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How Your Congregation Can Help Combat the Mental Health Crisis

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Mental Health Empowerment: A Bold, New Approach

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CONTENTS The Scope of the Mental Health Crisis . . . . . . 3 Prior Solutions Have Fallen Short . . . . . . . . . . 4

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Dear Friend in Ministry,

Our presentation “How Your Congregation Can Help Combat the Mental Health Crisis” describes the challenges society faces in the area of mental health, along with the tremendous potential for churches to help solve these challenges. After the presentation, people have asked two main questions: 1) How can we tell others in our congregation, including pastors and lay leaders, about this opportunity? 2) What steps can our church take right now to get started? We put together this booklet as an answer to both questions. It captures key points from the presentation and casts a compelling, attainable vision, along with clear and manageable next steps on page 15. We at Stephen Ministries are passionate about building a more caring world, and empowering people for better mental health fits right in with that. Feel free to call us with any questions or to talk through ideas.

Expanding Our Understanding of Mental Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Need for a New, Expanded Approach . . . 5 The Missing Component: Mental Health Empowerment . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 What Are Mental Health Empowerment Skills? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Who Is Mental Health Empowerment For? . . . 8 The “To and Through” of Mental Health Empowerment . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Mental Health Empowerment Takes Place in Christian Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Understanding and Addressing Mental Health Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Three Levels of Mental Health Needs— and How Congregations Can Meet Them . . 11 Resources for Meeting Level 1, 2, and 3 Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Who Benefits from Mental Health Empowerment? . . . . . . . . . . . 14

In Christ,

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Joel P. Bretscher

Mental Health Empowerment: A Bold, New Approach

The Scope of the Mental Health Crisis The mental health crisis isn’t new. It may seem to be growing in recent years, but it’s something the world has been wrestling with for decades. • The mental health crisis impacts every demographic in every community in every city, state, and nation. • Most often, we think of the crisis as being about severe emotional problems or mental disorders. However, it also encompasses the countless people struggling with anxiety, milder forms of depression, conflicts, loneliness, low self-worth, and other issues. • The cost of the crisis is staggering. In terms of treatment expenses, lost income, medical bills, reduced productivity, and other financial costs, it represents hundreds of billions of dollars annually in the U.S. alone. • More significant, though, are the human costs. The mental health crisis brings tremendous suffering, both to the individual struggling with mental health and to the person’s loved ones. • Sadly, much of this suffering could be prevented entirely or at least greatly alleviated. At times, the crisis can seem so immense and so overwhelming that it can be easy to throw our hands up and think there’s nothing we can do. THE GOOD NEWS is that there is something we can do—as individuals, as congregations, and collectively as the Church—that can make a significant difference in the mental health and well-being of people everywhere. And, it fits right in with the purpose, mission, and strengths of the Church.

How Your Congregation Can Help Combat the Mental Health Crisis

Prior Solutions Have Fallen Short

Exclusive Focus of Prior Solutions

Over the years, numerous major initiatives have been put forth in an attempt to solve the mental health crisis. Despite their positive impact in some areas, the crisis persists and continues to affect more and more people.

Wait until after someone experiences mental struggles.

Then try to restore their mental health.

The primary reason these initiatives have fallen short is that they have focused almost exclusively on treatment—treating individuals with mental health struggles after those problems have developed. It’s a very costly approach in terms of money, time, effort, efficiency, and human suffering. It also means our mental health system is constantly playing catch-up.

Expanding Our Understanding of Mental Health •

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Old Understanding: Mental Health simply meant not having mental struggles or problems.

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Most definitions of mental health today have expanded to also include the many aspects of positive mental health and well-being, such as the ability to “adapt to change and cope with adversity,” “establish fulfilling relationships,” and “find meaning and purpose in life.” Some even include “having a sense of spiritual well-being.”

