On October 31, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, which sparked a major transformation of the public mental health system by shifting resources away from large institutions towards community-based mental health treatment programs.
On October 31, 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Act of 1963 into law, which led to a major change in how the public mental health system operated by moving resources away from large institutions and towards community-based programs.