Response By
Abe Oudshoorn
London Asylum Doors, late 1800s
wood, metal, glass Gift from St. Joseph's Health Care, London, 2008
These doors came from the main building of the original 1870 London Asylum for the Insane that stood on Highbury Avenue.
Response
We dress the doors of the asylum; we want to make you feel at home (ignore the restraints).
Think how far we’ve come from using jails to house the ill (we still do).
If this is home, why did the patient ask a friend:
“Come now
without fail as I will
be glad to see you.
Could you not take me
home with you…?” (December 2, 1876)
Dr. Abe Oudshoorn is a Registered Nurse and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Western University. Abe holds a PhD from Western. His research interests include homelessness prevention, health promotion, refugee housing outcomes, participatory action research, mental health, and health equity.