The Early years - The history of NSF now Rethink
This booklet tells the story of NSF, The National Schizophrenia Fellowship (NSF), early years now named Rethink since 2002. It explains what the situation was like for those experiencing mental illness and their carers in the fifties and sixties. It includes the story of why NSF was set up, how it was set up, the first relatives groups, John Pringles legacy and the growth of the charity up until 1985.
It explains what the situation was like for those experiencing mental illness and their carers in the fifties and sixties. It includes the story of why NSF was set up, how it was set up, the first relatives groups, John Pringles legacy and the growth of the charity up until 1985.
The Early Years booklet
This is the story of the beginning of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship, renamed as Rethink in 2002. It tells of how a group of remarkable people, faced by the tragedy of severe mental illness in their own families, came together determined to do something about it.
John Pringle’s now famous article published in the Times in 1970 set
out the case, and the story is told here, as it unfolded between 1972
and 1985, by some of those who responded to that letter. It tells how
they challenged a system that put intolerable strain on thousands of
families and individuals affected by severe mental illness.
In 1999, Professor John Wing suggested that the early history of NSF
should be written before it was lost and since NSF was approaching its
30th anniversary it was a good time to do so. This is a story of courage
and passion, of fellowship and achievement, but above all it is a tale of
how a group of people built something together that has gone from strength to strength.
Behind this story lie many individual stories, only a few of which can
be included here. The tale is told for all the hundreds of thousands of
individuals and families for whom NSF was conceived.
The dedication and tenacity of that early group, and of all those who
have supported NSF, contributed to the changes in mental health policy
and attitude that we are beginning to see today. There is a recognition
that people with mental illnesses have a right to be included, a right to
be treated with dignity and respect, and a right to be understood as
unique individuals who happen to have a mental illness.
