World Federation for Mental Health
Encyclopedia
The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) is an international membership organization founded in 1948 to advance, among all peoples and nations, the prevention of mental and emotional disorders, the proper treatment and care of those with such disorders, and the promotion of mental health. Members include mental health service providers and service users. In 2009, the World Fellowship for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders, an international network of families of people with serious mental illness, merged with the World Federation. The World Federation has close ties with the World Health Organization. The first Director General of the WHO
, George Chisholm, who was a psychiatrist, was one of the leaders in forming the federation with the goal of creating a representative organization that could consult with the UN on mental health issues.
The mission of the World Federation for Mental Health is to promote the advancement of mental health awareness, prevention of mental disorders, advocacy, and best practice recovery focused interventions worldwide.
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
, George Chisholm, who was a psychiatrist, was one of the leaders in forming the federation with the goal of creating a representative organization that could consult with the UN on mental health issues.
The mission of the World Federation for Mental Health is to promote the advancement of mental health awareness, prevention of mental disorders, advocacy, and best practice recovery focused interventions worldwide.
Notable members of WFMH
- John Rawlings ReesJohn Rawlings ReesJohn Rawlings Rees OBE MD RAMC was a wartime and civilian psychiatrist and became a brigadier in the British Army. He was a member of the group of key figures at the original Tavistock Clinic and became its medical director from 1934...
- First president - Frank Fremont-SmithFrank Fremont-SmithFrank Fremont-Smith was an American administrator, executive with the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, president of British General Rees's World Federation of Mental Health, known together with Lawrence K...
- Second president - Helmuth EhrhardtHelmuth EhrhardtHelmuth Ehrhardt was a German psychiatrist.Ehrhardt was a student of Werner Villinger. In a biography on Villinger, which Ehrhardt authored, he commended Villinger and Max De Crinis...
- Executive board member - Werner VillingerWerner VillingerWerner Villinger was a Nazi German psychiatrist, neurologist, eugenicist and the leading physician at the Bethel Institution . Villinger's specialities included juvenile delinquency, child guidance and group therapy...
- Educating the Public - Margaret MeadMargaret MeadMargaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
- President 1956–7 - Brock ChisholmBrock ChisholmGeorge Brock Chisholm, CC, MC & Bar was a Canadian First World War veteran, medical practitioner, and the first Director-General of the World Health Organization...
- President 1957–8 - Tsung-yi Lin - Honorary President
Groups, Conferences
External links
- World Federation for Mental Health - Official website
- World Fellowship for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders - 'Information for families caring for people with mental illness'
- - World Health Organization, Mental Health, Home Page