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For a long time, people defined “mental health” primarily based on what it was not—that mental health simply meant not experiencing emotional problems or mental disorders. The early 1990s, however, began to see a shift toward defining mental health as being much more than just the absence of problems.

Mental Health Mental Difficulties

New Understanding: Mental Health also includes all aspects of positive emotional and spiritual well-being.

The better a person’s mental health and well-being, the less susceptible they will be to mental struggles. 4

Mental Health Empowerment: A Bold, New Approach

The Need for a New, Expanded Approach Although the definition of mental health has expanded to encompass mental well-being, the approach to combating the crisis has not changed. John Snyder explains the need for a new and expanded approach: “ Too often, [our mental health system] is like a group of [treatment professionals] at the bottom of a cliff. People are stumbling off the cliff and getting hurt. Some come miraculously away from the fall without serious injury—perhaps a sprained ankle—and in need of a little assistance that can easily be given. Others, however, are more seriously injured and require a great deal of attention because of broken limbs. A few are quickly hustled away because of even more serious injuries. “ The whole scene is such a busy one, and the [professionals] so preoccupied with their healing tasks, that no one seems to be able to give any attention to what would seem a more logical move: to build a fence at the top of the cliff to keep people from falling off.” John A. Snyder, B.D., Ed.D. Associate Director of Education and Consultation Pennsylvania Hospital Community Mental Health Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

As important as treatment is, treatment alone cannot solve the mental health crisis. The solution also needs to involve putting up fences and guardrails to protect people from experiencing mental health problems in the first place. The good news is that congregations are uniquely and ideally situated, poised, and constituted to play a leading role in this expanded solution.

How Your Congregation Can Help Combat the Mental Health Crisis

The Missing Component: Mental Health Empowerment Empower Everyone

Treatment is essential, but it alone will not solve the crisis. Mental health empowerment is the proactive component, taking steps to: • c ompletely prevent or significantly reduce mental health struggles, and identify possible problems early on to intervene before they advance; and • p romote or increase people’s positive mental health so they will be more resilient to adversities and experience greater meaning, fulfillment, and well-being in life.

Treat Individuals

Mental health empowerment is equipping people with the knowledge and tools they need to take control of their mental health. This includes teaching people: • interpersonal skills to help them relate in healthier ways; and • c oping skills to increase their resilience to the inevitable challenges that arise in life. These skills are grounded in biblical truths to help people reflect Christ more fully in their thinking, communicating, and daily living. Good mental health is similar to good physical health. Just as being physically healthy helps one fend off illness and live a longer, fuller life, good mental health helps a person experience greater meaning, connection, and fulfillment in life.

Mental Health Treatment

Mental Health Empowerment

Mental health professionals are the ones who provide this level of care.

Congregations can play a significant role here.

is reactive—treating individuals after they have encountered mental health struggles.

is proactive—teaching everyone essential living skills to raise the level of their mental, relational, and spiritual well-being.

Both are essential in solving the crisis!

Mental Health Empowerment: A Bold, New Approach

What Are Mental Health Empowerment Skills? Mental health empowerment involves teaching people a wide range of interpersonal and coping skills to help people grow in their relationships, resilience, and well-being. Here are some examples: • Active listening • Dealing with feelings • Empathy • Patience • Assertiveness • Anger management

• Giving and receiving feedback

• Handling difficult conversations

• Coping with stress

• Navigating life crises

• Handling social pressure

• Flexibility and adaptability

• Maintaining boundaries

• Resilience

• Affirmation and gratitude

• Accepting help

• Conflict resolution

• Saying yes or no

• Emotional regulation • Self-awareness • Self-acceptance • Problem solving

People are taught all types of skills throughout their life—in school, at their job, in leisure activities, and elsewhere. But virtually no one is teaching the type of essential skills listed above, which creates a golden opportunity for congregations. Mental health empowerment is deeply theological too, grounding the principles and skills being taught in the tenets of the Christian faith, helping people experience: • t he super-abundant life Jesus talks about in John 10:10b • t he healthy relating described in the many one-another passages • t he shalom God wants us to experience in our lives • t he peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) Stephen Ministries has a 50-year track record of developing books, courses, training materials, and other resources that are both psychologically sound and distinctively Christian. Mental health empowerment continues in that tradition.

