"Mental Health Ministries Winter Spotlight" Susan Gregg-Schroeder of San Diego, California, United States for Wednesday, 6 January 2016

 "Mental Health Ministries Winter Spotlight" Susan Gregg-Schroeder of San Diego, California, United States for Wednesday, 6 January 2016

Mental Health Ministries e-Spotlight
Winter 2016
In this New Year we continue our commitment and passion to use the Mental Health Ministries website and our Spotlights to help provide resources to address the stigma of mental illness in our faith communities. This issue of our e-Spotlight lifts up a number of books, websites and articles that address some of the issues surrounding faith/spirituality and mental health. Mental Health Ministries also posts timely resources on our Facebook page.
We always welcome your contribution of resources and programs addressing faith and spirituality that would be of interest to our national (and international) readers.
Toolkit - Promoting Emotional Health and Preventing Suicide

The Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has a new resource, Promoting Emotional Health and Preventing Suicide: A Toolkit for Senior Centers. It offers strategies senior centers can use to integrate suicide prevention into activities that support the well-being of older adults. It also describes activities that increase protective factors and explains how to recognize the warning signs of suicide. Available at no cost on the SAMHSA website.

Mood Network - A Patient-Powered Online Research Network

Millions of people struggle with mental illness. Depression and bipolar disorders are particularly prevalent, affecting many people over the course of their lifetimes. Yet effective treatments for these illnesses lag behind treatments for other major illnesses, like heart disease and even cancer. The stigma attached to mental illness is also very problematic, because it keeps those who suffer from seeking medical help, talking to friends and family, and getting support from others with the same conditions.
MoodNetwork, a patient-powered online research network for people with depression and bipolar disorder, is working to erase the stigma of mental illness and to find better, more effective treatments. A key goal of MoodNetwork is to educate people about these conditions and create a community of understanding, learning, and caring. Through online forums, blogs, and surveys, participants can share their experiences, and help others–including doctors and researchers–learn what it's like to live with these conditions, which treatments and therapies work and which don't, and how being open about mental illness is the first step in reducing its stigma.
"As part of this effort, MoodNetwork is committed to exploring and sharing how alternative and under-utilized approaches can help people who live with mental illness, in particular faith-based practices like meditation, prayer, and spirituality. We need to hear from people with mood disorders who have found help and solace through faith and spirituality, so that they, in turn, can help others. We also want to reach out to the larger faith communities so that we can work together to help those with mental health conditions feel better and less stigmatized in their families, communities and places of employment."
For more information go to www.moodnetwork.org

Mental Health and Faith Community Partnership Resources

The Mental Health and Faith Community Partnership is a collaboration between psychiatrists and clergy aimed at fostering a dialogue between two fields, reducing stigma, and accounting for medical and spiritual dimensions as people seek care. The convening organizations are APA, the APA Foundation and the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition, a program of the American Association of People with Disabilities.
The partnership provides an opportunity for psychiatrists and the mental health community to learn from spiritual leaders, to whom people often turn in times of mental distress. At the same time it provides an opportunity to improve understanding of the best science and evidence based treatment for psychiatric illnesses among faith leaders and those in the faith community.

Some resources available include, Mental Health: A Guide for Faith Leaders, a guide provides information to help faith leaders work with members of their congregations and their families who are facing mental health challenges. There is also a Quick Resource Guide that is a companion resource. Resources available on the APA website.

Support Groups - Starting a Spiritual Support Group for Mental Health and Wellness in Your Faith Community
Faith communities are increasingly interested in meeting people’s mental health needs through support groups both for persons living with a mental illness and those who care for them. The Mental Health Ministries website has a section on resources to help start a support group as well as sample schedules of what has worked for other faith communities.
Starting a Spiritual Support Group for Mental Health and Wellness in Your Faith Community is a booklet that offers helpful tips for starting a spiritual support group. It is based on the experience of the First Congregational Church (UCC) in Boulder, Colorado. This resource isavailable on the Mental Health Ministries website and on the INMI website.

