Church responding with resources as mental health crisis worsens

Project Advance grant recipient Sanctuary Mental Health is set to roll out its new Youth Mental Health course, The Sanctuary Youth Series, at the end of the year.

The program will consist of eight sessions made for use in faith settings like schools, churches, and youth groups. Each module will consist of opening games, educational videos, and prayers. A facilitation guide will be available for program coordinators.

“To discern what content should be covered in this series, we conducted a global study in the summer of 2020,” reads an info pamphlet. “In conjunction with additional research, this study enabled us to identify the key questions young people are asking about mental health and faith.”

The research showed that young people are worried about their mental health, want to know if and how to find healing, and what the Bible says about the subject.

The program focuses on themes like theology and mental health, emotions, stigma, and self-care.

The course “is designed to raise awareness and reduce stigma by starting conversations about mental health in youth groups,” reads the document.

“We recently piloted the first session at a private Catholic high school in San Antonio, [Texas],” Sanctuary’s director of engagement Bryana Russell told The B.C. Catholic. “It went incredibly well.”

The teacher-counsellor who ran the course with her sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students was grateful for the resources, complimenting its quality.

“The course offers necessary and important content that all young people should know about,” said Russell.

The feast of St. Dymphna, patron saint of mental illness, is May 30.

Nearly one in three Canadians (29 per cent ) aged 18 and older reported experiencing depression, anxiety, or another mental health condition in 2023, marking a substantial increase from 20 per cent in 2016. So a new course, Introduction to Catholic Mental Health Ministry, couldn’t come along at a better time.

Vancouver-based Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries created the course in partnership with the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers for any Catholic who wants to bring mental health ministry to their parish or diocese. 

The film and discussion materials show how to increase mental health literacy, conduct a needs assessment, draw a parish plan, and partner with other organizations in the community. They provide stories of clergy and laity who are already offering mental health ministry and being  inspired by the teachings of the Catholic faith. Options are available to learn at one’s own pace through online content or complete the multi-week course alongside a cohort of fellow learners. 

The latest Canadian data on mental well-being was released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information. It shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and economic stressors have contributed to declining mental health, with a larger number of Canadians reporting worry or stress about paying for housing, having enough food and having a safe, clean place to sleep compared with other high-income countries.

In the U.S., the percentage of U.S. adults diagnosed with depression is similar to Canada’s, reaching 29 per cent according to a 2023 Gallup poll and rising almost 10 per cent since 2015. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that almost half of U.S. teens report experiencing persistent sadness and hopelessness. 

As in Canada, the Catholic Church is responding.

Following a 2023 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops initiative, Catholics across the country have been working in their local communities to address the mental health crisis. 

In the Archdiocese of Washington, Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar offered a May 11 Mass for people with mental health challenges.

“Those living with a mental illness should never bear these burdens alone, nor should their families who struggle heroically to assist their loved ones,” the bishop said at the Mass in Landover Hills, Maryland, according to a report by the Catholic Standard.

“We Christians must encounter them, accompany them, comfort them, include them, and help bear their burdens in solidarity with them, offering our understanding, prayers, and tangible, ongoing support,” he noted.

In Emmitsburg, Maryland, the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is hosting a Mental Wellness Retreat under the patronage of St. Dymphna, whose feast day is May 30. (Traditionally, the feast day of the young saint who is patron of the abused and mentally ill was May 15.)

“We are hoping to reach people who live with their own mental health challenges and their loved ones,” Melissa Freymann, a clinical mental health therapist who is organizing the retreat in her role as a mental health ministry consultant for the Archdiocese, told CNA.

Out west, St. Patrick Catholic Community Parish in Scottsdale, Arizona, is hosting a mental health fair May 18–19 in honour of the feast of St. Dymphna.

The Diocese of Phoenix’s Office of Mental Health Ministry will attend the fair, according to The Catholic Sun. At the fair, the St. Patrick community will bless a “Woman of the Well” painting by Glenda Stevens and display it in their “House of Mercy” building. The diocese hopes to use the biblical image of the well where Jesus met the Samaritan woman as a designated place of encounter to gather and grow together.

The Diocese of Phoenix also recently offered its second annual “Green Mass” on May 5 honouring and praying for professionals, caregivers, and clergy who serve people with mental health concerns. The Mass brought social workers, pastoral caregivers, and counsellors together at Sts. Simon and Jude Cathedral, where volunteers handed out green ribbons to represent growth and new beginnings, as well as St. Dymphna prayer cards, according to The Catholic Sun.

Ministering to people who suffer with mental illness and those who live and care for them spans not just the U.S. but also places like the Vatican, South Africa, and India.

The India chapter of the Catholic Association of Mental Health Ministers (CMHM) organized its first-ever National Mental Health Conference at Nirjhari Conference Center, Carmelaram, in Bengaluru, Karnataka, from April 5 to 6.

The CMHM India worked with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s health care commission to host the retreat, which highlighted the state of mental health in India, the role of the Church in mental health ministry, and the difference between spiritual and mental health.

More than 250 attendees, including priests, religious sisters, and medical professionals, attended the event, which featured speakers Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, Bishop Thomas Tharayil, the ecclesiastical adviser of CMHM India, and Deacon Ed Shoener, co-founder and president of CMHM.

Deacon  Shoener helped to found CMHM to build mental health ministries in the Catholic Church in 2019 after his daughter, Katie, who struggled with bipolar disorder, died by suicide in 2016.

“The conference in India demonstrates the worldwide need for mental health ministry,” Deacon  Shoener told CNA in an email.

In January, Deacon Shoener attended a Vatican mental health conference, the first of its kind. Mental health ministers from around the world, including Moldova, India, and South Africa, gathered with Vatican officials to discuss pastoral care and accompaniment.

“Regardless of cultural differences, mental illness impacts every community, and Christ wants his Church to be there to accompany people without fear or stigma,” Deacon  Shoener noted.

With B.C. Catholic files

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