Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration

CMHS Consumer Affairs E-News
January 8, 2004, Vol. 04-03

ADS CENTER WILL HOLD TELECONFERENCE AND INTERNET TRAINING ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FAITH COMMUNITY AND MENTAL ILLNESS

TO REGISTER, ALL E-MAIL RESPONSES MUST GO TO adsinfo@mhasp.org OR CALL Jennifer Melinn at 800-688-4226, ext. 289.

Dear Colleague:

You are invited to participate in a virtual training session via the Internet and the telephone on the relationship between the faith community and mental illness, and how the faith community can combat the discrimination and stigma associated with mental illness.

Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2004
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Consider the following:

"More than 40 percent of those seeking help for emotional problems approach a spiritual adviser first." http://www.jewishsf.com/bk021101/sf06.shtml

"Religious communities are in a unique position to combat stigma and provide a message of acceptance and hope. . . . Sharing the message that all persons are worthy in the eyes of God, a faith community may be the only place where a person with a mental illness truly feels accepted, valued, and loved." http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Helpline1&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7620

A 2002 study, "Alternative Mental Health Services: The Role of the Black Church in the South," by Michael B. Blank, Ph.D., et al., determined the extent to which churches in the South were providing mental health and social services to congregations and had established linkages with formal systems of care. According to the abstract on the American Journal of Public Health Web site, "Black churches reported providing many more services than did White churches, regardless of urban or rural location." However, "few links between churches and formal provider systems were found, irrespective of the location --- urban or rural ---or racial composition of the churches." The study noted "the potential for linking faith communities and formal systems of care, given the centrality of the Black church in historical context." http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/10/1668

The training will be provided by Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min., director, Department of Jewish Family Concerns, Union of American Hebrew Congregations; Michael Blank, Ph.D., assistant professor, Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania; and Kris Flaten, M.Div., consumer advocate and chair of the Minnesota State Advisory Council on Mental Health.

Participants will learn how different cultures and faiths view mental illness, and concrete ways (and resources) for addressing issues concerning people who have mental illnesses within faith communities. The presentation will take place during the first hour, to be followed by a 30-minute period of discussion with the presenters.

This session is sponsored by the Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma (ADS Center), a project of the Center for Mental Health Services of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The session is free to participants. Participation is limited to the first 100 respondents.

All participants will receive confirmation by e-mail after responding to this invitation. That e-mail will include log-in instructions for the call. Before the call, participants will receive an online link to presentation materials.

Please let us know if you will be calling from outside the Continental United States, as we will need to make special arrangements for your participation.

--- Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma (ADS Center)

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The Center for Mental Health Services is a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services.