Guess whose coming to dinner Working With the Clergy to Eliminate Disparities in Mental Health

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Guess whose coming to dinner! Working With the
Clergy to Eliminate Disparities in Mental Health

• Rhonda Mattox, MD
• Mary Sue Farmer, PhD Candidate

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INSPIRATION

• Clinical practice
• My pastor/Sunday school teacher/ said if I pray
  more/read more/etc that I will get better.
  
• Personal experience at worship services
• Research in the Bible Belt

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QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

• Recorded sermons on Christian networks for 3
  months
  
• Transcribed sermons with mental/physical
  illness
  
• Determined themes using an approach derived from
  grounded theory

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• Blessed (fortunate, happy)
• is the man
• who walketh
• not in the counsel of the ungodly. Psalms
  11(KJV)

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GODLY COUNSEL

• ¼ with mental disorders sought mental health care
  with clergy 1st.
  
• Large numbers of these individuals were seen by
  clergy only.
  
• Nature and quality of treatments delivered
  after contact is unclear.
  

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GODLY COUNSEL

• Little known about clergy members knowledge and
  attitudes
  
• Training in mental health varies, yet considered
  EXPERTS by lay people
  
• Nature and quality of treatments delivered
  after contact is unclear.
  

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GODLY COUNSEL

• 10 of clergy refer to formal mental health
  services. (Meylink)
  
• 5 studies revealed that clergy do not have
  adequate skills to recognize suicide lethality.
  
• Majority recognize they need additional training
  in depression evaluation and suicide prevention.

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IMPORTANCE of Collaboration

• Trust issues
• Role of clergy in mobilizing the community
• Inadequacy of training of providers in spiritual
  and faith issues
  
• Changes in subjective norms

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RECOMMNEDATIONS

• Providers need training in cultural competence
  (religion)
  
• Training in eliciting spiritual history and
  explanatory models
  
• Work with faith based communities

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RECOMMNEDATIONS

• Education
• Navigation of the system
• Provide resources to strengthen current practices
  and facilitate and expedite rapid referrals.

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Initial Contacts-Fall of 2006

• Jack Ryan-Chief Chaplain Service
• Bonita (Bo) Barnes-Chaplain
• Greer Sullivan-Director SCMIRECC
• Mary S. Farmer-SCMIRECC
• Kristin Ward -SCMIRECC
• Terry Kramer- University of AR Medical Sciences
• Rhonda Mattox- University of AR Medical Sciences
  
  

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Action Outcomes of the Collaboration

• Website with links for MH tools and contacts for
  ministers and community members
  
• Conference in Summer 2007 for area ministers on
  MH issues
  

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A Specific Request from the VA Ministers

• VA Chaplain Service
• SCMIRECC
• UAMS
• Arkansas National Guards Family Readiness
  Services
  
• CAVHS Clinicians

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Life Guard Bringing New Life to the
GuardBackground

• Community Outreach for veterans and their
  families
  
• Self-help skills that can benefit all people, but
  especially those whose lives have been through
  dramatic changes
  
• The Guard would manage the logistics the VA
  would provide the service

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The Life Guard Workshop

• Teach self-help skills based upon the Acceptance
  and Commitment Therapy (ACT) model.
  
• One of the third wave cognitive-behavioral
  models
  
• Respond mindfully to their private experiences
• Make behavioral choices in alignment with their
  personal values.
  

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Three Skill Sets Covered

• Awareness of the relationship between the person
  and his/her private experiences
  
• Willingness to non-judgmentally experience these
  private events for what they are (i.e., sounds,
  sensations, images)
  
• Valued-based decision making.

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MIRECC Partnership with CAVHS Mental Health Life
Guard Program

• First-line providers full-time National Guard
  staff, chaplain service, community clergy, and
  other community helpers.

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Life Guard for Front Line Responders

• Skits and role-playing scenarios are matched to
  the target audience
  
• The goal to demonstrate a few skills that can be
  used in a variety of situations
  
• Another objective includes providing knowledge
  about how to recognize when someone else can
  benefit from the skills and simple ways to
  introduce the skills to them

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Special Thanks

• Vince Roca-CAVHS
• Jeff Clothier-CAVHS
• Arkansas National Guard
• The veterans and their families for the
  sacrifices they have made on our behalf

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• There are two paths
• to the same truth
• NOT
• two truths.