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���������� Note: Join us this year at the ���������� Annual Conference to explore issues of faith-based cultural competence and new policies and strategies against stigmatization in the community. Leaders from around the country will be joining us to help re-focus our efforts on supporting and offering inclusive and dynamic resources for community members, and advocating for their rights to recovery. Register here: http://www.nyaprs.org/conferences/annual-conference/2014.cfm

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Mental Health, Faith Community Partner to Reduce Stigma, Support Recovery

Mental Health Weekly; Vol 24 # 28, 7/21/2014

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Mental health leaders and members of the faith community announced July 11 a collaboration that will create new resources to train religious leaders about mental health and substance use disorder issues and educate psychiatrists about faith and faith communities in mental health recovery.

More than 40 diverse faith, psychiatric and other mental health leaders gathered to inaugurate the Partnership to foster dialogue between the two fields, reduce stigma and take into account medical and spiritual dimensions as people seek care, noted program officials. Participants in the partnership include former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy; the American Psychiatric Foundation (APF); the Interfaith Disability Advocacy Coalition (IDAC), a program of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD); and the American Baptist Home Mission Societies.

“Although faith leaders and members of the mental health community have worked together in local communities, there hasn’t been enough of these collaborations on a national level,” Annelle Primm, M.D., deputy medical director at the American Psychiatric Association (APA), told MHW. “Many people saw this as an historic meeting.” Primm added, “This coming together of diverse backgrounds is a way to tackle the stigma that persists around people with mental illness in this country. It makes so much sense to be talking to each other.”

The APA has a long history of interest in faith issues, said Primm. The APA in 1999 developed a mental illness awareness guide for clergy and other spiritual leaders, she said. “It was extremely popular and was distributed to [religious] leaders throughout the country,” she said. “The guide should be updated. If we have sufficient resources, we might look to do that. Everyone [at the meeting] agreed to the need for that.”

One way mental health care could be improved by this new collaboration is by raising awareness among psychiatrists and those in training in psychiatry about the importance of religion and spirituality in the lives of people with mental we heard from the breakout groups and prioritize things that can be long term, and what can be done with existing resources,” Primm said.

They also intend to identify funding for some projects and take into account what can be done utilizing existing resources, money and personnel, she said.

One thing that can occur relatively soon is to make people aware of this new collaboration during meetings and conferences, such as “Psychiatrists need to not only know about the symptoms but also understand the context in which a person exists —their community and culture, including their spiritual beliefs. It’s a window to what’s going on in a comprehensive way,” said Primm.

Primm added, “We’re seeing this as a holistic approach. This is one way this collaboration generates greater understanding and ultimately can increase access to mental health care.”

Model programs

One of the program models discussed during the inaugural meeting, said Primm, was the St. Louis, Mo.–based ��Pathways to Promise, an interfaith cooperative of faith groups that provides assistance and resources for people experiencing a mental illness and their families.

Another program cited during the meeting was the Emotional Fitness Model, a program developed by Bishop William Young and Pastor Dianne Young in Memphis, Tenn., that addresses the spiritual, emotional, mental and social needs of its ministry.

“One of the suggestions coming out of this dialogue is to put together in one place all of the model programs established around the country,” rather than reinvent these efforts, said Primm. “If you look at the epidemiology of mental illness, one out of four or five people in a given congregation may be experiencing a mental illness at any given time,” she said. “The first response experienced by some people with mental illness is that they are not ��praying hard enough or that their faith isn’t strong enough. Someone with a mental illness needs to feel free and comfortable to pursue psychiatric care or mental health treatment.”

Next steps

One of the next steps is for the APA, APF and AAPD to meet and “review the recommendations that we heard from the breakout groups and prioritize things that can be done in the short term, mid term and long term, and what can be done with existing resources,” Primm said.

They also intend to identify funding for some projects and take into account what can be done utilizing existing resources, money and personnel, she said.

One thing that can occur relatively soon is to make people aware of this new collaboration during meetings and conferences, such as the upcoming Institute on Psychiatric Services on Oct. 31–Nov. 2 in San Francisco, she said. Additionally, the APA will host its annual meeting in May in Toronto. Lectures and symposia at these venues will help to raise awareness about the new project, she said.

The Mental Health and Faith Community Partnership is still in the early stages of development, said program officials, who are currently working on a webpage devoted to the initiative.

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