For those that do not know, two times of the year are devoted to building awareness about mental illness. There are awareness days for suicide prevention, autism, or substance misuse. For mental illness, May is Mental Health Awareness month, and in October, Mental Illness Awareness Week is October 4 – 10; October 10 is World Mental Health Day.
The hope is that within these days, weeks, and months when we bring awareness, specifically through the Church, that we can reduce stigma and bring the Church to the forefront of conversations about mental illness. Ultimately, we hope that those who are struggling with mental illness find a church home where they can meet Jesus and find rest for their souls. What pastor doesn't want that?
How can the Church bring awareness about mental illness?
I wrote an article last year on some ways my pastor and I were working on to fight mental illness stigma for our community. We've also created church mental health awareness cards to educate your congregation on mental illness; the cards include Scripture, prayers, and a contact card to get in touch with pastors for next steps.
If you are looking for mental illness education, Dr. Steve Grcevich, myself, and 50 other speakers will be speaking at the Church Mental Health Summit; this event is free if you watch live. The World Health Organization (WHO) also has resources from past years for World Mental Health day, October 10, on their website.
Photo credit: NAMI.org.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness has a lot of good resources as well as focuses for these two times in October. October 6 is National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding. Within the resources for October 6 is a specific awareness outreach for faith communities that I would encourage all churches to check out.
Some of the awareness tips for churches include:
Find sample social media messages and be sure to use hashtag #MIAW.
Plan a candlelight vigil using service ideas from FaithNet.
Offer and share prayers for healing and hope using ideas from other faith communities or create your own to fit your faith tradition.
Share the tips for how to help a person with a mental illness with others in your faith community.
The Mental Health Foundation out of the United Kingdom has great resources for World Mental Health day, including many free guides to talk about and bring awareness for mental health.
Regardless of how you go about building mental health awareness, consider taking on the task of educating people this year. Then open your church doors, ready to invite everyone in your community.
Jeremy Smith is a clinical mental health counselor in Ohio and founder of www.churchandmentalhealth.com.
