This collection provides a partial record of the activities of the Mental Health Association of Ventura County, an affiliate of the National Association for Mental Health. Formed in 1951 (The Ojai in a story of May 4, 1951 refers to "the recently formed Mental Health Association of Ventura County") the Association was active until ca. 1988, when lack of funding forced it to hand over its 22-year-old 24-hour suicide prevention hotline to Interface, another local service organization. Its non-profit status expired the following year.

At its peak of activity in the 1960s, the county-wide non-profit association had a board of almost three dozen community members, drawn primarily from the west county communities of Ventura, Oxnard and Hueneme. Its purpose, as stated in its bylaws, was to "develop a coordinated citizens movement to work toward the improved care and treatment of the mentally ill, for improved methods and research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, and for the promotion of mental health." The Association played in important role in pioneering mental health education and the development of resources in the county.

In addition to its educational programs, the Association provided volunteer services at Camarillo State Hospital, maintained a rehabilitation fund for hospital patients that needed clothing and transportation for job interviews, and provided a referral service for individuals seeking psychiatric resources. In 1969 it hired its first full-time executive director and opened what it called a social rehabilitation center at 881 E. Main Street in Ventura to serve as a halfway house to care for people recovering from mental illness. The building also housed the Association's offices.