Yale Plan Clinics
In March 1944, two free clinics, knows as the Yale Plan Clinics, opened in Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, as a joint initiative between Yale University's Laboratory of Applied Physiology and the Connecticut State Prison Association. As announced in the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, the clinics aimed to evaluate whether large-scale rehabilitation of individuals with alcoholism could be both effective and cost-efficient.
The central goal was to show that treating alcoholism medically would prove significantly less expensive than the cumulative costs of law enforcement, incarceration, psychiatric hospitalization, loss of workplace productivity, accidents, and public assistance for the families of alcoholics.
Subsequent articles in QJSA included reports, transcriptions of sessions, and early clinical observations, such as Notes on the First Half Year’s Experience at the Yale Plan Clinics. Related to the research and educational activities at the Center, the clinics operated on two foundational principles: first, that alcoholism is a medical condition ("ailment"), and second, that those who recover from it can reintegrate as contributing members of society.
Yale Plan on Alcoholism
The Yale Plan Clinics were part of "A scientific approach to the problem of alcohol," as outlined in the document reviewing the Yale Plan of Alcohol Studies in 1947. Personnel listed in the Appendix are as follows:
Mr. R. McCarthy, executive director; Dr. G. Lolli, medical director; Dr. A. DeForest, medical consultant; Drs. T. Hersey and G. Gross, psychiatrists; Dr. C. Fry, psychiatric consultant; with 2 psychiatric social workers, 1 part-time psychologist, and 1 secretary. Consulting committee, 5 physicians appointed by state medical society.
Available to the community at large, the Yale Plan Clinics pioneered outpatient diagnostic and therapeutic services for people with substance use disorder as well as consultation and therapeutic services for families and agencies dealing with the problem. As a result, many other similar facilities were established all over the country. Based on the practices of the Clinics, the Yale Plan was also expanded into The Yale Plan for Business and Industry and was incorporated into the Center's educational program.
- Browse the full course packet for the Yale Plan for Business and Industry (144 pages, with a list of reading material, informational and promotional leaflets, as well as scholarly and lay articles, newspaper clippings, manuscripts, and program brochures.)
Exhibit: The Yale Plan on Alcoholism
Used in various publications and promotional material, this photograph shows details of the Yale Plan in an exhibit at Yale in the mid-1940s.
Yale Plan Posters
The Yale Plan Posters on Alcoholism series consisted of twelve 28-by-22-inch posters prepared by the Section of Studies on Alcohol, Yale University in 1950, according to the copyright statement. The individual posters were available for purchase, as seen in the Publication Catalog. A catalog record from 1958 shows the set available for $6, while individual copies cost $1.50 a piece. Prices are also shown on the back of the flier, including discounts for larger orders.
A promotional flyer of the Yale Plan Posters on Alcoholism. The letter-size flyer shows all twelve posters of the series prepared by the Section of Studies on Alcohol, Yale University.
Poster No. 1 of the Yale Plan Posters
Millions Drink. Some Become Alcoholics. Alcoholism is and Illness. Can Be Corrected! Can be Prevented!
Poster No. 5 of the Yale Plan Posters
It's a fact. Most drinkers feel drinking not important. Most alcoholics feel drinking essential. Alcoholism is an illness.
Poster No. 7 of the Yale Plan Posters
Alcoholism is and Illness, Management and Labor agree on the medical opinion.
Poster No. 8 of the Yale Plan Posters
Seeking help for alcoholism doesn't mean weakness, it does mean good judgment.
Poster No. 9 of the Yale Plan Posters
A clinic for alcoholism offers medical checkup, scientific understanding, treatment - guidance. Clinics are maintained in your state.
Poster No. 10 of the Yale Plan Posters
AA means Alcoholics Anonymous means recovery for thousands of alcoholics. Costs nothing. Available everywhere. Effective.
Poster No. 12 of the Yale Plan Posters
Alcoholism is an Illness. Treatment, research, education, community action help prevent alcoholism.
From the Digital Alcohol Studies Archives
- Yale Plan Clinic on Alcoholism: a co-ordinated approach to the problem, by Robert Straus (1950)
- E. M. Jellinek's Notes on the First Half Year's Experience at the Yale Plan Clinics, Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, (2), 279–302 (1944)
- Report from Executive Director Raymond G. McCarthy on Group Therapy in an Outpatient Clinic for the Treatment of Alcoholism, Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 7(1), 98–109 (1946).
- Course packet "The Yale Plan for Business and Industry" (1953)See individual posters in RUcore, the Rutgers University Community Repository
- Browse all related content in RUcore, the Rutgers University Community Repository