Mental Health Ministries e-Spotlight - Fall 2009
Mental Illness Awareness Week is October 5-11
National Day of Prayer is Tuesday, October 6
National Depression Screening Day is October 8
MENTAL ILLNESS AWARENESS WEEK
Mental Illness Awareness Week is the first week in October. This is a wonderful
opportunity to partner with community groups in your area to raise awareness about mental illness. This
e-Spotlight will include information and resources to help you make the most of this educational opportunity.
THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR MENTAL ILLNESS AWARENESS
RECOVERY AND UNDERSTANDING
The National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Awareness Recovery and Understanding
is Tuesday, October 6. This day of prayer was initiated by Angela Vickers, JD of NAMI Florida
and Gunnar Christiansen, MD of NAMI California in 2004. It has had widespread support by
individual congregations and National Faith Community Mental Illness Networks.The prayers and actions
of both faith communities and secular organizations (e.g. NAMI, NMHA, DBSA, OCF, ADAA,
etc.) are needed to restore mental wellness in America. In seeking God's guidance, we can
recommit ourselves to replacing misinformation, blame, fear and prejudice with truth and love in
order to offer hope to all who are touched by mental illness.
You can download a resource with liturgies
to use for the National Day of Prayer on the Home page of the Mental Health Ministries website. This
resource is available in English and Spanish. Many
faith communities have sponsored an interfaith candle lighting service using a liturgy written by
Carole J. Wills that is included in this resource. These prayers and liturgies, however, can
be used at any time during the year.
NATIONAL DEPRESSION SCREENING DAY (NDSD)
We know that persons are more likely to go to their faith leader first with mental health problems
than to mental health professionals. Yet studies show that most clergy are not effective in providing
appropriate support or referrals. There are many reasons for this. Much of the work of Mental
Health Ministries is to provide resources to educate faith leaders and congregations about mental illness
and how they can support persons and families living with these “no fault” illnesses.
The National Depression Screening Day will be held on Thursday, October 8th, 2009. NDSD screening
sites are sponsored by hospitals, mental health centers, government agencies, social service agencies,
advocacy organizations, colleges, primary care clinics, workplaces, healthcare companies AND some faith
communities. These screening programs now include both in-person and online programs for depression,
bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, alcohol
problems and suicide prevention. There is a special link for persons in the military.
It is important to let members of your congregation know about screening sites in your area. If
we can reach persons with undetected and untreated mental disorders, we can encourage them to seek
appropriate treatment. If we talk about mental illness like any other illness, we will help to
reduce the stigma and shame associated with these brain disorders. It is also helpful if faith
leaders have the names of local mental health professionals and organizations in order to provide appropriate
referral information at any time of the year.
For more information, visit www.MentalHealthScreening.org and
click on “For
the Public” to the link “find a screening
site in your area” tab.
DEPRESSION SELF TEST
Approximately 19 million Americans experience depression. We have
included the Zung Self Rating Depression
Scale on the Home page of our website.
Another simple
20-question quiz that can help identify common symptoms of depression and their severity is available
at http://www.lexapro.com/check_symptoms/dep_screener.aspx. This
quick inventory was developed by A. John Rush, MD, a leading psychiatrist and author from the University of Texas Medical
Center. It is adapted from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Ed. Washington,
DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1994.
Remember—depression is more than just feeling down. It is a real medical condition that can be effectively treated,
but first you must seek help. These tools can be used for you or given to others.
SPIRITUAL ASSESSMENT TOOLS
We have also added two spiritual assessment tools to the website to help
mental health professionals find ways to include a person’s faith and spirituality in the
treatment and recovery process. Included on the Home page and under Resources and Links you
can download the following tools for spiritual assessment.
VETERAN'S DAY BULLETIN
Veteran's Day is Wednesday, November 11. It is a time to honor and remember
our military veterans...past and present. We can make a difference in the lives of millions of
people if we not only remember, but also reach out to support the troops returning from combat service.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has become a major mental health issue as our veterans
return from serving in the war. The Rand Corporation recently released a study estimating that
one in five U.S. service members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan suffers from major depression or
combat stress. We are seeing an increase in combat stress, addiction, domestic violence and
suicide. Too
often the ethic is to be silent about combat related mental health problems. Only half of those
with mental health problems seek treatment.
