Research: Topics: Health Care: Strategic Plan for Documenting Mental Health in NY
A Strategic Plan for Documenting Mental Health in New York State
Developing a Documentation Plan
The purpose of this documentation plan is to:
- identify the priority areas for attention in the next decade;
- provide specific goals that need to be achieved if we are to adequately document mental health in New York;
- identify the actions necessary to address the critical documentation gaps;
- identify partners, stakeholders, and participants who should be involved in this process.
- Provide an approach to documenting mental health that can guide the development of local and regional plans
This plan is intended to inform those who are or have been involved with mental health issues, services, and experiences about the value of records they create as part of their daily life and business. It is also intended to inform archivists, librarians, and other historical information specialists about the documentation needs they should address. Finally, it is intended to raise awareness and involvement of those who use records relating to mental health to ensure the survival of critical information. These groups all have important roles in identifying, preserving, and making historical information accessible in appropriate ways. These may include:
Records creators such as:
- Recipients of mental health services
- Psychiatric survivors/ex-patients
- Families of recipients
- Social workers
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
- Counselors
- Clergy
- Medical personnel
- Nurses
- Policy researchers
- Legislators
- Lawyers
- Hospital and facility administrators
- Staffs of mental health-related organizations
- Mental health advocates and activists
Records custodians such as:
- Records managers and archivists in
- State government
- Local government
- Private and non-profit organizations
- Medical records officers
- Librarians
- Museum staff
- Regional and local historians
Records users such as:
- Mental health service providers in
- State government
- Local government
- Private and non-profit organizations
- Mental health policy researchers
- Mental health advocacy groups
- Patient/ex-patient groups
- Mental health researchers
- Scholars
- Genealogists
- Artists and Writers
This plan focuses on documenting experiences, treatment, and issues relating to mental health in New York State. It does not encompass mental retardation and substance abuse; although these are closely related topics, they have different approaches to diagnosis and treatment, and their inclusion would have created a project of unmanageable scope. The plan generally approaches mental health from a statewide perspective. However, certain regions of New York have advanced innovative treatments or policies that merit particular attention. The plan will focus on 19th as well as 20th century activity, with an emphasis on capturing information from the World War II era to the present. This period evidenced highly significant changes in mental health activity, and the resulting records are more likely to still exist intact within organizations, groups, or individual ownership.
Defining priorities for mental health documentation:
Within the parameters of mental health, there are many topics, issues, events, and individuals that could be the subject of documentation efforts. Realistically, not everything can be documented, nor should it be. Instead, we have attempted to prioritize those topics within mental health in New York that are most important to document either because:
- they had major impact or influence;
- they are unique or innovative in the field;
- they are illustrative of common experience;
- they affected or involved a wide number of individuals; or
- they were significant for a considerable period of time.
To inform the decision on priorities, the following steps were undertaken:
- Conducted background research to identify critical developments, trends, events, functions, legislation, individuals, and organizations in New York history, and nationally as relevant. Copies of the research information compiled are available from the New York State Archives.
- Defined topics/subtopics for potential documentation emphasis within the topic of mental health.
- Identified existing documentation to determine what historical records already exist for the defined topics/subtopics. A summary of the documentation assessment is provided in the "Preliminary Finding Aid to Mental Health Records in New York State."
- Consulted with state government, local government, non-profit and private organizations, mental health care recipients, mental health professionals, mental health support and advocacy organizations, and consumer/survivor/ex-patient groups to seek their advice on the major issues and on what priorities should be established.
- Identified priorities and documentation needs to provide parameters for the development of this documentation plan. The priorities and documentation needs provide the framework for this plan.
What is Documentation?
For the purposes of this plan, documentation consists of valuable information about mental health in New York that may be found in a wide range of formats (paper, photographs and slides, motion picture film, audio- and videotape, computer disks and tape) typically collected by archival repositories. Three-dimensional artifacts also tell important parts of the story, and much of the information in this plan will be useful to those collecting such objects. The focus of this plan, however, is on archival documentation. Organizations that are committed to collecting material culture may want to consult with the New York State Museum or other museum professionals for guidance.