World Mental Health Day

Mental Health Promotion and the Christian Church

The Health Education Authority (HEA) sent 22,600 factsheets to Christian churches of all denominations, encouraging them to mark World Mental Health Day on October 10. Mental Health Promotion and the Christian Church was developed with the help of the former Bishop of Ely, the Right Rev Professor Stephen Sykes.

It contains practical suggestions on how churches can promote positive mental health and address the stigma associated with mental ill health.

The chapel of the Bethlem Royal Hospital, London, was one of a number of churches that held a special service for WMHD. Chaplain Andrew Wilson said: ‘We stigmatise the things we fear. Those who suffer mental illness also endure the caricatures our society loads upon them. The impact of this stigma is felt all too keenly by the stigmatised as unemployment, inappropriate housing and tenuous links with society. Sadly, faith communities share in this reluctance to challenge stigma.’

Lynne Friedli, manager of the HEA’s mental health programme, said: ‘Faith and religious observance can promote positive mental wellbeing, and church leaders and their congregations can do a great deal to involve people with mental health problems and challenge the myths and stereotypes that exist around the issue.’

A copy of the factsheet is available from the mental health programme. Telephone: (0171) 413 1991

Extract from HEA News Bulletin Briefing November 1999