I have taken the time to transcribe a five minute section of my interview with Mrs. Briggs that I most think exemplify the purpose of my project: Understanding the role Psychiatry has played in shaping the North Country Community.
Alanna Wormwood: You mentioned before when we talked that when you started working at the center you had also just moved to New York. How would you describe your initial reaction to the area? What were your first thoughts about it?
Katherine Briggs: I had grown up in the country, so the rural atmosphere was quite familiar to me. My first impressions of it were… very wide open… very interesting countryside, but the, the thing that impressed me so much was how nice the people were. They were, they were very open, very trusting, and very helpful… and very very kind. And I didn't know anything about New York state’s mental health system at all, so this was a tremendous learning experience for me, but people in this area were accustomed to having a psychiatric hospital in their, you know, in their midst. Well, at least they knew there was one in their area, and so the prospect of having a psychiatric facility in your neighborhood was not at all intimidating to them, and of course there were, back then there was much less media attention, or maybe there were just few episodes, but there was not the constant showing of frightening, horrible episodes, so people learned about this from word of mouth, from their neighbors, or they might have read about it in the weekly newspaper, there might have been some daily newspapers too, and local radio stations, but it wasn't being constantly discussed back then, and besides most of them saw the psychiatric hospital as a good thing in their community because it provided good wages and steady employment. So it was viewed, the hospital was viewed in a, I don’t know, I don’t think I ever heard any negative remarks about it… It was a good thing in the community. And, the fact that people were so kind and so helpful impressed me enormously, because I was a newbie, I was stumbling around, and learning things, and people were very very helpful.
AW: And you mentioned you were a newbie to the field. Would you like to tell them a little more how you got your job? I know you told me what happened, but….
KB: Well, that was 1962, and there weren't that many people, in this area at least, who had a degree in social work. And since not only did I have a bachelors degree in social work, I also had a masters degree in social work, I was in some ways a rare bird. Somebody had told us that the state hospital was looking for social workers. So I made an appointment, tootled over there to see what was available, and I talked to the director of the social department, her name was Elizabeth Rockky -- and I chatted with her for a minute, and she said “lets go over and I will introduce you to the director of the hospital”. The director at that time was a Doctor Snow, and he was, uh, not a revolutionary, but he had, I think he was the one who started the so called open door policy of the hospital, which meant you get people out of the institution and into the community as much as possible. So she took me, not quite by the hand, but she took me in to meet the director, and well, Doctor Snow looked at Mrs. Rocky and looked at me and said to her “Well, she has a masters degree, so she must know something, and she has been able to hold a job so I guess she is able to work,” and he looked at me and said “You’re hired!” The most unusual job interview I ever had, but it worked! And after that, I pulled my jaw shut!
Katherine Briggs: I had grown up in the country, so the rural atmosphere was quite familiar to me. My first impressions of it were… very wide open… very interesting countryside, but the, the thing that impressed me so much was how nice the people were. They were, they were very open, very trusting, and very helpful… and very very kind. And I didn't know anything about New York state’s mental health system at all, so this was a tremendous learning experience for me, but people in this area were accustomed to having a psychiatric hospital in their, you know, in their midst. Well, at least they knew there was one in their area, and so the prospect of having a psychiatric facility in your neighborhood was not at all intimidating to them, and of course there were, back then there was much less media attention, or maybe there were just few episodes, but there was not the constant showing of frightening, horrible episodes, so people learned about this from word of mouth, from their neighbors, or they might have read about it in the weekly newspaper, there might have been some daily newspapers too, and local radio stations, but it wasn't being constantly discussed back then, and besides most of them saw the psychiatric hospital as a good thing in their community because it provided good wages and steady employment. So it was viewed, the hospital was viewed in a, I don’t know, I don’t think I ever heard any negative remarks about it… It was a good thing in the community. And, the fact that people were so kind and so helpful impressed me enormously, because I was a newbie, I was stumbling around, and learning things, and people were very very helpful.
AW: And you mentioned you were a newbie to the field. Would you like to tell them a little more how you got your job? I know you told me what happened, but….
KB: Well, that was 1962, and there weren't that many people, in this area at least, who had a degree in social work. And since not only did I have a bachelors degree in social work, I also had a masters degree in social work, I was in some ways a rare bird. Somebody had told us that the state hospital was looking for social workers. So I made an appointment, tootled over there to see what was available, and I talked to the director of the social department, her name was Elizabeth Rockky -- and I chatted with her for a minute, and she said “lets go over and I will introduce you to the director of the hospital”. The director at that time was a Doctor Snow, and he was, uh, not a revolutionary, but he had, I think he was the one who started the so called open door policy of the hospital, which meant you get people out of the institution and into the community as much as possible. So she took me, not quite by the hand, but she took me in to meet the director, and well, Doctor Snow looked at Mrs. Rocky and looked at me and said to her “Well, she has a masters degree, so she must know something, and she has been able to hold a job so I guess she is able to work,” and he looked at me and said “You’re hired!” The most unusual job interview I ever had, but it worked! And after that, I pulled my jaw shut!