Mental Health Empowerment Is Different from Stephen Ministry The Stephen Ministries organization is best known for Stephen Ministry, the one-toone lay caring ministry used in thousands of congregations and organizations worldwide. Although many of the skills taught in mental health empowerment and in Stephen Ministry are similar, mental health empowerment is totally separate and unconnected to Stephen Ministry. Any congregation, organization, or individual can use these mental health empowerment resources, and any individual would benefit from learning these skills, whether they’re involved in Stephen Ministry or not.

How Your Congregation Can Help Combat the Mental Health Crisis

Who Is Mental Health Empowerment For? Everyone! Each of us will experience times of turbulence in our lives, no matter what our individual circumstances may be. Our level of mental health affects how well we can handle that turbulence. Low Mental Health

High Mental Health

Turbulence in Life Turbulence in Life

In the Danger Zone

When mental health is low, it’s harder to cope with turbulence. A person can end up in the danger zone, struggling to stay aloft.

When mental health is high, turbulence still has an effect, but a person can much better adapt, recover, and stay in the safe zone.

The “To and Through” of Mental Health Empowerment Empowering people’s mental health yields twofold benefits, both to and through those being empowered. • It happens to individuals as they learn life skills to relate more effectively, deepen their connections with others, increase their resilience, and improve their own mental well-being. • It also happens through those individuals as they relate to others who benefit from the person’s enhanced relational skills. 8

Still in the Safe Zone

M E N TA L H E A LT H EMPOWERMENT TO

FAMILY

COWORKERS FRIENDS

AND THROUGH

NEIGHBORS OTHERS

Mental Health Empowerment: A Bold, New Approach

Mental Health Empowerment Takes Place in Christian Community In a word, mental health empowerment is education. In two words, it’s Christian education: people gathering in Christian community to learn and grow together. The skills listed on page 7 are highly learnable and can be taught successfully by laypeople. We’ve seen this again and again in Stephen Ministry for over 50 years, as well as in all the pilot testing of the mental health empowerment resources. With these resources, group members read a selected portion of a book in advance and then gather together to discuss and apply the principles and concepts, share their own experiences, and support and encourage each other as they integrate new behaviors into their everyday living and relating. A facilitator guides the process using a Discussion Guide, which includes prayers, devotions, and faith application questions that help group members ground what they’re learning in biblical truths and connect their new skills to their life as Christians.

Mental Health Empowerment in Christian Community

1) Group members learn, discuss, and apply skills in a safe, trusting environment. 2) Group members support and encourage each other as they try out new behaviors between group meetings. 3) Group members build Christian community along the way. 4) Groups provide an effective remedy to the loneliness epidemic. 5) Groups are a great outreach tool. 6) Group members grow as disciples of Jesus.

How Your Congregation Can Help Combat the Mental Health Crisis

Understanding and Addressing Mental Health Needs To effectively make a difference in the mental health crisis, it’s important to understand the various levels of mental health needs. The band across the top of the facing page shows the wide range of challenges people experience in life. The columns on the bottom two thirds of that page divide the challenges into three levels of mental health care, describing ways a church could most effectively meet those needs. Since treatment has long been the primary focus of mental health care, we’ll begin with that column. Level 3: Treatment

Treating someone with a mental condition is beyond the scope of the care most congregations offer. The best, most caring thing a pastor or congregation can do is to connect the person to a mental health professional capable of providing the level of care they need. Level 2: One-to-One Care

