Mental Health Challenges in Our Faith Community

(This file also available as a downloadable PDF from a link below.)

Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, Saturday, October 27, 2018; 9:00am to 12:00pm

• Many of us have faced or will face mental health challenges personally or in those we love.

• As a faith community, we are a unique resource for those who are struggling.

• The Care & Counsel and Worship & Ministry Committees working with Jeff Perkins organized this workshop.

• This was a day for us as a faith community to consider our response to mental health issues with the help of Linda Rich, an outside facilitator.

Purpose of the Day

• Opportunity for discussion of the needs of Meeting members, attenders, visitors and community

• Reduce stigma about “mind health” issues

• Come to a better understanding of mind health in order to recognize our fears and move toward inclusion

• Identify skills and resources needed for greater inclusion.

Goals

• Identify issues and concerns

• Discuss mind health needs of the meeting community, including members, attenders and visitors

• Outline process for next steps (including resources, skills/toolbox, and ways to bring our work back to the rest of the Meeting)

Challenges

Quaker worship and processes pose some unique challenges around mental health issues including:

• How do we know when community members are struggling?

• What support can we offer and what are the limits of what we can do?

• How can we be inclusive and welcoming to those with mind health challenges?

• What is the right balance between being supportive and inclusive and keeping our community safe and comfortable for all?

Why is mind health an issue in society today?

• Increased isolation, fewer connections, screens

• Rapid communication of ideas, e.g., via social media

• Fear of difference; “Us vs. Them” mentality

• Mind health concerns about American leadership

• Pervasive media showing violence against others

• Increased anxiety about the world

• “Terror” is unpredictable and irrational; we feel powerless and have misconceptions about our true risk.

The Mind Health Spectrum

• Non-functioning >>>>> Thriving

• Nirvana >>>>> Psychosis

• Isolation>>>>> Connection

• Resilience >>>>> Inflexibility

• Mind health is dynamic in lived experience.

• People have different realities.

Who is especially vulnerable to mind health issues?

• Older people

• Caregivers

• Victims of Violence / Trauma

Societal Stressors

• Joblessness

• Homelessness

• Poverty

• Racism

What do faith communities uniquely have to offer?

• Calm, therapeutic atmosphere

• Examination of morality

• People come voluntarily

• Spiritual cure, spiritual “hospitals”

• Opportunity for social connection with few demands

• Welcoming / Anonymous

• Communities for support, growth, God

• Belief of equality, inclusion, respect

• Faith as a resource

• Less competitive, more supportive

• Obligation to care for others

How do we know when people are struggling?

• Anxiety, extreme behaviors

• Pressured speech, no talking or changes in talking

• Financial pressures

• Changes in behavior or inappropriate behavior, e.g., excessive sex, gambling, spending, eating

• Over-reactive, inappropriate response to situation

• Chronic complaints about physical health

• Emotional flatness, inappropriate to setting

• They tell you!

• Not functioning

What does poor mind health look like?

• Changes in physical appearance, hygiene, weight…

• Changes in what you know about the person

• Unintelligible talk

• Extreme verbal expressions

• Withdrawing

• Forced affect – “socialized persona” (faking it)

• Agitation

• Loss of eye contact – hiding

• Unprovoked aggression

What are our fears in responding to someone in distress?

• Setting boundaries – How far can this go?

• Contagion – Will the problem overtake us?

• Being ineffectual, not knowing what to do

• Being intrusive or wrong in our conclusions

• Feeling responsible

• Disrupting peace

• Being always on duty (for those who work in the field)

• Making it worse, causing harm

• Rejection

What are our needs as individuals and as a community?

• Appropriate boundaries

• Self-care, balanced with others’ care

• Safety (social and physical)

• Peace of mind

• Having a plan and standards in place

• Knowing how to respond

• Communication about what we know or need

• Opportunities for learning, resources for more information

What are our hopes?

• Preparedness / Having a plan

• Purposeful, known inclusiveness

• Proactively healthy

• Continuing education

• Expand responsibility to more people

• Be a safe place for people to come and safe for our community (ask ourselves when we mean “comfortable” when we say “safe”)

• Be flexible and capable of handling the situation

• Feel confident we know what to do

• Be alert and not alarmed when something happens

What are our limitations/challenges?

• Need for perfection

• Having the right information / knowledge

• No point person to take charge

• Loose organizational structure

• Fluid population of attenders

What messages to we want to give? (e.g., welcoming and inclusive, safe, comfortable)

• Do these compete, conflict?

• How will we make them clear?

• How will everyone know?

• What can this look like?

• How might we undermine ourselves?

This is the work of Next Steps…

What can we offer?

• Listening with compassion, advice, process, one-on-ones, referrals.

• Can those who attended the Mental Health First Aid session help here?

What can our work here today do?

• Reduce stigma,

• Convene group(s) to do the work.

• Share what we learned (e.g., in newsletter, adult class)

• Make Care & Counsel’s presence known and available.

• Review plans across committees.