Volunteer case aides in the U.S.A.

Abstract

Mrs. Jeanne Lewington was awarded a 1973 Winston Churchill Fellowship to visit the U.S.A. and look at the way volunteers are used, particularly in the field of mental health. She studied projects at State and Private Mental Hospitals and Community Health Centres. She was particularly impressed with the contribution of Volunteer Case Aides in one to one work with psychiatric patients and describes this principle in some detail. On her return Mrs. Lewington approached the King's Fund London and has been given a grant to finance the establishment of a two year Volunteer Case Aide Programme based at St. Crispin Hospital, Northampton, England, evaluation of which will take place during 1975.