The Helen Ross McNabb Center’s Sunrise Series will make a stop in Chattanooga to celebrate 65 years of service in East Tennessee on April 9.
Fortwood Center, Tennessee’s oldest community mental health center, merged with the Helen Ross McNabb Center on April 1, 2013. Fortwood Center was founded in 1947 as Chattanooga Child Guidance Clinic and was the first outpatient mental health service in the state of Tennessee at the time. The clinic was a direct outgrowth of a study of mental health problems conducted by the Chattanooga Council of Community Forces in 1946.
Recognizing the need for adult outpatient care the Child Guidance Clinic soon became the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Guidance Clinic and, later, Chattanooga Psychiatric Clinic.
The clinic changed its name to Fortwood Center in May 1985 to accurately reflect the broad range of services in addition to psychiatry which had been added over the years. Services offered upon the merger included mental health services, case management, rehabilitation and recovery, supportive housing, school based services, prevention and outreach. Today, the Helen Ross McNabb Center has expanded services provided in Hamilton County and the surrounding communities.
The community is invited to hear how the Helen Ross McNabb Center is improving lives in their community, from sunrise to sunrise, on Wednesday, at 9 a.m., at the Helen Ross McNabb Center, Fortwood Administration Office, 6055 Shallowford Road, Chattanooga, Tn. 37421.