Mental health resources for Catholics come at the right time

The long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of Canadians are not yet known, but studies have already shown increases in mental illness and addiction in 2020.

Daniel Whitehead, CEO of Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries, said this challenging time for people facing mental illness is a moment for the Church to reach out and serve.

“The trauma of COVID is going to leave people processing some difficult things,” he told The B.C. Catholic.

“In a moment of crisis, people ask big questions. Research shows they turn to spirituality for answers, and I hope the church is ready to give some good answers and offer the hope of recovery and wellbeing.”

Sanctuary is a Vancouver-based charity that offers online articles, podcasts, and other resources on mental health including self-care, coping with grief, and navigating mental illness as a person of faith. When COVID-19 hit, traffic on their website went through the roof.

“In two months we had six times the previous year’s number of downloads,” said Whitehead. By the end of 2020, their website logged a 650 per cent jump in users.

They found, by studying common search terms, that “anxiety and depression are the main things people are acknowledging.” A third frequent search term was grief.

This is why Whitehead believes the timing for Sanctuary’s latest release could not have been more providential. This January, they launched the Sanctuary Course for Catholics: a faith and research-based documentary-style series of videos featuring Catholic experts and average people weighing in on aspects of mental illness. Filming for the series began Feb. 2019 and lasted one year.

Whitehead hopes the course will help Catholics understand mental health – for themselves, for their loved ones, and for their communities.

“We’re trying to inform, educate, and begin safe conversations in churches so the Church feels ready and prepared how to support people and how not to support people in their journeys.”

Harvey Payne, academic dean for the school of counselling at the Divine Mercy University in Sterling, VA, is one of several experts interviewed in the course. He said a study found Catholics were less likely than Christians of other denominations to access counselling.

“Not that they had any differences in having struggles with mental health,” he said, but “the primary reason that was given was that ‘they will push me towards values that I don’t hold to, might even make me feel worse because of my Catholic faith.’”

“As a church, recognizing that somebody is having this difficulty and having individuals that you know – if not holding the same faith, will at least support a person’s faith and values – is really critical.”

While there has been an increasing awareness of the role spirituality and religion play in mental health in general, he said priests and others would do well to know of a trusted counsellor they could recommend to Catholics who confide in them about mental health challenges.

Vancouver mental health advocate and B.C. Catholic columnist Lisa Rumpel was approached by Sanctuary to appear in the course and speaks candidly about her experience with bi-polar disorder and how her family supported her in her most difficult moments.

She had said in an interview in 2019 there was a serious lack of mental health resources and support groups specifically for Catholics. Now, she says this course is just the kind of thing the Catholic community needs.

“A lot of people are looking for resources and support during the pandemic.”

Rumpel is overjoyed with the timely release of the course, saying it can be used by individuals or small groups of people to learn about mental illness, talk about it with others, and even find healing.

The course enjoys the support of the Archdiocese of Vancouver. Besides receiving funding from the 2020 Project Advance appeal to produce this Catholic content, the course weaves in appearances by Archbishop J. Michael Miller.

“Mental health is part of who we are – you and I, men and women, created in God’s image and likeness, created with a mind and a spirit as well as a body,” the archbishop said.

“Therefore, tending to that part of the body which we call mental is an ingredient of being human, of being someone who is a child, a son or daughter of God.”

Various Canadian studies have found an increase in mental illness and addiction in 2020. One Ipsos study found 78 per cent of respondents felt their mental health was impacted by COVID. Another study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found 24.3 per cent of respondents had moderate to severe anxiety levels and 21.7 per cent reported feeling depressed occasionally or most of the time last year.

Whitehead said there are several steps a person can take if they believe someone they know is facing mental illness. First, he said, if someone is at risk of harming themselves or others, emergency services need to be contacted.

But if the person isn’t in any immediate danger, he suggested approaching a person, talking with them, and seeing how they act. He said the important thing is to listen without judging or offering advice, instead encouraging or endowing the person with hope.

Then, he said to encourage professional help. Whitehead suggests asking if they’ve seen a doctor or talked with a therapist about their concerns.

Lastly, he said, support the person in finding other help. Mental wellness “is so much more holistic than medication. We need to be connected and seen. We need people to pray for us. We need people to be in relationship with us.”

The Sanctuary Course for Catholics is available on their website and to subscribers of Formed.org, which is offered for free by some parishes. Whitehead is studying other ways of making the course available, including producing DVDs with workbooks for groups and parishes interested in studying the material together that way.

Sanctuary also offers a free mental health course for Christians.

“Being a nonjudgmental, steady presence, to be a good friend to someone, to recognize what you can do as a person, is different from what doctors can do.”

A listing of Catholic and Christian counsellors in B.C. is available at rcav.org/personal-counselling.

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