Through its’ program Bridges to Care and Recovery program, the Behavioral Health Network (BHN) of Greater St. Louis hosted a pastor’s brunch at the New Horizon Christian Church on Sept. 10 to invite pastors to join the movement to eliminate the stigma of mental health in African-American Community.
Stigmatization can result in mental health disorders going undiagnosed and untreated, organizers said. Bridges to Care mobilized clusters of churches in North St. Louis City and North County to support the behavioral health treatment and recovery of congregants and other community members with behavioral health disorders.
“Oftentimes, people will reach out to their churches first before they reach out to professional services. I think there is a lack of trust of traditional treatment,” said Wendy Orson, executive director of BHN. “Oftentimes there is a gap in knowledge of what to do, what resources are available and how people access them.”
The organization partnered with Pathways to Promise, Missouri Institute of Mental Health and nine churches to become “behavioral-health-friendly.”
Those churches underwent Mental Health First Aid training, found out about community resources and learned how to build wellness ministries using volunteers/companions within the church.
Rev. B.T. Rice, pastor of New Horizons Church and faith-based director for BHN, said pastors from the 16 additional churches that joined the effort at the brunch learned about the crucial role they as leaders play in reducing mental health stigma.
“Their role was to hear the concept of behavioral health, reducing the stigma of behavioral health and hear the importance of their involvement as leaders in the church, how they can best deal with behavior health issues,” Rice said.
“All of them bought into the program … most of them saying they have these kinds of issues, sometimes weekly, and some being disruptive and they didn’t know what to do – whether to call the police, or let the deacons handle it.”
Orson said that by training the pastor and a few congregants about behavioral health, it could help reduce the higher prevalence of emergency room treatment when a person is in an acute behavioral health crisis.
Rice said training will take place onsite each church, with each pastor and his or her designated assistant(s) on mental health first aid and resources.
“Once they go through the training, they will become ‘wellness champions,’” Orson said. Churches that complete the program will receive a plaque designating them as mental health-friendly churches.
“Some will create behavioral health ministries in their churches,” Orson added. She said four churches are in that process now.
“Through this project, we feel it’s also critical to develop relationships between the churches and the safety net providers in the communities,” Orson said. She said that is what Bridges to Access does access.
Pathways to Promise teaches about building mental health ministries, Alive and Well St. Louis talks about wellness; Behavioral Health Response provides information on crisis services and recovery resources, and community mental health centers share about their services as well.
SSM St. Mary’s and SSM Saint Louis University hospitals provide funding for Bridges to Care, as well as the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
Churches wanting to more information about mental health first aid and related community resources may contact Rev. B.T. Rice at 314-406-8217 or Wendy Olson at 314-449-6713.
