Friends Hospital

“Friends Hospital, founded by Quakers in 1813, is the nation’s first private psychiatric hospital. For thousands of persons from the Delaware Valley and beyond, Friends is a place where hope and healing come together.  

A leader in behavioral health care, Friends offers a system of comprehensive programs and services to people suffering from behavioral and emotional health problems”

"For 190 years, Friends Hospital has followed the same mission...to provide help to persons who are experiencing mental or emotional health problems.  The word "Friends" refers to the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, with which Friends Hospital is still affiliated. Founded in 1813, as the "The Asylum for Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason," the Hospital was the first free standing private institution in the country with the specific mission of caring for people with behavioral health problems. It was also the first institution in the United States to be based on the concept of "moral treatment," emphasizing acceptance and occupation as keys to recovery."