FAITH, SCIENCE AND MENTAL HEALING

CATHI DOUGLAS: RELIGIOUS LEADERS SAY MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF MINISTRY

Five years ago, Pati Stives had no one to turn to after her husband Ray’s suicide. She felt miserable and desolate, alone in her pain.

Today, Stives is her Catholic parish’s first mental health coordinator, a post created last year. She ministers to fellow parishioners and their loved ones at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Point Loma, many of whom are dealing with depression, anxiety or suicidal thoughts — or have relatives and friends suffering from those and other forms of mental illness.

It was years after her husband took his own life that Stives finally felt understood while attending a healing Mass for suicide survivors.

“That was a big moment for me,” she recalls of the survivors’ Mass. “Bishop Dolan talked about how suicide is a disease, and that we need both religion and science to overcome it.”

The Most Rev. John P. Dolan, now serving as bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix — where last year he established its Office of Mental Health Ministry — wrote in the Jesuit review America about his own experience of losing two sisters, a brother and a brother-in-law to suicide.

“I understand the importance of finding comfort in our church and the gift it brings to so many people within our parishes and families,” Dolan wrote.

“Many in our church have yet to embrace the immense benefits that medical and psychological treatments can bring in the lives of those who are suffering,” he added.

“Medication, therapy and other forms of treatment provided by trained professionals are gifts from the Holy Spirit, who continually guides faith and science to the same end — God himself, who makes all things new.”

David Kornberg, senior rabbi at Congregation Beth Am in San Diego, believes faith leaders have a powerful voice in dealing with mental illness, both among sufferers in their own congregations and beyond.

“For a long time, mental illness was something to be embarrassed about,” Kornberg said. “As faith leaders, we had to say no, this is like any other illness and something we need to address. Just as with those with heart disease or cancer, we must support (sufferers) and give them the tools they need to cope and live with their illness.”

Kornberg said that in his former work as chaplain at Robert Wood Hospital in New Jersey, faith leaders were considered just as important to a patient’s care as doctors and nurses.

“We have access to a whole different type of healing mechanism, a healing world,” Kornberg says. “There are ways we can help that are very powerful.”

As part of spiritual practice, one’s belief system or faith can help mentally ill people have an anchor in their suffering, said Kornberg, who also serves a part of the San Diego Police Department’s emergency negotiating team.

“Faith can create structure, routine, and offer actions that can be very meaningful and helpful,” he said. “One easy answer to give people suffering from depression or a loss of someone is for them to be connected into a faith group that helps lift that person.

“They will receive calls from the congregation, a committee of caring members and faith leaders, and have access to group meetings,” he said.

Mental health and well-being is a big umbrella, notes Bill Trok, pastor of Ridgeview Church in Valley Center, with both biological and chemical issues as well as life circumstances, trauma and difficulties people face as they age or cope with loss.

“My experience, and those of the people I work with, is that when one has a foundation in faith, it can help them deal with setbacks,” says Trok, who also serves as a San Diego Sheriff ’s Department chaplain.

“I’ve seen studies that reflect the idea that the practice of praying through an issue reduces depression, anxiety and stress,” he adds.

He is happy to see taboos around mental health minimized. “Even among the law enforcement community, there is more and more willingness to talk about things that affect them,” he says.

“Mental health is better understood, and getting help is not only the right but healthy thing to do,” he adds. “In some ways, it’s the noble thing to do.”

As a Muslim chaplain at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, Mohammed Lawal ministers to many inmates who cling to faith as their only hope when living in a terrible environment rife with drugs and violence.

“It helps to know that there is something higher than yourself,” Lawal says. “While mental health is a disease and must be tackled by professionals in the field, we (chaplains) are there to complement their work.

“It takes a chaplain to convince (the inmates) that there is hope,” he adds. “With faith, they tend to stop doing bad things and realize that a change in their mental attitude makes hope possible.”

John Prust, director of family life and spirituality for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, is proud that his diocese was the first in the U.S. to have an organized mental health ministry.

“Physically, mentally and spiritually, our beings are connected and we can’t ignore any of those pieces,” Prust said. “A struggle in one area impacts the rest. We seek healing.”

He is grateful that the stigma involving mental health, including the fear of being labeled, is lessening as it is perceived as an integral part of a healthy life. “Our faith is meant to inform how we approach the world.”

From the moment that St. Charles Boromea Pastor John Amsberry asked her to share her story to parishioners at Sunday Mass, Stives has discovered that people are open to help in all its forms — counseling, peer group sharing, spiritual practices and other forms of faith-related support.

“Our whole intent is to open up and make people feel comfortable talking about any type of mental illness,” Stives said. “One in five people or their loved ones experience some sort of mental illness. Although we are not therapists, we are there to listen.”

In her ministry, Stives has worked with homeless people, people who experienced suicide or loss, and those who are anxious and depressed, among other mental issues. She finds the work extraordinarily fulfilling.

“I was very alone when my husband passed away,” she recalls. “It was hard to talk about it, and I needed something faith-based. Just having a group to talk about mental health is helpful.”

“Many in our church have yet to embrace the immense benefits that medical and psychological treatments can bring in the lives of those who are suffering.” The Most Rev. John P. Dolan • bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix

GETTY IMAGES