Mental Health Ministry

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Hope, Knowledge, Prayer & Support

Our Hope for Minds & Hearts Mental Health Ministry recognizes mental health is a critical component of our overall health and wellbeing, this Ministry offers Christian fellowship to support individuals in our community impacted by mental health challenges.  The focus of this ministry is education and advocacy: providing literacy in mental health, encouraging conversations around mental illness, and creating a safe, caring environment supplemented with hope and prayers for individuals and families.

Monthly Focus

Be Trauma Informed with Dr. Elaine Heath
On Sunday, October 19 we will welcome Dr. Elaine Heath a theologian, author, speaker, retreat leader, former Dean of Duke Divinity School, who currently serves as the Abbess of Spring Forest, a United Methodist monastic community near Hillsborough.

  • Info Session at Noon in The Commons: Dr. Heath will provide a short lecture followed by Q&A, about how trauma affects the brain, body, and spirituality, and how we can lovingly neighbor others who are traumatized, in light of that knowledge. Light snacks will be provided. Please register to attend the info session.
  • Message Focus in Morning Services: The Bible is filled with stories of healing from trauma, but often we do not read them with trauma informed understanding. Dr. Heath will preach from the story of Peter and Cornelius found in Acts 10, guiding us to see and hear this powerful narrative with a trauma informed understanding.
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Annual Topic Outline & Schedule

Congregational Depression Awareness Program (CDAP)
Date TBD

We are launching a program to disseminate valuable information about depression to individuals directly and indirectly impacted by depression. Participants will receive instruction, resources, and ongoing support on the following topics:

  • Recognizing the signs and symptoms of depression
  • Strategies to overcome the stigma associated with depression and other mental illnesses
  • Medical and psychosocial treatments for depression
  • Assisting individuals who need help identifying and accessing mental health services
  • Providing informal (i.e., non-professional) support to complement the professional care individuals suffering from depression are receiving
  • Providing guidance and support for individuals who have a loved one suffering from depression
  • Recognizing and responding to suicide warning signs

Local and national resources (e.g., National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health America, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention).
Some homework between sessions.

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Mental Health Resources

  • Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology and How You Can Heal - By Donna Jackson Nakazawa
  • Grace for Afflicted - By Matthew S. Stanford
  • Out of the Darkness and Into The Light - By Daniel Hale, Ph. D.
  • Resurrecting the Person: Friendship and the Care of People with Mental Health Problems - By John Swinton
  • The Deepest Well - By Nadine Burke Harris, M.D.
  • Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church's Mission - By Amy Simpson
  • What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing - By Bruce Perry, M.D., Ph. D. and Oprah Winfrey
  • The Noonday Demon: An Atlas Of Depression - By Andrew Solomon
  • The Body Keeps The Score - By Bessel Van der Kolk

Annual Mental Health Symposiums

Watch the 3rd Annual Mental Health Focus from 2023 "Out of the Darkness & Into the Light" - forward video to marker 33:40 to view our Mental Health GodStory and Dr. Hale:
Watch the 2nd Annual Mental Health Symposium from 2022:
Watch the 2021 Mental Health Symposium:

Past Education Series Topics

  • Mental Health Overview: What do you think Christ would say about Mental Health challenges?
  • Healthy Boundaries: What do boundaries have to do with Mental Health?
  • Stigma & Shame:
    Bipolar
    Anxiety
  • Power of Empathetic Listening
  • Healing Addictions: Yours & Mine with Janet Dagenhart
  • Eating Disorders - Dr. Greer Mitchell from Hopeway
  • Trauma & PTSD - King Jones from Carolina Family and Maternal Counseling
  • Supporting Your Loved One's Mental Health - Christopher Weedom - NAMI
  • Understanding Adolescent Mental Health with Brittany Collins, Therapist, Queen City Counseling
  • "Depression - Out of the Darkness and Into the Light" - Worship & Luncheon Guest Speaker Dr. Daniel Hale
  • It's OK to Talk: Mental Health in Our Community, Kevin Markle, Mental Health America
  • Mental Health Issues in Children Ian Murray M.ED, LCMHC
  • Broken Men, in God's Image Jay Cobb MA, LMFT, LCMHC
  • The Beauty of Anxiety Rev. Bill Roth Myers Park Methodist
  • Anxious Nation Documentary Viewing & Panel Discussion with Megan Yaho, M.ED, LCMHC & Ian Murray, M.ED, LCMHC, Southeast Psych

To find out more, please contact Kim Layton at 704-815-1913.