Mental health and mental illness are crucial issues for any faith congregation.  With a growing awareness of the role of faith in mental health, there are many resources available.  The following links are among the best resources on this topic.  CAN thanks ADNet for permission to borrow from the extensive collection of links on their Mental Health and Mental Illness page which you are encouraged to visit for more details.

Interdenominational and Interfaith Ministries

Pathways to Promise: Ministry and Mental Illness 
An interfaith technical assistance and resource center which offers liturgical and educational materials, program models, and networking information to promote a caring ministry with people with mental illness and their families.

Mental Health Ministries
An interdenominational ministry dedicated to educating church leaders to decrease the stigma associated with mental illnesses in faith communities. Resources for faith communities to assist inclusion and support of persons with mental illnesses and their families into the life of the community.  Mental Illness and Families of Faith: How Congregations Can Respond, a free 54-page resource/study guide for clergy and communities of faith.

FaithNet NAMI is a partnership of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and the Faithnet grassroots network.  FaithNet NAMI recognizes the importance of spirituality in the recovery process. Interfaith Network of Boulder County is a local FaithNet affiliate offering additional resources.

Pastoral Care, Counseling, & Chaplaincy Resources

American Association of Pastoral Counselors. The mission of the AAPC is to bring healing, hope, and wholeness to individuals, families, and communities by expanding and equipping spiritually grounded and psychologically informed care, counseling, and psychotherapy. Find a pastoral counselor

Avia Pastoral Care. Spirituality of Mental Health Ministry. Small groups reflect on how experiences of faith are shaped by the experience of mental illness, contemplating questions such as, “How do my faith and my struggles for mental wellness inform each other? Where can God be found directly in this experience, not simply despite it?” Avia founder Terry McKinney, a minister at First Church Cambridge, has a vision for sharing the model with other communities.

Heartfelt Counseling Ministries (Grand Rapids) provides counseling along with education and training for people interested in learning how to work with people with mental illness.

Mental Health Resources from the Church Health Center in Memphis, Tennessee. 

Mental Health Chaplaincy offers outreach in Seattle to homeless persons with mental illness, companionship training for those supporting persons with persistent mental illness, and workshops around the country to assist others developing mental illness ministries. Chaplain Craig Rennebohm draws on his decades of experience in street ministry to persons with mental illness. His book, Souls in the Hands of a Tender God, offers stories of people with mental illness living on the street and models of care that lead toward recovery and well-being. 

Mental Health Ministry Resources from the Congregational Resource Guide is a listing of resources for faith communities, pastoral caregivers, and the general public.

Denominational Programs

Caring Communities Program  of the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society has a paper entitled, How to become a Caring Congregation. Caring Communities covenant to foster understanding of mental illness and ministry with those living with mental illness and their families. They  commit to engage in ongoing welcome, support and advocacy.

Lutheran Network for Mental Illness/Brain Disorders.  A cooperative effort of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Offers Annual Candle Lighting service liturgy and quarterly newsletter.

Comfort My People.  82-page study guide on serious mental illness prepared by the Presbyterian Church USA Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, with recommendations for congregational action. "The Land of Exile" explores the difficulties and injustices endured by people with serious mental illness. "God's Call to Comfort" focuses on appropriate ways congregations can minister with and to people with a serious mental illness.

National Catholic Partnership on Disability-- Mental Illness Initiative . The goal of the initiative is to help participants in becoming better able to embrace people with mental illness and their families in a parish setting and to become familiar with the unique role that a parish community has in the process of recovery.

Communities of Healing and Support

Plymouth Healing Communities
By offering a home and companionship to individuals who are recovering from an acute episode of mental illness, Plymouth Healing Communities breaks the cycle of hospitalization and homelessness and provides a positive alternative to shelters and the street.