Churches open up to mental health challenges

New research to be published next month shows progress has been made in normalizing mental illness and mental health challenges among Canadian Christian congregations. 

Among the 969 respondents to an online survey by the Flourishing Congregations Institute and Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries, conducted between February and March, 67 per cent declared they “would not be embarrassed if other congregants knew they were experiencing mental health challenges.” And 76 per cent stated “they would not be embarrassed if it were known they were seeking help from a mental health professional.”

Conversely, 28 per cent per cent expressed they “would be embarrassed if other congregants knew they were experiencing mental health challenges,” and 20 per cent “would be embarrassed if it was known they were seeking help from a mental health professional.”

Joel Thiessen, for over 15 years a professor of sociology at Ambrose University, a Christian liberal arts institution based in Calgary, led the “What Canadian Church Leaders Should Know About Mental Health & Illness in Their Congregation” data project. The Flourishing Congregations Institute director previewed his report with a webinar on Oct. 25.

Thiessen told The Catholic Register one of his notable findings was learning how mental illness and mental health challenges are being discussed at church.

“There are many ways to frame it,” said Thiessen. “Some talk about it in a biomedical way in that it is tied to trauma, chemical balance, genes and so forth. Others discuss it as a normal human experience with various bio-social causes.

“You have some who do talk about (mental health challenges) as a religious problem,” continued Thiessen, who has authored or co-authored five books. “This is maybe one of the surprising elements. We do see this in some of the literature. It’s a little bit higher than anticipated. Almost one in five talks about mental illness as a result of sin or demons and that Christianity is a way of overcoming mental illness.”

There are 15 per cent of respondents who declared that mental illness and mental health challenges are not discussed at all in their house of worship. Thiessen said he found that Catholic and mainline Protestants in particular selected this frame.

Another important research outcome is that 51 per cent of those surveyed disagreed with the statement “my congregation is equipped to respond to people experiencing mental illness or mental health challenges.” Additionally, 54 per cent “disagree or strongly disagree there are formally organized support systems in their congregation for people experiencing mental illness or mental health challenges.”

Thiessen said there are several actions clergy and lay leaders could take to bolster their support capacity for parishioners in need.

“Attending workshops with mental health professionals to learn just even a little bit about how we define a mental illness and how we should discuss mental health challenges,” said Thiessen. “What are some of the signs and signals? What are things we should say or shouldn’t say within our congregation in responding? I’d (also advise) plugging into larger networks of knowing who the experts are and what the local organizations and agencies that one could refer someone to (for support).”