This month we said goodbye to Chris Pernell, Director of Partners in Health and Wholeness and Brandy Murray, Program Coordinator for the Partners in Health and Wholeness Program. Chris joined PHW in 2016 and helped the program grow to where it is today. Brandy joined us in 2021 and supported PHW with its social media presence. We thank both Chris and Brandy for all their contributions to the Partners in Health and Wholeness. We wish them the best of luck. 

We are very excited to announce that Jessica Stokes and Nicole Johnson will be the new interim Co-Directors of Partners in Health and Wholeness. Both Jessica and Nicole have been with PHW for the past 6 years. They have been consistently committed to supporting faith communities and will continue to do so in their new roles. We also have amazing interns joining us this summer. Scroll down to learn more about them!

The Partners in Health and Wholeness, Faith and Health Summit 2022 is happening. This year our theme will be “Mindful Together” as we gather together in Greensboro, NC for worship, workshops, and the opportunity to be together in support of health ministries across NC. We have vague memories of past summits, but the feelings we had after them remain; the excitement, the laughter, the hugs, the wisdom shared, and we got to see your faces. This year we plan to be in person on September 15th from 9:30AM - 3:00PM and for an early evening meet and greet the night before. 

Your faith leader and health lead can attend free of cost, plus we will offer mileage reimbursement, and hotel stays for those needing accommodations. Let us know you're coming! Bring your church members with you and if cost is an issue we have stipends.  We look forward to seeing you! Click here to register!

National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month began 14 years ago in honor of the tireless efforts of the late Bebe Moore Campbell, a Black author, teacher and mental health advocate. The campaign, which lasts throughout the month of July each year, was created in an effort to spotlight and address the additional challenges and barriers to support and care faced by members of the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) community when it comes to mental health and mental illness. 

“While everyone - all colors - everyone is affected by stigma - no one wants to say ‘I'm not in control of my mind.’ No one wants to say, 'The person I love is not in control of [their] mind.’ But people of color really don't want to say it because we already feel stigmatized by virtue of skin color or eye shape or accent and we don't want any more reasons for anyone to say, 'You're not good enough.’” - Bebe Moore Campbell

Brakeyshia R. Samms speaks to her own experiences of mental health stigma within the Black community, the ways in which stigma contributes to avoidance of seeking help and support, and the barriers to care she found herself up against in her piece for NAMI titled “Erasing Mental Health Stigma in the Black Community.” In it she offers some powerful and high impact steps that all communities (BIPOC and beyond) can take to reduce mental health-related stigma, including “Gathering Information,” “Speaking Up,” “Remaining Open,” and “Believing People.” 

Simms is not alone in her experiences and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) offers a series of powerful blog posts from others in the BIPOC community about their own experiences and recommendations for change. I encourage you to check those out here: https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog?categoryname=MMHAM 

Additionally, NAMI’s Documentary Series Strength Over Silence “highlights perspectives on mental health across backgrounds and communities… through candid and courageous stories of lived experience.” This is a wonderful resource to screen within your congregation or faith community.

Here are some additional tips and resources for support during Minority Mental Health Awareness Month and Beyond:

What Can Faith Communities Do To Become Part of Community Conversations About Mental Health? (adapted from The Partnership Center and SAMHSA) 

Faith and other community leaders can have a significant role in increasing understanding and awareness of mental health, encouraging individuals experiencing mental health problems to seek help, and helping to build resilience and well-being in individuals and communities.

Faith communities can help by creating a welcoming, supportive, safe and non-judgmental environment to address mental health issues within the congregation and in community settings:

• Let people know it is okay to talk about mental health.
• Talk about mental health with an approach that supports prevention, treatment and recovery.
• Encourage people experiencing mental health problems – and their families – to seek help and assist them in finding help when needed. 
• Promote positive mental health through fellowship.
• Foster opportunities to build connections with individuals and families dealing with mental health challenges through a spirit of trust and acceptance.
• Recognize and support individuals with mental illnesses regardless of whether they are doing well or needing additional assistance.

Tips for BIPOC Individuals for Talking to Your Provider About Mental Health (from Mental Health America)
DO:

• Advocate for yourself. Share your needs and desires with your providers.
• Ask for providers who are culturally responsive and have experience working with individuals of similar identities to you.
• Ask your provider to document everything that is discussed, including any denials of treatments that you want.
• Seek combinations of mental health care that are right for your unique needs.

DON’T:

• Avoid mental health care due to shame.
• Feel obligated to choose a Western model of mental health care.
• Exclusively use one type of mental health care without exploring all options that feel right to you.

For more resources on Minority Mental Health/BIPOC Mental Health, check out this printable list from Mental Health America:

https://mhanational.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/2022-BIPOC-Mental-Health-Awareness-Month-Resources-Printable.pdf

NCCUMC Reflection:

We had a wonderful time at the NCCUMC Conference in Greenville connecting with dedicated Methodists over health and wholeness. We enjoyed conversations about health projects, goals, ideas, needs, and how Partners in Health and Wholeness can join these efforts to offer support. It was hope-filled and rejuvenating to be in person together and encouraging to hear how faith communities are regaining traction despite the pandemic. The NCCUMC Health Ministry team is doing needed, relevant work that is so appreciated. We enjoyed partnering with the NCCUMC Health Ministry, Goshen Medical Center, and CareNet Counseling to provide mental health screenings, listening sessions, COVID testing, regular health screenings, and more. Thank you NCCUMC for another terrific Annual Conference!

