The Mental Health Association of Reading and Berks County is dedicated to promoting mental health, preventing mental disorders and achieving victory over mental illnesses through advocacy, education, research and service. We believe that individuals can recover from mental illness and lead productive and creative lives in the community.

Description:
The Mental Health Association provides information & referral services, individual case advocacy for adults and children & adolescents, self-help support groups, consumer/family satisfaction team activities, and public policy work (system advocacy). Case advocacy assists individuals seeking appropriate services, handling complaints and grievances and resolving rights violations. Support Group Central has a leadership group to foster support group formation and continuation. Self-help support groups include Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Friends Recovery Group; Survivors of Suicide (families and friends of those who have died by suicide); Recovery from Anxiety and Panic Disorder Group; Survivors of Chronic Pain, and the Brain Injury Support Group. For more information, contact the Association. We are interested in developing, promoting, and assisting Support Group leaders in Berks.

History:
The Mental Health Association was founded in 1955. In 1957 the Association affiliated with the National Mental Health Association and became a member agency of the United Way of Berks County. The Association has a long history of advocacy work (both public policy and individual) at the local, state and federal levels. Initially the Association advocated for increased mental health services in the community and provided extensive volunteer services at Wernersville State Hospital. The Association developed social activities in the community for persons at Wernersville State Hospital. In the early 1970s, the Association provided the first independent consumer advocate at a state mental hospital (Wernersville). In the 1980s, we created a community adult advocate. In the early 1990s, we organized self-help support groups and established the Children & Youth Advocate position. We started our first Consumer Satisfaction Team project in 1999. In 2005, we began to provide full time consumer advocacy for the Wernersville State Hospital as an external organization. In 2006 Support Group Central was formed to foster the development of support groups, and act as a referral hub for support group information.

Contact person: Joe Conway, Executive Director, (610) 775-3000, (email)
Office fax number: 610 775-4000

Address:

Mifflin Plaza 122 West Lancaster Avenue, Suite 207 Shillington, PA 19607 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.mharbc.org

Directions:

From downtown Reading - S. 4th Street, across Bingaman Street bridge, continue approximately 2-1/2 miles on Lancaster Avenue. Pass Shillington Commons strip mall. Continue on Lancaster Avenue through 5-point intersection where Rt. 724 enters from left. Continue. . . (more)   Nearest Bus Stop: Mohnton bus/Sterley Street, 2 minute walk