1960. In 1959, an important legislative change was introduced in Alberta to deal with children’s mental health services. This 1959 amendment to the Mental Diseases Act contained a new section referring specifically to a child’s admission to “Emotionally Disturbed Children’s Wards”. The legislation suggested that children deemed “emotionally disturbed,” had to be provided for in Provincial Clinics.

In 1960, this culminated in public acknowledgement and government support for emotionally disturbed children being treated in a distinct facility from those deemed “mentally retarded”. The new program started in 1960 and was called Linden House. Under the direction of Dr. L. J. le Vann, the Linden House started as a pilot project at the Provincial Training School in Red Deer, Alberta, which was created to care for the "feeble-minded". Linden House was the second program of its kind, the only other one being a unit at the University of Alberta Hospital, in Edmonton.

At Linden House, emotionally disturbed children between 5 and 15 who had "normal or better intelligence" were treated, most of whom came from poverty. 25 children were admitted in the first year of the program, and it was considered a success. By 1965, the program was extended.

-Sheila Gibbons and Colette Leung

• Dechant, G.M. (2006). Winter’s Children; The Emergence of Children’s Mental Services in Alberta, 1905-2005. Edmonton: The Muttart Foundation.