It Worked For Us
We can learn from each other. The Models of Ministry page on the Mental Health Ministries website is a way for faith communities to share what they are doing...what has worked and what the challenges have been. How did your ministry get started? Where did you find the support and encouragement to move forward? What resources did you find helpful? Each congregation is unique and will create ministries appropriate to the needs of their community.
There are many exciting and creative ministries out there! Seeds are being planted and many are flourishing in surprising ways. Because it is an ever evolving and changing landscape, staffing and funding cutbacks impact outreach programs. Therefore, it is not possible to keep a current list of active ministries. Instead my hope is that the models shared may be a springboard to provide ideas and encouragement to begin or expand a mental health ministry in your own garden. For some ideas on what groups are doing visit the MHM website.
You are invited and encouraged to share what is happening in your congregation, faith group or community to erase the stigma of mental illness and provide caring and compassionate support for persons affected by mental illness. You can contact Mental Health Ministries through the website or by e-mailing Susan at sgschroed@cox.net.

Snippets from Susan

My husband and I visited Hawaii in the fall. You hear and see the word Aloha everywhere. The word "Aloha" has over 100 meanings. But an elder Hawaiian man explained to me that Aloha is really two words. "Alo" means to be face to face, to share and to really BE in someone’s presence. "Ha" means breath. So the main meaning of Aloha is to be close enough to share our breath or life-giving essence with someone.
The New Year is a time of new beginnings and recommitting ourselves to what is really important in our lives. I pray that we can all practice Aloha even with those persons who may make us feel uncomfortable. If each of us was to treat every person with respect and dignity despite our differences, what a difference we could make.
Aloha to the New Year!

Rev. Susan Gregg-Schroeder
Coordinator of Mental Health Ministries
www.MentalHealthMinistries.net
6707 Monte Verde Drive
San Diego, California 92119, United States
---------------------Interfaith Network on Mental Illness

10 Things Faith Community Leaders Can Do to Make 

The World a Better Place for People with Mental Illnesses

1. Make sure you know when to refer people to 

   mental health professionals and where to refer 

   them when the need arises. Learn more at 

   www.CaringClergyProject.org/makingreferrals.html 

   You can also refer congregants and family members 

   to a variety of support groups and classes.
2. Stay in touch with the person with mental illness 

   and his or her family after you make a referral. 

   People with mental illness and their family
   1. members need your ongoing support.
3. Encourage your congregation to treat people with 

   mental illnesses the same way they treat people 

   with other illnesses. Offer to visit them when 

   they are hospitalized. With their permission, ask 

   your members to send them cards and bring them 

   casseroles when they are ill.
4. Plan a specific day to focus on mental health 

   (perhaps in conjunction with Mental Health 

   Month in May or Mental Illness Awareness Week 

   in October). Say specific prayers for people 

   with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders,
   1. depression and other mental illnesses.
5. Talk about mental illness in your sermons, classes, 

   and adult forums, especially when you are 

   addressing compassionate outreach, social justice 

   and erasing stigma and discrimination. Talking 

   openly about mental illnesses reduces the grip of

    stigma. Emphasize the biological nature of brain 

   disorders and remind your congregations that 

   they can affect anyone, regardless of age, race, 

   religion or income. Mental illnesses are not the 

   result of personal weakness, lack of character or 

   poor upbringing.
6. Pay attention to the words you use. Avoid 

   stigmatizing language and encourage everyone in 

   your congregation to do the same. Do not refer to 

   people as "crazy," "psycho," "lunatic" or "mental." 

   Use phrases like "people with mental illnesses" 
   1. rather than "the mentally ill."
7. Educate your congregation. Bring in speakers 

   from NAMI (National Alliance on Mental 

   Illness), the medical community and your local 

   mental health center. Run a series of articles in 

   your congregation's newsletter. Show videos on 

   the subject and then encourage your congregation 

   to discuss the issues raised.
8. If you have a peace and justice ministry, encourage 

   them to get involved in the systemic problems that 

   affect people with mental illness. More people 

   with mental illnesses are in jails and prisons than 

   are in mental hospitals. Programs for people with 

   mental illnesses are under funded and axed quickly 

   when budgets need to be cut. Many chronically 

   homeless people have chronic mental illnesses.
9. Housing and jobs are critical to the recovery 

   process. Encourage members of your community 

   to help find jobs and provide housing options for 

   people with mental illnesses.
10. Start a spiritual support group in your faith community 

    for people with mental health challenges 

    and their families. For resources that will help 

    you structure the support group, go to 

    www.caringclergyproject.org/howyourfaithcommunitycanhelp.html

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