Mental Health Ministries is offering an interfaith
Veteran's Day resource that can be used as a bulletin insert or flyer. It can be printed
on both sides and cut in half to save paper. We hope this will raise the important issues faced
by our returning troops and give your faith community some ideas on how to be supportive. This resource
is available in English and
in Spanish.
We also have an article, How Faith Communities
Can Help Veteran’s and Their Families
Readjust by VA Chaplain, David Lundell.
YOUR IDEAS WEBSITE PAGE
The first step in creating “caring congregations” is education. Once
mental illness is a “safe” topic to talk about, your congregation can begin to find ways
to minister to and with persons with a mental illness and their families. Each congregation is
unique. We
are gratified that some of our
resources have been helpful in breaking down the barriers of fear, ignorance and stigma associated
with illnesses of the brain.
Many of you have found your own creative and effective ways of raising
awareness about mental illness. You
can read some of the ideas that have worked for other communities in the Your Ideas section of
our website. We encourage you to submit
your own ideas for inclusion in this section.
MENTAL HEALTH MINISTRIES DVD SET
 We
have put the best of our educational videos on our two DVD set to help educate faith communities about
various mental health issues. The shows on the set, Mental
Illness and Families of Faith: How Congregations Can Respond, are “user-friendly” and
short enough to be used in a variety of settings including classes and small groups. Each segment
has a discussion guide with background information, questions for discussion and where to find additional
resources.
These eight shows cover a variety of mental health issues. Professionals provide important information
about each illness. But mostly you will hear from real people who live with these brain disorders. Each
segment presents an issue related to the experience of mental illness, puts a face to the issue and
offers a message of hope.
LIST OF SHOWS
Disc 1
Coming Out of the Dark (Interfaith Introduction, (Length: 53 seconds)
Mental Illness in Different Age Groups (Length: 17:39 minutes)
Mental Illness and Families of Faith (Length: 20:50 minutes)
Understanding Depression (Length: 16:31 minutes)
Overcoming Stigma: Finding Hope (Length: 13:13 minutes)
Disc 2
Addiction and Depression (Length: 16:42 minutes)
Anxiety: Overcoming the Fear (Length: 18:49 minutes)
Teenage Depression and Suicide (Length: 14:39 minutes)
Eating Disorders: Wasting Away (Length: 12:58 minutes)
Creating Caring Congregations (Length: 10:39 minutes)
This 2 DVD set is closed captioned. This resource can be ordered
on our website.
COMFORT MY PEOPLE
Comfort My People is a new resource on mental illness just released by The Presbyterian
Church USA. You can download this resource or purchase copies through the Presbyterian Distribution
Service (PDS) at http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09726.htm. Additional Copies are available at $4.00
each from the Presbyterian Distribution Service (PDS), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202-1396,
or by calling 1-800-524-2612. The PDS order number is #02-052-09-003
COMING SOON - MENTALL ILLNESS AND FAMILIES OF FAITH: THE CHALLENGE
AND THE VISION
I have written a four session discussion/resource guide for clergy and communities of faith
in response to the many questions and requests for information that I receive from persons want to include
spirituality as an important part of the treatment and recovery process. This will be a free resource that
can be downloaded on the Mental Health Ministries website. The four sections include, Understanding
Mental Illness, The Unique Role of Faith Communities, Creating Caring Congregations and Help
for Faith Leaders.
A preview of the Table of Contents will provide a more detailed description of the topics this resource
will cover.
SNIPPETS FROM SUSAN
 The
Ark
I’ve always loved the story of Noah’s ark. I even have a little wooden ark
in my office. Noah’s ark is, after all, the story of God’s grace and the promise of
God’s
covenant with us. Each of us enters the ark in faith that God will see us through the storms,
winds and floods of our lives. And while we are on the ark, we are aware of the delicate balance
and interdependence that exists between all living things, as well as with the created world. The
inhabitants of Noah’s ark might well have become discouraged if they had not had one another
to depend on. Through the difficult times in my life, I’ve had to learn how to hang on
to others, and to God, in trust and faith.
As we ride through the flood of sorrow or loneliness or discouragement,
often we feel abandoned or forgotten by God. But we stick together in the hope that one day we will open a window
of our ark and send out a dove. The dove will return with a single leaf...a sign of hope and promise for us all.
Rev. Susan Gregg-Schroeder
Coordinator of Mental Health Ministries
6707 Monte Verde Dr.
San Diego, CA 92119
www.MentalHealthMinistries.net |
