Compassionate Belgian Town Housing The Mentally Ill Since 15th Century

The town of Geel has been a sanctuary with a tradition of hospitality toward anyone with mental illness since the 1400s – and such ground-breaking integration was the key to healing success.

Resident families volunteer their homes to people affected by mental disabilities by signing agreements with health authorities to let them move in. After families receive a $750 monthly stipend to support their ‘boarders’, as the patients are called, the guests are free to come and go as they please.

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/compassionate-belgian-town-housing-the-mentally-ill-since-15th-century/