America’s Mental Health & Wellness Corridor – Boston Area Name Survey

Henry David Thoreau. Aaron T. Beck. Dorothea Dix. Sigmund Freud. Solomon Carter Fuller. Jon Kabat-Zinn. These are Mount Rushmore figures in the realm of American mental health - whether from a philosophical, clinical, emotional, or pursuit-of-happiness standpoint.

Yet, it is Bostonian James Otis, Jr. who died in 1779 who stands above all others in the origin story of America’s Mental Health & Wellness Corridor.

John Adams, in writing about “The Patriot,” argued James Otis, Jr. was the pivotal player in the cause of American independence and freedom.

Due to mental illness, brain injury, alcohol, and “madness” the full story of James Otis, Jr. is lost to history. However, the final, less heroic, years of his life were lived in the countryside in Andover where fresh air, farms, rivers, streams, and quietness held restorative possibilities.

To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the America’s Mental Health & Wellness Corridor effort will tell the story of James Otis, Jr., and of a region of natural beauty in New England where for over 200+ years innovation, new ideas, and national influence have sprung forth in the realm of mental health and wellness.

The name America’s Mental Health & Wellness Corridor was first discussed publicly at a National Park Service presentation in 2022. The name may be good enough to describe the region’s unique and colorful history at the crossroads of the mental life and the pursuit of happiness.

Or, perhaps there is a better name. Your survey response will serve as a last-whistle-stop before the America’s Mental Health & Wellness Corridor name is put into wider use. Please reply by 3/31/25.

The National Museum of Mental Health Project is proud of its history of academic research and peer-reviewed journal publication. Yet, this name research is informal and invites candor and creativity.

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About the National Museum of Mental Health Project

The National Museum of Mental Health Project is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization and virtual museum whose mission is to strengthen mental health through creativity, culture (including sports), and the arts nationwide by bringing the museum to you. The Project seeks a community to host the first small museum of a national museum of mental health, and to lift up its walls in a barn-raising on America’s 250th birthday - July 4, 2026.