Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law Revenue and Competitors

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law was founded in 1972 by a group of committed lawyers and professionals in mental health and mental retardation. Known until 1993 as the Mental Health Law Project, our name today honors the federal appeals court judge whose landmark decisions pioneered the field of mental health law. Throughout 30 years of landmark advocacy, the Bazelon Center has led the way in efforts to define and advance the rights of people with mental disabilities in a number of areas, including: The Right to Treatment Before 1972, people with mental disabilities were often simply warehoused in remote state psychiatric hospitals and so-called training schools. Our work in the Willowbrook case in New York and Wyatt v. Stickney in Alabama set minimum standards for physical conditions, staffing and safeguards of human rights in psychiatric and mental retardation institutions (1972) and ultimately mandated community care for residents.