Created by Joel Fort, M.D. -the result of his nearly 20 years of experience as a public health innovator, concentrating on all aspects of drug abuse, human sexuality, and youth problems-FORT HELP is a private nonprofit center open to all, irrespective of ability to pay. It is designed to be a warm and supportive environment in which to be helped, bringing together those giving and receiving help in a new kind of relationship that emphasizes a shared responsibility. Its physical surroundings are highly unconventional-bright, bold, and free-form-in an attempt to break away from sterile institutional atmospheres. Envisioned as a bridge over the increasing fragmentation of our society, FORT HELP is dedicated to working in a nonhierarchical, nonauthoritarian manner to try to avoid the inefficiencies and dehumanization of traditional organizations.

We believe that FORT HELP-a busy, people-filled, obviously relevant facility from the moment it opened-is a valuable indicator of the future of social health care. It is accessible, human, and oriented to keeping people well. Its staff brings together medical doctors, social workers, psychologists, community workers, interns and residents, teachers, vocational counselors, and a wide variety of other professionals and nonprofessionals-all of whom are selected for their relevance, commitment and maturity rather than for arbitrary certification. The Center stresses a generalist interdisciplinary approach to solving problems, with the greeter/problem-solver as the core of its unique services. FORT HELP is a model for the obviously needed helping facility which can provide new solutions to complex societal problems and which now seems certain to replace present mammoth and unresponsive institutions.

Under the guidance of Dr. Fort and a staff selected team of coordinators and activators, FORT HELP is geared not only to help people from all walks of life but also to providing intensive training, public education and research. We are convinced that the need for help in our present society has long since outrun any possibility of "certified," routinized treatment by specialists with professional degrees. People must be brought together to help each other: accomplishing this is one of our primary aims. We ask your help in financing this unique facility. While we are seeking every possible private nongovernmental source of operating money, continuing direct help from concerned individuals is a necessity. We welcome your involvement with our direct and indirect services in addition to your financial contribution (tax deductible).

The Center for Solving Special Social and Health Problems (FORT HELP) is a new, fundamentally different kind of resource

for people seeking aid in dealing with some of today's most pressing problems. Based on the evident need for new ways

of coping with the stresses of modern life, it represents an innovative, eclectic approach to providing immediate and pertinent kinds of help. It assumes that those needing help for drug, sex, and other special problems

should not be labeled, processed or

in any way reacted to as "sick" or "abnormal."