About Us

About Us

The mission of the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island is to promote mental health, prevent mental illness, and improve mental health services through advocacy, education, and research.

Our Goal

To make mental health care achievable, affordable, and accessible for all Rhode Islanders.

History of the Bell

"Cast from the 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.

Affiliates

Mental Health America