Over fifty years ago, our national partner, Mental Health America (MHA), was searching for a symbol of freedom and liberty from metal illness.  Around this time, the policy of treating persons with mental illnesses like criminals with the use of shackles, chains, handcuffs and other barbarous relics of the day had only been recently discontinued. 

MHA collected the metal restraints from hundreds of mental hospitals across the country in the lobby of their national headquarters.  It was said that the lobby looked like a “chamber of horrors.”

MHA shipped all of the metal devices to McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore and had them casted into a 300-pound bell in 1953.  The Mental Health Bell is housed at MHA’s headquarters in Alexandria, Va. and has traveled across the country. It has been rung by Presidents, national mental health leaders and a host of others from around the world.  The Mental Health Bell still rings as a reminder of the more insidious chains of the stigma and discrimination people with mental illnesses experience. 

In 2003 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Mental Health Bell, Mental Health America of Illinois (MHAI) created a Mental Health Bell for Illinois.  You can help support Illinois’ Bell and your commitment to be a mental health champion in Illinois by adding your name or honoring a love one with a donation of $100, $250, $500 or a $1,000.  Your contribution will be recognized by adding your name to the Illinois Bell. 

If you would like to make a contribution to the MHAI Mental Health Bell, please contact Jennifer Okonma, Director of Development at ext. 27 or at jokonma@mhai.org.