Tag: mental health

Rockwood Asylum featured in new exhibit at the Museum of Health Care

July 20, 2023

The Museum of Health Care at Kingston has installed a new temporary exhibit, with Rockwood as the first subject.

Colloquially known as Rockwood, the city’s first psychiatric hospital has had many names over the years. With artifacts, panels, and even supplementary media links, this small exhibit provides a short overview of the hospital’s history from its beginning all the way to closure. … More Rockwood Asylum featured in new exhibit at the Museum of Health Care

Maternal Mental Health Care

September 8, 2020

More so than practically any other healthcare subject, mental health topics have acquired a need in recent decades for routine updating and research to compensate for centuries of misinformation. The infiltration of the Maternal Mental Hygiene movement and Attachment Theory into the minds and maternity manuals of Canada can shed light onto the progression of the treatment of maternal mental health across the decades. … More Maternal Mental Health Care

The Introduction of Psychiatric Nursing: The Rockwood Training School for Nurses

October 8, 2019

Nurses were expected to be proficient in both mental health and physical nursing, as well as to be knowledgeable of the various mental illnesses and how they may appear. For the majority of the nineteenth century, trained nurses did not work at hospitals or asylums. The members of staff who interacted frequently with the patients … More The Introduction of Psychiatric Nursing: The Rockwood Training School for Nurses

Moral Treatment: A New Therapeutic Model

August 6, 2019

Organized sports and bicycling were also popular. These activities were believed to assist recovery, as they broke up the monotony of asylum life. In the late nineteenth century, Rockwood Asylum underwent a drastic change in treatment philosophies. Begun under the guidance of the third Superintendent Dr. William Metcalf, and continued by Dr. Charles Kirk Clarke, … More Moral Treatment: A New Therapeutic Model

Moral Treatment and Nursing School: The Impact of Dr. Charles Kirk Clarke at Rockwood Asylum.

July 2, 2019

Clarke strongly believed in “moral treatment”, an approach to mental health based on humane treatment as well as scheduled days in a calm environment. August 13, 1885. Dr. William Metcalf, medical superintendent of Rockwood Asylum and his assistant, Dr. Charles Kirk Clarke, are making their usual morning rounds of the institution. They approach one of … More Moral Treatment and Nursing School: The Impact of Dr. Charles Kirk Clarke at Rockwood Asylum.

Curative Architecture: The Healthful Design of Rockwood Asylum

June 3, 2019

In July of 1856 thirty-six acres of an estate west of Portsmouth Village, previously owned by politician John Cartwright, were purchased by the United Province of Canada East and Canada West. The intended purpose of the land? To become the home of a future asylum, intended to house both the “criminally insane” of Kington Penitentiary … More Curative Architecture: The Healthful Design of Rockwood Asylum

Canada’s First National Mental Health Program, by Linda

July 19, 2012

The purpose of Canada’s first National Mental Health Strategy, according to the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s newsletter, is “to help improve mental health and well-being for all people living in Canada and to create a mental health system that can truly meet the needs of people of all ages living with mental health problems and illnesses and their families.” … More Canada’s First National Mental Health Program, by Linda

Reflections on Friendly Fire

July 11, 2012

Friendly Fire is a project developed by the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in collaboration with the Museum of Health Care engaging the power of the artist as a story teller and synthesizer. The artist, Howie Tsui investigated health and medicine during the war of 1812. The resulting exhibition illuminates the brutal conditions of the body in war and the medical techniques of the period. … More Reflections on Friendly Fire