Every one of us at times will experience life difficulties that strain our mental and emotional capacities. In these instances, we might not need professional care but would really benefit from a skilled lay caregiver who could walk alongside us, helping us move forward to greater emotional and spiritual well-being. Many congregations fill this niche with Stephen Ministry as a way to organize and equip laypeople to provide high-quality emotional and spiritual care. Level 1: Mental Health Empowerment

Mental health empowerment is the missing component in our mental health system today. It involves equipping people with the essential skills to prevent mental struggles before they occur, as well as to raise the level of people’s mental and spiritual well-being, so they can grow more fully into the person God intended them to be. This is where congregations can make the biggest difference for the greatest number of people. 10

Three Levels of Mental Health Needs— Mental Health Empowerment: A Bold, New Approach and How Congregations Can Meet Them What People Are Experiencing . . . . . . the regular stresses and challenges of everyday life that we all face.

What Congregations Can Do . . .

A great opportunity for churches

Level 1: Mental Health Empowerment

. . . grief, divorce, medical crises, job loss, infertility, terminal illness, financial stress, life transitions, caregiver fatigue, and other life difficulties.

. . . mental, emotional, or psychological challenges that interfere with the ability to function in daily life.

Level 2: One-to-One Care

Level 3: Treatment

Raise the Level of Everyone’s Mental Health and Well-Being by Teaching People Interpersonal and Coping Skills

Provide Focused Care during Difficult Times

Refer to a Mental Health Professional

Become a hub of mental well-being by equipping and empowering people throughout the congregation and community with essential skills to:

This equipping will help people increase their resilience, relate to others more effectively, deepen their relationship with God, and live more fulfilling lives.

Connect people who are hurting with a well-trained caregiver who will come alongside them, meet with them regularly, and provide emotional and spiritual care and support for as long as needed.

This is a largely missing component in mental health today— and where congregations can make a tremendous difference

Stephen Ministry fills this gap beautifully

Refer people who have deeper challenges to a mental health professional who is equipped to provide the appropriate type and level of psychological and emotional care.

• prevent or significantly reduce mental health struggles; and • promote or increase people’s positive mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual well-being.

Resources for Meeting Level 1 Needs

How Your Congregation Can Help Combat the Mental Health Crisis

Level 1: Mental Health Empowerment Raise the Level of Everyone’s Mental Health and Well-Being by Teaching People Interpersonal and Coping Skills This is the widest gap in the mental health system—and the place where congregations can make the biggest difference to the greatest number of people. We are developing a series of mental health empowerment resources to help congregations meet this need. The following are available now, with more to come later in 2027 and beyond. • The Gift of Empathy presents a fresh approach to a familiar concept, providing practical insights and real-life examples that equip readers to relate in ways that make a difference. > Th e Discussion Guide for Faith Groups includes videos, devotions, discussion questions, faith application tools, and more to help a group strengthen their skills together. >A lso available is a Discussion Guide for Teams, Groups, and Organizations for use in non-church settings. •C aring Assertiveness explores the essence of a powerful relational skill that can be used to communicate with confidence and care in everyday encounters and challenging situations. > Th e Caring Assertiveness Discussion Guide for Faith Groups provides all the resources needed to lead an engaging group study of the book. • 12 Unexpected Ways to Care helps readers break away from unhelpful approaches to caring and relating, providing techniques that strengthen existing relationships and forge new ones. > Th e Discussion Guide for Faith Groups includes necessary materials for a successful group study in a congregation or other faith-based setting. >A Discussion Guide for Teams, Groups, and Organizations is available as well for groups outside the church.

Resources for Meeting 2 and 3 Needs MentalLevel Health Empowerment: A Bold, New Approach Level 2: One-to-One Care

Level 3: Treatment

Provide Focused Care during Difficult Times

Refer to a Mental Health Professional

Stephen Ministry meets these needs in a powerful way. With Stephen Ministry, a church can connect a well-trained Stephen Minister (lay caregiver) to the hurting person, providing high-quality, one-to-one emotional and spiritual care for as long as needed.

