Marie Meierhofer

Marie Meierhofer (1909–1998) was a close friend of Walter Robert Corti and accompanied him throughout his life. She was a paediatrician and co-founder of the Children’s Village. During World War II she worked in France as a doctor for the Red Cross. Her letters about conditions in military hospitals and particularly about the distress of war children encouraged Corti to write his famous article in the magazine “DU”. In April 1946, Marie Meierhofer was in charge of selecting children who were going to live in the Children's Village.

Marie Meierhofer was head of the medical service in the Children’s Village and temporarily in charge of its psychological service. In 1957 she founded the “Institut für Psychohygiene im Kindesalter” (Institute for child mental health) in Zurich which was later renamed Marie Meierhofer Institut. In her view, mental health (or psychohygiene as she called it) is the result of a healthy upbringing in a stimulating environment which promotes the harmonious development of a human being as a whole. Prerequisites for a healthy upbringing are understanding the child’s developmental needs, supporting the child’s positive natural gifts and assisting the child in its personal attempts to handle its negative tendencies. The over-arching goal is a balanced, self-confident and socially integrated individual who is aware of his or her strengths and weaknesses.