Interview with Harriet Van Norte, June 21, 2017

Harriet Van Norte talks about how she came to work in the Department of Public Health as the admissions coordinator of the state mental health hospitals, and remembers the growth in community services in the early 1970s. Van Norte talks about how she used the relationships formed throughout her career to develop the Georgia mental health department, especially in terms of fundraising for program development. Van Norte describes the training programs held across the state of Georgia to educate practitioners about community-based care as a result of deinstitutionalization movement of the 1980s. Van Norte talks about the in- and out-of-state assistance provided to the state of Georgia in order to promote the de-institutionalization movement. The interviewers conclude by highlighting the impact that Van Norte had on the state of Georgia and about her contribution to the quality of Georgia's disability services.
Harriet Van Norte moved to Georgia in the 1970’s, where she worked for one year as a before she began working as the Admission Coordinator at the Department of Public, and where she later served as the Director of Residential Services overseeing the state mental health hospitals. Van Norte later worked as the Director of Consumer Affairs at the Georgia Public Service Commission, where, after work hours, she worked to secure funding for projects to help people with developmental disabilities.

2017-06-21

RBRL391GDC-017

54 minutes