Churches Reach Out To
People With Mental Illness

(July 13, 2003) - When Brian Haberle was hospitalized shortly after his schizophrenia diagnosis 20 years ago, he told his mother, Bonnie, that he'd like a visit from their parish priest. The response she got at the rectory would break her heart and seal her fate.

"His first question to us was, 'Is he violent?' " said Bonnie Haberle of Ramsey. Her son, in other people's eyes, had been instantly recategorized from "kind, neat young man to someone you need to be afraid of."

About the same time, Haberle's mother was diagnosed with cancer. "Her help from her faith community and friends was 180 degrees different from what we were experiencing with our son," Haberle said. "We had people coming from the church to our house for her, prayers, the whole nine yards. We received not a fraction of that for our son. Nothing.

"People seemed to be stunned. They just couldn't make any sense of it and didn't even ask how he was. It was just totally, totally different."

Fear, ignorance and shame often prevent people from talking about mental illnesses, although disorders such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia affect as many as one in four Minnesota families.

Still, the myths that mental illness is caused by bad parenting, and that people who have mental illnesses are prone to violence, prevent people from talking about it. Sometimes the prejudices are rooted in religion, such as the belief that people with mental illnesses are possessed by demons or being punished by God.

Haberle made a mission of educating congregations about mental illness and the needs of mentally ill people and their families. She is chairwoman of the Faithways program of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, which offers training and other resources for religious communities.

The benefits of open communication are tangible, according to Faithways director Mary Jean Babcock.

"It's the people who talk about it, who bring it out into the light of day, who make it easier for other people to go out and get help for their own situations," Babcock said. "Then other people can feel like, 'Well, I can talk about it. I can start looking at it, and I can start dealing with it.' "

Networks of advocacy groups, families and people who live with mental illnesses are working hard to educate clergy and congregations and help them see people with mental illnesses as parishioners who may need their help and deserve their compassion.

"One of the most important things to do is to educate everybody in the community," said Laurie Kramer, director of the Mental Health Education Project, a collaborative program of the Twin Cities Jewish community. "It's great to say we welcome everybody, which we do, but we have to know what the needs are and how to meet those needs so people will be truly welcomed."

Somewhere to turn

Support from religious communities is vital. After the doctor's office, the church or synagogue often is the first place people go for support.

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"Oftentimes people who are struggling with mental illness issues are in need of a sense of community," said Rabbi Morris Allen of Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights. "There's a need of feeling affirmed, knowing that God's affirmation of them is expressed through a community of shared faith. . . . Often these are the same people who are shunned by the community, and they feel that they are shunned by God."

The Rev. Linda Koelman, pastor at North United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, was one of several clergy who said that churches by nature must take extra steps to be inclusive.

"If we say we are a welcoming place in Christ's name, yet we shut out a large group, we are not living up to what we are called to do," she said. "What people look for is a place that will be safe and that will accept them where they are."

In providing such a haven, religious communities get back more than they give, Koelman said. "By looking at other people and the gifts that they have to bring, it helps open a church up and make it far richer in diversity and in the caring and support that a church can give."

Although leadership from the clergy is key, the change often begins within the congregation.

"What it really takes is someone who has experienced mental illness in their family to go the pastor or rabbi, get the pastor or rabbi on board, and get a group of people together who really care about this issue," said Barbara Holmquist, director of caregivers at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis.

In the late 1970s, Mount Olivet member Joanna Kuehn was diagnosed with a schizo-affective disorder and hospitalized for two months. It was a year before she felt able to rejoin her church choir, and two years before she started feeling like herself again.

A few years later, she approached her pastor to suggest a task force on mental illness. "My pastor and my church were willing to listen to me, which validated me as a person with mental illness, and so I am so grateful," Kuehn said.

"It's been one of the most therapeutic things of my experience, to be able to share something that I never would have wished for, but when I think of all the people I've met, and the opportunity to find meaning in what I had gone through, I think, what a blessing in my life."

In 1986, Kuehn and a group of supporters founded the Task Force on Mental Illness/Brain Disorders. Over the years, their mission has grown roots into all parts of Mount Olivet's ministry. Mental-health education is part of Sunday services, and part of training for all outreach volunteers. The church sponsors a group home for people who live with severe and persistent mental illnesses. There is a psychologist and a psychiatrist on the church staff. The group sponsors interfaith training sessions.

"God calls us to stand by people with mental illness, just like he calls us to stand by people who are homeless," Holmquist said. "This is part of our Christian faith, bringing that cup of cold water to someone who is in need."

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

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