History II
This included an activity oriented group therapy especially designed for boys between the ages of 8 and 12 years who were aggressive, acting out or withdrawn It further included discussion groups for parents, foster parents or guardians.
Elizabeth F. Brown Memorial Camp was a summer camp operated by the staff of Warrendale as part of the total program. It was a tent camp consisting of small units of 8 campers each with their own treatment staff members and counselors. Boys, 5 to 12 years of age were also accepted.
By 1964 Warrendale was offering :
An in-service treatment program for 60 children Warrendale and another treatment centre "Boy's Village" (now Dellcrest) were in the process of raising funds for building projects. They jointly ran a Tag Day for this purpose A specialized school for 28 children A summer camp for approximately 150 emotionally disturbed children. An activity group therapy program An out-patient service to children who were showing early signs of disturbance. An on-going individual and group therapy program for parents of emotionally disturbed children. There were five groups in operation serving about 70 parents. Warrendale and Boys' Village were still in the process of raising funds for a building project Staff training - a formal, bligatory staff therapy program was stablished in February of 1964 because, " the nature of residential treatment is such that personal self-awareness and insight is essential to maintain a good treatment posture at all times. A child care staff must use himself as the main treatment tool and be capable of relating to the child and at the same time maintain a balanced and objective view and perspective of the child and his relationship ". This process had already been operating within the program for a number of years but had never been formalized.
From January to August, 1965, Warrendale was operating :
Cuddly House in Newmarket for the Junior group. Main House for the Intermediate and Pre-Senior groups. Senior House Funds had been successfully raised for the joint Boy's Village/Warrendale programs. And Warrendale was to move into the new project in Etobicoke in the fall of 1965.Due to a construction strike the houses were not ready and alternate housing was found From September to December of 1965, Cuddly House was closed down and children from that group were placed with some of the children from the senior Main House and the Oak Ridges main house to form new groups. Temporary housing was found on the Sunnybrook Hospital site. The 'pavilions' that had been used to house veterans who needed support and treatment at hospital but who didn't require full hospitalization, were made available. Main House in Oak Ridges remained open, as did Senior House and a new house, "The Farm House" was also opened in Oak Ridges.
Finally, in December, the Etobicoke Project was opened with four of the six houses there able to house children. The houses had been specifically designed for children and were modern, bright, with lots of room. They housed 10 to 12 children each. Groups were formed on the basis of family groupings with both boys and girls in each group and a wide variety of ages.
From January to June of 1966 Warrendale was operating two physical plants :
Oak Ridges - Senior House
Main House
Farm House
Cottage
Senior School and Nursery School both of which accepted day students.
Etobicoke - Four houses
School
Administration building
Children were being referred from agencies in Ontario, Quebece Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the U.S.A. The program had developed a high degree of sophistication in working with emotionally disturbed children. The philosophy was still not accepted by many members of the professional community, however referrals of the most severely disturbed children in the Province and in North America continued.
In July/August, 1966, Brown Camps Limited began operation with the focus on family camping. In June, 1966, John Brown was relieved of his position as Director of Warrendale by the Board of Directors. There were public testimonials as well as professionals reacting for and against John Brown and his Warrendale" method. The Board of Directors and John decided on a split of physical properties. Warrendale remained in the Etobicoke plant while Brown Camps was run in Oak Ridges.
Muskoka Lodge was opened by Brown Camps in 1966. It had accommodation for 130 children. Children from Saskatchewan and British Columbia were returned to their Provinces. This was the beginning of the Brown Camps Residential and Day Schools national program. Other children were housed at a 200 acre farm in Carnarvon (in the Haliburton Highlands) and in a cluster of small family homes in Newmarket.
With the establishment of Brown Camps, John Brown was now free to carry out his new organizational model in the care of children.
The first Board of Directors of this new agency approached the Provincial Government to request a charter. The aim of the charter was that Brown Camps would become a non-profit corporation and serve as a residential and day school for education and re-education at the preschool,primary and secondary school levels (education being interpreted as a relearning of life).
The new organizational structure of Brown Camps, in 1966, was to be "entirely responsive to the needs of emotionally disturbed children, rather than being responsive to the needs of the organization". Instead of assigning priorities to developing a workable hierarchical structure, John wanted to be able to concentrate on the treatment of children. Essentially this meant reducing the chain of authority so that there would only be one step between the staff and the main authority person. This led to the decentralization of the program and its entire structure. Area supervisors were assigned to be responsible for a number of treatment houses in a given geographical area. Each area supervisor would represent the line of authority between each treatment unit and the main authority person, who was the Director of the overall program. Professional persons were to be accommodated in this new structure by being placed into a Resource Bank. The function of the Resource Bank was to provide all the technological skills that were needed by the househeads and the child care staff. Thus, each therapeutic family had available to them the knowledge, experience and judgment of a psychiatrist, psychologist, experienced child care staff, pediatrician,social worker, etcetera. This Resource Bank was on call 24 hours a day to support the child care staff in their roles as parenting people with children. The people in the Resource Bank did not make decisions for the child care staff, but rather, offered advice. The main people caring for the children, the child care staff, were then the people who made the decisions for the child; about the child; his daily ongoing life and all treatment decisions. This one step authority model allowed Brown Camps to regionalize and each regional area could be almost totally autonomous.
On July 1, 1968, Browndale was officially established and licensed with the Children's Boarding Homes Act. During this time, Browndale accepted children who were placed by both public and private child caring agencies, at a specified per diem rate. The only way private individuals could obtain treatment for their child was to have that child become a ward of the Children's Aid Society. Many parents were reluctant and unwilling to give up custody of their children. Consequently many children didn't receive the services they needed. The programs in Saskatchewan and British Columbia were growing. Each of these programs had developed their own Resource Banks and also had available to them the expertise of the senior staff members of the Browndale Program in Ontario.
On April 1, 1971, the Children's Mental Health Centres Act was introduced. The main function of this Act was to bring all organizations offering services to emotionally disturbed children under the Act.
It standardized the agencies and set up a criteria for extending services to children. More importantly, this Act also meant that, at ast,children could be privately placed with treatment organizations and the cost of their treatment would be covered by the Government, without the parents having to give up the legal rights to their children. The Act also stipulated that only children whose families were resident in Ontario could receive services from the accredited Ontario treatment centres. This meant that children from any of the United States could no longer live in residence in Browndale (Ontario). Subsequently these children were regrouped and housing was found for them in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This was the beginning of a new program, Browndale International.
Board of Directors
Chairman of the Board Allan King
Mrs. Belinda Brown
social worker
Mrs. Deborah Brown
social worker
Mr. Karl Brown
executive
Mr. Marvin Brown
builder
Mr. Gerald Charney
barrister
Miss Carol Dukoff
child care worker
Miss Alice Eaton
social worker
Miss Ann Marie Evans
child care worker
Mrs. Arlene Evans
nutritionist
Dr. Kay Fullerton
paediatrician
Mr. Earl Heiber
executive
Mrs. Shirlanne Heiber
housewife
Mr. Robert Henry
social worker
Dr. John David Jackson
psychologist
Mrs. Mildred Kent
executive assistant
Mr. Allan King
film producer
Mr. Michael Kirkpatrick
child care worker
Mrs. Ruth Kolenoff
executive assistant
Mrs. Michele Lewis
journalist
Miss Lorraine Scott
social worker
Mr. Carlo Tela
social worker
Dr. Otto Weininger
psychologist