Quakers and mental health: Mike Wash, former trustee director at The Retreat, speaks his mind

‘The spirit of William Tuke is still alive.’

by Mike Wash 3rd March 2023

In 1796, after a Yorkshire Friend named William Tuke made a financial appeal to British Friends, a new hospital was built in York to care for the mentally ill. Its creation came out of dissatisfaction with the mental health care of the time. The new Retreat Hospital’s practice of ‘moral treatment’ was to become a model of care for many throughout the world.