After the Asylum

Caring Minds purple stroke

After the Asylum

De-institutionalization was a paradigm shift in Canadian mental health. Its history and its legacies are complex and unsettling. From 2007 to 2014, academic scholars, community partners, students and activists came together to gather this history and to make it public on this site. This process was sometimes challenging, but also powerful and hopeful.

Policy and Practice

The ideas behind the change.

Peer Support & Activism

Finding common cause and community.

Survivor Culture

The power of mad expression.

Community Initiatives

Help and support in the community.

Case Studies

Early non-institutional options.

This Project

How we did it.