients" in knots until they figure out that violence isn't a good coping mechanism.</P><P>People who knew Casey before his disability are disturbed by the new persona. He's a lot milder and more intent on staying mild than the original man ever was. Casey has said he has vague memories an doesn't want to go back. He likes working at Big Sur and intends to stay there. He is friendly and sympathetic to Clients.</P><P>Therilan: An Ane History Scout that works at the clinic to fund her mission and to cover for her presence. Therilan is an RI, an artificial person capable of switching bodies. She is seen in the form of a mocha colored woman with bantu looks. She is a skilled telepathic therapist. She does come to strong disagreement with Dr. Forester on some methods, such as excising memory, no matter how disturbing. It is a matter of Ane belief that memory is the person. She helps you deal with the dark things you have seen or done, she will not remove them. She is getting an education herself in the process. 
*History of the Organization: Founded in 1923 the Big Sur Sanitarium was largely a detoxification center for the rich and famous, as well as a place for wealthy Californians to stash mentally disabled family members and embarrassing people. The Big Sur Sanitarium was funded by a foundation which accepted huge donations from the rich and famous in exchange for protecting their privacy. Much of the money was used to purchase land surrounding the original complex. Some of these original clients are still present at the Clinic.</P><P>In the 1950s the Asylum went to the leading edge of psychiatric science and medicine due to an ambitious and driven director - he renamed the Clinic.</P><P>In the late 1950s and early 1960s an offshoot of the CIA black mailed the Director and used the place as grounds for experiments in psychological interrogation and mind control, as well as supporting cutting edge psychiatric development.</P><P>In 1963, the Clinic was raided by B-13 Agents who uncovered a CIA program using telepathic children as weapons against cold war enemies both inside and outside the U.S.</P><P>The Big Sur Clinic was taken over by the Bureau and has been used ever since as a place to treat agents, bystanders and allies for mental problems caused by encounters with the supernatural. The clinic does take outside patients - their prices are incredibly high, their recovery rate is astounding and patients often leave with memories that feel good, but are suspiciously vague.</P><P>In 1985, the Big Sur MHC moved to a new complex on it's original grounds. The old complex is still in use, but more as storage, teaching and administrative space.</P><P>Dr Forrester Joined the Staff in 1988 and was Director by 1994. He occasionally accepts charity cases at random from San Francisco, Los Angeles or other large west coast cities. 
==Other Facilities in the Bureau 13 network==
The Big Sur Health Clinic is not the only mental health hospital in the Bureau 13 network. Other facilities are:
*Arkham Mental Health Center -- Arkham, Massachusetts. -- Part of the medical school of Mystkonic University. North East operations and the really hard core cases east of the Mississippi.
*Ring Lake Ranch -- Dubois, Wyoming. -- Handles matters in the northwest US. Cover as a woo woo new age retreat.
*Smoke on the Mountains Mental Health Center -- Cosby, Tennessee. -- Located just north of the Great Smoky Mountains, and well off the beaten path. South operations. Security and remoteness on the order of Big Sur.
*The Woodlands Mental Health Center -- The Woodlands, Texas -- It is north of Houston. Serving the southwest. It is the newest member of the Bureau 13 network.
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Jay's Note - Dr Forrester and his staff charge amazingly high prices to deter people from being too casual about approaching, but this bothers them, so they occasionally just grab sick people and treat them to soothe their consciences. This practice is also occasionally used as cover. John Smith a homeless Schizophrenic is taken off the street in Los Angeles, and months later checks out of the Big Sur MHC almost a different man. Meanwhile the real John Smith is treated and held for an extended duration and often checks out under a different identity. Dr Forrester is a notorious softy [at least in B-13 circles] and almost never turns anyone away from the Gate of Big Sur MHC - It's obscurity is his best defense.<BR>
     Agents from enemy organizations, investigative reporters and undercover investigators occasionally check into Big Sur - they emerge later well adjusted, and happy but with disturbingly vague memories of their time inside the facility.
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