The Mental Health Education Initiative (MHEI) in Chittenden County, VT
  Our mission is to promote recovery from mental/emotional disorders by increasing hope,
  understanding, and reducing stigma.   MHEI is a speakers' bureau.

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The Faith-based Communities Project

People with mental illness who have been isolated and working toward recovery often go to religious services to seek spiritual growth and to find a “place” in the community. Many report disappointment in the way members of faith communities have related to them. The stigma, tragically, often spreads to others in the lives of those who have psychiatric impairments. Even people who need support dealing with someone in the family who has mentally illness are sometimes afraid to speak about it.

In response to these unmet needs, MHEI has begun outreach to churches, synagogues, and other religious communities. Mental illness can happen to anyone. It's time to break the silence.

MHEI's speakers will come to your location. They introduce their material by showing a 20 minute segment of an excellent movie that was made for use in communities of faith.   (The movie, called "Shadow Voices" was produced with the help of the National Council of Churches, although the section we show is not biased in favor of Christianity or any other type of religion.)  Then, two speakers - a family member and a person in recovery from a psychiatric condition - share their personal success stories. They finish the session by inviting dialogue among members of the community on potential benefits of the session for themselves - in the context of their own faith.

This public education project is targeted specifically to faith-based communities, to give a greater understanding of what it is like to experience serious mental and emotional challenges. Many people do not know what the experience or the recovery journey is like (or even that it happens), nor do most people know how to be helpful. Fear, awkwardness, and misunderstandings get in the way. The speakers are inspiring and help others become comfortable discussing this unnecessarily taboo subject. This program reduces fear and isolation through bringing the subject of mental illness into the light.

Faith Community Project Partners:
The Mental Health Education Initiative of Chittenden County is partnering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)'s Vermont Chapter - as part of a Statewide Anti-Stigma Campaign funded by the Federal Government.
Administrative assistance and other in-kind donations are provided by HowardCenter and Fletcher Allen's Community Health Improvement Office.

Target Audiences:
Congregation members and leaders (pastors, etc.) of faith-based communities
 
Core Messages & Themes of Project:

  • People who live with severe depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and other “mental illnesses” are our family members, students, co-workers, and neighbors.  They contribute to our families, schools, workplaces, and communities. They are people, just like us - struggling with distressing thoughts or feelings.
  • Understand the facts about mental illness (debunking popular myths, such as that people with mental illness are violent, mental illnesses are caused by weak character, etc.)
  • Recovery from mental illness is probable.  With support and understanding from family members, community members, and often professional assistance, people usually get better.
  • You can help—by learning how to listen, helping someone feel included, holding onto hope, going with them to get professional help, etc.

Desired Outcomes:

  • Increased understanding & acceptance of Vermonters living with mental illness, and increased ability to distinguish mental illness myths from facts
  • Increased sense of personal responsibility to help one’s friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc., when someone you know experiences the symptoms of mental illness & isn’t getting help
  • More people living with mental illness learn that recovery is possible & help is available
  • Increased knowledge of specific types of mental illness, resources & pathways to help
  • Ideas about "where to go from here" in each unique religious group.