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Opening Hearts and Hands to Those in Need
considerable evidence that treating the whole person contributes to better health outcomes while saving costs. As a mental health professional, I would love to be convinced that churches are allies in promoting mental health. At best, the typical patient’s church is a mixed bag, with practical and social support generously available, along with a message that instills critical hope, unconditional acceptance, and varying degrees of interpersonal drama. At worst, a patient’s church can be a burden, the source of oppressive theology, guilt, or conflict over the idea of seeking secular treatment for emotional maladies. A noteworthy project in Winston-Salem, N.C., represents something of an alliance between the professional and church communities. A Kate B. Reynolds– funded project undertaken by the Psychiatry Department at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has been providing psychiatric treatment to residents of Samaritan Ministries for homeless individuals.1 This collaboration represents an interesting elaboration on the convergence of mind, body, and soul: Long paired with the food and housing provided by shelters such as Samaritan ministries, the Christian message is now being juxtaposed with brain health. (Psyche is the Greek work for soul.) While I am unaware of deliberate cross-fertilization of ideas across the spiritual and psychological planes in conjunction with this enterprise, I trust that some incidental shared respect is developing. Locally and nationally, groups are working to raise awareness of mental illness and fight the stigma against both the sufferer and the treatment. Winston-Salem, for instance, has just held its seventh annual Out of the Darkness community walk for suicide prevention, with its organizers now laying the groundwork for a local chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Forsyth County also has an active chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). Every region of North Carolina has a Consumer and Family Advisory Committee (CFAC) that works closely with the Local Management Entity (LME) or Managed Care Organization (MCO) for mental health services in that community. Christian churches—and not just church members who have family who suffer with mental illness—should be natural allies in these various efforts: walking in support of suicide awareness, educating ourselves about community needs and treatment options, and advocating for more programming where it is needed. I believe the writer of James would characterize these as acts of faith. 1 “Grant from Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust Extends Program Providing Care to Homeless People with Mental Illnesses” [online press release, retrieved 8/30/12 from http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-
Releases/2012/Grant_from_Kate_B__Reynolds_ Charitable_Trust_Extends_Program_Providing_Care_ to_Homeless_People_with_Mental_Illnesses.html
Robert Rominger is a counseling psychologist on the faculty at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. He is a member of Konnoak Hills Moravian Church in Winston-Salem.