Although treatment is largely carried out by mental health professionals, congregations can help significantly by connecting people with the professional care they need.

In addition, these books provide another layer of care. • Journeying through Grief is a set of four short books to send to individuals at four points during the difficult first year after the loss of a loved one. •C ancer—Now What? is a book to give to those diagnosed with cancer and their loved ones, offering insights and suggestions for navigating the journey ahead. These two resources are not exclusive to Stephen Ministry congregations. Any individual, church, or organization can send or give Journeying through Grief or Cancer—Now What?

Stephen Ministry provides help and guidance for these types of referrals by equipping pastors, church staff, and laypeople to recognize these needs and refer people to the right kind of care. The book When and How to Use Mental Health Resources and the video Navigating Mental Health Issues in Stephen Ministry offer in-depth guidance in this area.

Stephen Ministry is a complete system for training and organizing members of your congregation to provide quality Christian care to those experiencing life difficulties. Although the focus of Stephen Ministry is on meeting Level 2 needs for care, the mental health resources and guidance built into the system help congregations make Level 3 referrals much more effectively.

How Your Congregation Can Help Combat the Mental Health Crisis

Who Benefits from Mental Health Empowerment? • Congregation members benefit as they strengthen their relational skills, increase their resiliency, develop deeper connections, grow spiritually, and live out their faith. • Those relating to congregation members benefit from their new skills—family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and even strangers. • Children and youth benefit when parents, grandparents, teachers, youth leaders, and other adults in their life relate to them in healthier ways. Research consistently shows that a key to improving children’s mental health is improving the mental health of the adults around them. • Pastors benefit greatly, as church members relate to them and other staff with greater care and respect. Laypeople become more active and take on greater responsibilities in the church, lightening the load of pastors. • The entire congregation benefits as it becomes healthier, invigorated, more caring, more active, and more effective. The dysfunctional behavior that is often present in congregations is greatly lessened as the overall mental, relational, and spiritual well-being among congregation members rises. • The surrounding community benefits from positive mental health and well-being rippling outward from the church. People are increasingly drawn to the church as they see it filling their real, tangible needs.

Mental Well-Being

A congregation that teaches people interpersonal and coping skills will become a hub of mental health and well-being in the community.

In this way, the congregation becomes a hub of mental health and well-being and a beacon of hope to all. 14

Mental Health Empowerment: A Bold, New Approach

Getting Started Once people catch a vision for mental health empowerment and the blessings it can bring to their congregation and to the people in it, often one of their first questions is, “Where should we start?” Stephen Ministries’ resources are easy to use and offer a great deal of flexibility. Here are some possibilities for getting started, some smaller in scope and some larger:

In Existing Groups

In Current Ministries

Use these resources to benefit all sorts of existing groups or classes in your church: small groups, Sunday school classes, mid-week education classes, young adults, leadership teams, and more.

Blend mental health empowerment training into other ministries—such as marriage prep classes or mission outreach teams—to quickly reach a wide range of people.

In Congregation-Wide Studies

In Classes Open to the Community

Organize a study of these resources throughout your congregation to have an immediate and broad transformative effect on the entire body of the church.

Extend an invitation to the community to participate in these classes along with your members.

These are a few tangible ideas to share with your congregation; feel free to build on them with your own as well. As word spreads about the benefits of mental health empowerment, you can expand your efforts to include more and more people. Your church will shine the light of Jesus even brighter by improving mental health and well-being for congregation members and the community. If you have any questions or would like to order any of the resources in this booklet, give us a call at (314) 428-2600 and ask to speak to a member of our Mental Health Empowerment Team.

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Stephen Ministries

2045 Innerbelt Business Center Drive • St. Louis, Missouri 63114 (314) 428-2600 • stephenministries.org Stephen Ministries is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

To request additional copies of this booklet, call Stephen Ministries at (314) 428-2600.