About Us

Each day, the Mental Health Association in Passaic County assists many families and individuals conquer the challenges of mental illness. For the last two decades, we have been helping people change their lives by providing high quality, free services to help our community in need, restore order, wellness, and confidence to their lives. The mission of the MHAPC is to serve children, adults and families affected by mental illness through support services, education, and advocacy. We are dedicated to increasing public awareness and understanding of mental health issues and enhancing mental health services in Passaic County. MHAPC acts to ensure that every person in Passaic County with a mental illness receives prompt and appropriate treatment in the most therapeutic, least restrictive setting closest to home.

How Can We Help?
• Advocacy
• Educational Workshops
• Referral & Linkages
• Respite services
• Bilingual Staff
• Free services

Timeline

Click Here to view the Mental Health Association in Passaic County's Milestones.

Story of the Mental Health Bell

The Mental Health Bell, recognized throughout the nation as the symbol of the mental health movement, is one of the most distinguished bells in the world. Cast from the shackles and chains that once restrained people in mental hospitals, the bell is a dramatic representation of hope, vision and liberty for people with mental illness in our country.

Cast from shackles which bound them, this bell shall ring out hope for the mentally ill and victory over mental illness.

During the early days of mental health treatment, asylums often restrained persons with mental illnesses by iron chains and shackles around their ankles and wrists. With better understanding and treatments, this cruel practice eventually stopped.

In the early 1950s, the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) issued a call to asylums across the country for their discarded chains and shackles. On April 13, 1953, at the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, MD, NMHA melted down these inhumane bindings and recast them into a sign of hope: the Mental Health Bell.

Now the symbol of NMHA, the 300-pound Bell serves as a powerful reminder that the invisible chains of misunderstanding and discrimination continue to bind people with mental illnesses. Today, the Mental Health Bell rings out hope for improving mental health and achieving victory over mental illnesses.

Over the years, national mental health leaders and other prominent individuals have rung the Bell to mark the continued progress in the fight for victory over mental illnesses.