By Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware | Word In Black
(WIB) – It is easy to detect mental health challenges when they seem extreme — like complete breakdowns or violent explosions. And while there has been a growing call for mental health professionals to work alongside law enforcement to respond to such incidents, faith communities play a vital role, too.
“In reality, the church is tasked with caring for the whole person — body, mind, and soul — and that means we must recognize and care for a person with an illness. The church can speak into the soul and personhood of the individual in ways that medical professionals cannot,” according to Hope for Mental Health, a group that helps congregations formalize their ministry to the whole person.
But it is more difficult to recognize and respond when mental health is challenged by anxiety becoming agitation, by exhaustion escalating into emotional outbursts or stress stretching into sleeplessness.
So as much as vigilant maintenance is required to sustain physical and spiritual health, it is doubly required to keep mental and emotional systems running at optimum health.
Morning Star Baptist Church in Catonsville, Maryland responded some time ago by opening the Renaissance Counseling Center under the direction of Dr. Carla Debnam, and offers services throughout the region.
Debnam responded to my question as to how “laymen” would recognize symptoms and realize we should seek help, with a reminder to check out the physical first and always.
“It’s that feeling of something just isn’t quite right, or we just don’t feel like ourselves,” Debnam says. “My first question is always when was the last physical. So then, if nothing physical is going on, meaning you are still getting headaches, rashes, or your eye’s twitching or different things,” then that’s a sign there could be a mental health issue going on.
Debnam adds that being unable to sleep and eat or needing to overeat or sleep too much are also signs.
“It could be that you have some new stressor that you hadn’t thought about. Maybe you’re an empty nester now and you didn’t know how that would affect you. So this is when you take a look at your life and see if there have been changes you hadn’t considered.”
Of course, what we experience can be temporary and revert to normal as quickly as it surfaced.
But if that’s not the case, perhaps some outside help is needed. “Jesus and a therapist” is a slogan often seen in social media language of faith communities. Historically our culture has seemingly relied on Jesus and prayer for healing of all sorts and faith leaders are encouraging parishioners to do a different thing now.
There are so many modern day stressors; unexpectedly becoming a caregiver for grandchildren or parents, personal life changes such as divorce, loss of a loved one, sudden change or end of career path
“So maybe I need to get some help before I gain the 20 pounds, right? then we can identify the stressors, work on helping the person stay accountable if they’re going to the gym or doing some other things, healthy eating, but also the mental health professional would help you to manage your stress and look at it differently,” Debnam says.
“Maybe we can begin putting in some breathing exercises, journaling, prayer, a lot of things that we might do separately; but when you have a mental health issue come up, you need to do all of them. It’s kind of like all hands on deck. Everybody doesn’t journal, but I was telling somebody, you got voice notes on your phone, so you can just leave yourself a note; This day was a mess. Hopefully tomorrow’s better. At least you’ve gotten it off your chest.”
She also offered the advice of thinking of mental health as a scale of 1-10, in the same way a medical doctor asks about your pain level. Decide on a range you desire for good health and at what number outside help is needed and will be sought.
Debnam reinforced the notion that help is only help for as long as you need it. You’re the health manager so you can decide to have help for certain issues as long as it works. It doesn’t have to go on forever.