WNCUMC Reflection:
It was a warm spring morning by Lake Junaluska as we set up our tents and tables at the Western United Methodist Conference. Over two days we talked to clergy, laity, and other partners about our work and listened to all the amazing work that you are doing. Thank you to CareNet Counseling for partnering with us to provide mental health screenings and listening sessions. We had a great time at the Western Annual Conference. 

Lutheran Synod:

We're still chuckling because the infuser water bottles and bags were hot commodities at the Lutheran Synod in Hickory. On a more serious note, we were moved by the conversations and stories that we heard. Our hearts were enlivened to hear about the commitment to health in mind, body and spirit happening in churches across the state. We look forward to seeing everyone next year.

If your denomination or have a conference coming up and would like to table please let us know at phwinfo@nccouncilofchurches.org

Stephen 

Stephen Bulluck (he/him/his) is a rising sophomore at North Carolina A&T University. To answer the question of how faith, health, and wholeness connect for him, he stated that he felt, “like science explains everything in this world but I feel like science is just a language that helps us understand why God or Jesus made things the way they are.” He went on to note that over the summer he is, “most looking forward to learning something different.”

Zariah 

Zariah Ingram (she/her/hers) is a rising junior at Shaw University. When asked how she connects faith, health, and wholeness, Zariah stated, “I believe that religion affects our mental and physical health,” and that this summer she is most looking forward to “getting a better understanding and to help the world become a healthy community” while working with NCCC. 

Seana 

Seana Finn (she/her/hers) is a 2022 graduate of Shaw University. She believes that health is important within the faith community, so because of this, “when faith groups work together in restoring community health, it provides a sense of wholeness.” Over the summer Seana is “looking forward to learning all of the different ways people can get involved with citizen science.” 

Erica

Erica Baldwin (she/her/hers) is a rising second year at Wake Forest University, School of Divinity. Erica connects faith, health and wholeness by seeing health from a holistic perspective. She notes, “I had to acknowledge and accept that I am not 'healthy' if my mental, physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual health are not all given the same level of care.” Over the summer Erica said that she is “looking forward to doing the groundwork of sharing all the resources that PHW, NCCC, and our partners offer to under-represented communities. Far too often, those groups are overlooked and lack resources, but I am blessed to be a part of a team that is helping to bridge the gap to start alleviating prominent issues facing said communities.”  

Ana

Ana Huckins (she/her/hers) is a rising second year at Wake Forest University, School of Divinity. Ana connects health, faith, and wholeness by seeing how intertwined they have been in her own life. She notes that, “although this was something that I didn’t always understand, I know that in order to feel whole, I must be healthy in all aspects of my life, including spiritual, mental, and physical health.” Over the summer Ana is looking forward to making connections with incredible people, communities, and organizations working towards health equity within faith communities. She notes that she is, “excited to work collaboratively to learn about, help to create, and share resources with different faith communities.”  

New grant opportunity! Partners in Health and Wholeness is thrilled to announce a new mental health funding opportunity for BIPOC (Black & Brown, Indigenous, People of Color) faith communities.

Thanks to The Duke Endowment, PHW is able to offer this new grant opportunity of $5,000-10,000 for faith communities of color to apply towards COVID-19 mental health efforts. In mid-2022, we plan to award 50 grants in this funding range throughout the entire state. Later this year, there will be an opportunity to apply for a large grant, up to $50,000, to establish or expand a mental health resource hub in your region. This application period for this grant opportunity will be rolling, with quarterly reviews, from May 2022 until May 2023. Learn more here: PHW BIPOC Mental Health Grant Webpage

The stigma surrounding mental health is an ongoing topic for discussion. Every day more people are telling their stories about living with mental illness. Mental illness once was a topic people only whispered about. Now, we are making greater strides in educating our communities, family, friends and professionals on the overall topic. Stigma is defined as a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. Mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors. 

During our most recent training session for Partners in Health and Wholeness, we gave an example about how one might perceive a mom in the neighborhood who went to work everyday and provided for her children versus one that did the same, but had schizophrenia. It is easy to be unintentionally biased towards people and that’s why we are taking the time to raise awareness. We can all use a little more grace and compassion towards ourselves and others during these most challenging times. Take a moment and think about a time where you may have treated someone a little differently based on status, education, diagnosis, etc. Let’s work towards doing a better job at dispelling the myths of mental illness and break the walls down of stigma. Make your community a safe place and space for all to talk, thrive, be nurtured and grow.

We invite you to join us for a check-in call with our team and greater PHW community. We hope to create a space to come and talk with one another, talk with us, share stories, share hardships, and offer encouragement and support. All are invited to drop-in for as long as they are able and feel comfortable.

Register Here https://ncchurches.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/event/register?reset=1&id=148

 The PHW Collaborative Pledge is open as of January 15, and the first PHW Mini-Grant Cycle of 2022 opened as of June 01. The PHW Collaborative Pledge is a commitment to continuing a journey of putting faith into action in your community. Through the Collaborative Pledge, we aim to promote connections and relationships among our faith communities to share wisdom, provide support, and build a community around health and wholeness. Click here to take the Collaborative Pledge.

 The PHW Mini-Grant allows PHW Collaborative faith communities to support projects that promote health and wholeness while engaging the community. Faith Communities are able to request up to $1000 for an individual mini-grant, and up to $5000 for a community mini-grant among a minimum of three faith communities. Faith communities must have submitted a PHW Collaborative Pledge in the last 12 months for their application to be considered. Community mini-grants are limited. For more information please reach out at PHWinfo@ncchurches.org. Please click here to learn more about PHW Mini-Grants and how to apply

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