About Us

From 1971 through 1986, Ms. Edinburg volunteered on the Department of Mental Health and Retardation Area Board of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Waltham, Massachusetts. During this time period, area boards played a pivotal role in the planning and development of community-based systems of care for persons with mental illness and persons with mental retardation. Under her leadership as its President, federal funding was secured to establish The Center for Mental Health and Retardation Services, Inc. (at that time, known as the Metropolitan Beaverbrook Mental Health and Retardation Center) as an independent community mental health center. After its incorporation in 1977, Ms. Edinburg served as a member of The Center's Board and in both executive officer roles of President and Vice President until 1986. In these roles, Ms. Edinburg provided the vision and leadership that strategically guided The Center from its infancy to a thriving community mental health and mental retardation center.

Ms. Edinburg grew up in Massachusetts. She received her bachelors degree from the University of Massachusetts and her MSW from Boston University School of Social Work in 1946. Ms. Edinburg was hired as McLean Hospital's first social worker and the first director of its social work department. She directed the McLean social work department from 1956 through her retirement in 1993. This is the longest period that a social worker has given direction to a social work department in a private psychiatric hospital in the United States. Upon Ms. Edinburg's retirement in 1993, McLean Hospital established The Edinburg Lectureship in her honor. Guided by the goals of providing quality care and improving the quality of life for persons with mental illness and their families, Ms. Edinburg's leadership contributed significantly to the development of the fields of mental health and social work practice and education. Throughout her career, she served on a number of national and state special advisory councils, boards and professional organizations most notably governor blue ribbon commissions, the National Association of Social Workers and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Her contributions to the field of mental retardation are seen in her service on state advisory councils, area boards and committees, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fernald Center. Ms. Edinburg has written or co-authored a number of articles related to clinical practice, the concepts and principles involved in the development of social work departments and training programs and managed care. Her faculty appointments included Harvard Medical School, Smith School of Social Work, Boston University School of Social Work and Simmons College School of Social Work.

Ms. Edinburg has received numerous honors over the course of her career in mental health. In the past decade, she received the Department of Mental Health Commissioner's Special Recognition Award, the National Association of Social Work Knee-Wittman Outstanding Achievement in Health / Mental Health Award, the Massachusetts Chapter Lifetime Achievement Award and the NASW Pioneer Award. Prior to receiving these awards, Ms. Edinburg was honored by the Massachusetts Chapter, NASW, Boston University School of Social Work as Alumnae of the Year, the National Academies of Practice, the National Network of Social Work Managers and the Massachusetts Society for Hospital Social Work Directors.