Religious leaders have always provided counsel to their constituents. But most aren’t trained to handle mental health disorders. Increasingly, faith-based institutions such as churches, synagogues and mosques are partnering with psychologists to improve the mental health of their congregants.
“There’s more movement happening in this area in the last four or five years than I’ve seen in the last 20,” says Shannon Royce, director of the Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives (also known as the Partnership Center) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Beginning in 2018, the Partnership Center launched an initiative to connect faith communities with mental health practitioners to address mental illness. In a series of meetings, some in cooperation with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, they’ve met with scores of faith leaders, mental health professionals, people with lived experience, caregivers and people in government to discuss how faith communities can better support and care for those with mental illness, as well as how to strengthen spiritual and religious competencies for mental health professionals.
Now, the Partnership Center is using the insights from those conversations to guide their next steps as they coordinate efforts to bring evidence-based mental health treatment to faith-based organizations across the religious spectrum. One goal, Royce says, is to provide training resources to faith leaders so that they can distinguish between “everyday” difficulties they can help with and more serious matters that should be referred to a mental health professional.
Nearly 1 in 4 religious congregations (23%) now offer some type of mental health programming (Wong, E.C., Psychiatric Servicesopens in new window, Vol. 69, No. 2, 2018). Some offer on-site access to mental health professionals, while many others have partnered with mental health professionals to create referral pathways for those who need care. When mental health professionals and faith leaders team up to address mental health, “we come closer to serving the whole person,” says Timothy Sisemore, PhD, a professor of psychology at California Baptist University and past president of APA’s Div. 36 (Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality). “When we serve those whose faith is a vital aspect of their identity, we give them scientific as well as spiritual resources to cope.”
Individual connections
Beyond formal partnerships, psychologists are making informal efforts to connect with faith leaders and their congregants to raise awareness of mental illness and reduce the stigma of asking for help. One such effort is being led by Earlise Ward, PhD, a counseling psychologist and associate professor and faculty director at the Morgridge Center for Public Service at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her work includes collaborating with church leaders to address mental health disparities in African American communities. She’s also working with the pastor of a local Baptist church to develop and pilot test a faith-based group intervention for depression to be co-delivered by mental health clinicians and clergy.
“Because of the stigma of mental illness, I’ve seen that many African Americans are more comfortable talking to their pastors about their mental health issues. They’re seeking help, but not professional help,” Ward says. Such partnerships can help reach people who might not otherwise seek out services. A 2003 study found that people were more likely to consult clergy for mental health treatment than to seek services from physicians or mental health professionals (Wang, P.S., Health Services Researchopens in new window, Vol. 38, No. 2, 2003). Ward and her colleagues also found that older African American women were more likely to seek guidance from their pastors when dealing with depression (Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursingopens in new window, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2014).
Muslim faith leaders are also working to address mental health issues in their communities. Among them is Lamise Shawahin, PhD, a counseling psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at Governors State University in Illinois who is active with the Institute for Muslim Mental Health, a nonprofit organization that publishes the peer-reviewed Journal of Muslim Mental Health and puts on an annual conference connecting faith leaders and clinicians. It started as a regional event in Michigan in 2009, but thanks to growing popularity and interest, it was expanded in 2017 to a national event. The organization also provides resources such as Mental Health First Aid trainings for Muslim faith leaders. “Faith leaders know the limits of their expertise and training, and they feel empowered when they learn this information,” she says.
Psychologists at the crossroads of mental health and religion are also conducting research on how to integrate faith perspectives into evidence-based treatments and help other clinicians learn how to work within religious communities, says Steven Pirutinsky, PhD, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at the Touro College Graduate School of Social Work in New York City who works with Orthodox Jewish clergy to educate and consult on mental health issues, receive referrals and collaborate on research.
Shawahin and Pirutinsky are both members of the faith communities in which they work but say such membership is not essential. “You can make an impact whether you come from that faith tradition or not,” Shawahin says.
In a study Pirutinsky is preparing for publication, he compared psychotherapy outcomes among patients and psychotherapists who were or were not members of the Orthodox Jewish community. Preliminary findings show that religious patients had similar outcomes whether their psychotherapists were religious or not. The same was true for nonreligious patients.
“Like [in] any cross-cultural work, you have to bring respect,” he says. “As long as you are respectful and curious and engaged, these collaborations can be very successful.”
Kimberly Langrehr, PhD, a counseling psychologist and associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, wasn’t part of a faith community, but a student asked her to speak about mental health at a health fair at the student’s church. Since that presentation, Langrehr and her students have frequently partnered with the church to raise awareness of mental health issues. Those presentations led congregants to speak more openly about their mental health problems, and a number later came to the clinic where Langrehr and her students provide services. “This partnership gives students who plan to work in private practice a better understanding of how to serve underserved and diverse members of the community, and how to make those connections work,” she says.
Historically, there has sometimes been mistrust between faith leaders and mental health professionals, says Royce. But she believes those walls are crumbling as people on both sides realize the role that each can play in promoting mental wellbeing. “For people of faith, their religious perspective often gives them an inherent sense of hope,” she says. “If psychologists recognize the evidence that engaging their clients’ faith perspective to motivate and encourage them means their treatment is more successful, they’ll better serve their patients’ needs.”
