Community Initiatives Exhibits

The shift out of the institution brought both negative and positive responses from the larger community. Here, we demonstrate different ways in which support and social integration were crafted in the world outside the asylum. Explore the following exhibits in our Community Initiatives section.

CMHA White Cross Centres

Jayne Whyte introduces us to the precarious new world of community mental health. Established in the deinstitutionalizaton era, White Cross Centres were meant to help discharged patients build a social life and gain skills for daily living. This exhibit is a compelling illustration of the inadequacies of an underfunded and underdeveloped community mental health system. Visit CMHA White Cross Centres.

The Politics of Art at PARC

This exhibit takes you inside the unique experiment that is PARC, Toronto’s Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre. Born in 1980 as a drop-in centre offering basic services to former psychiatric patients, PARC evolved to provide employment, to advocate on issues of poverty, mental health and homelessness, and to become a vital neighbourhood institution. Visit The Politics of Art at PARC.