Faith communities need to rally around families with mental illness
My mother was a nurse, and years ago as she was caring for a woman with cancer, she recalled a time in our history when we whispered about cancer, the “c-word.” “No one talked about cancer,” she told me. If you got a cancer diagnosis in the 1950s or ’60s, it was a death sentence. There was a sense of hopelessness and fear that kept people from talking about cancer.
Thank goodness, we no longer whisper about cancer. We host 5k runs, celebrate awareness months and wear ribbons of support. Faith communities rally around families and individuals when they receive a cancer diagnosis. We provide hope and support in the form of casseroles, cards, flowers and offers help with everything from lawn care to laundry. It is a gentle reminder to families: “You are not alone. We are here to walk through this dark time with you. We have hope, and you should, too.”
Unfortunately, we still whisper about one of our most prevalent public health issues, mental illness. One in five Americans will develop a mental health issue in this year, a higher prevalence rate than some of our most commonly recognized health concerns including diabetes, asthma and yes, cancer. With numbers that high, our places of worship are overflowing with families and individuals facing challenging mental health issues often without the hope and support they desperately need.
When my mother was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor in 2009, our faith community showered our family with casseroles and offers of help that “fed” us both physically and spiritually. Seventeen months after my mother’s death, I almost lost my 18-year-old daughter to suicide. Diagnosed with major depression, anxiety and an eating disorder, she was fragile when we brought her home from the psychiatric hospital. Like any serious health issue, her intense care left us feeling overwhelmed, fearful and lost.
Unlike our experience with my mother’s cancer, the casseroles and offers of help never came. Our faith communities are full of good and caring people who simply don’t know how to respond. We still live in communities where we whisper about mental illness, rooted in the false belief that a flaw in character or a lack of faith is to blame. We’re unsure if we should we include people struggling with mental health concerns on our prayer lists, call them, visit them or make them casseroles. So, we don’t.
But, like all serious health issues, people move into wellness far more quickly and with more confidence and resilience when they are supported by their community of faith.
It’s time to stop whispering about mental illness and create communities in which we talk openly about mental health and respond to the needs of families impacted. Places of worship can and should lead the way, but faith leaders need education and support.
NAMI Austin, the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is launching a three-hour interfaith mental health training called Bridges to Hope on May 25. The goal is to equip faith leaders with the education and support they need to address this important and far-reaching public health issue. The training features an informative overview of prevalent mental health myths and common symptoms of mental health disorders as well as simple ideas and tools for supporting families living with mental illness.
Equipping our faith leaders with tools to successfully address the mental health needs of their communities ensures families and individuals impacted by mental illness will hear “You are not alone. We are here to walk through this dark time with you. We have hope, and you should, too.”