Themed “Spirituality and Behavioral Health – A call to Awareness, Assessment and Advocacy,” the conference includes a number of public and private partners including Loma Linda University Medical Center; California State University, San Bernardino; Catholic Charities San Bernardino-Riverside; San Bernardino County Behavioral Health; Riverside County Behavioral Health; Christian Counseling Services,Redlands and National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI).
Bishop Gerald Barnes formed the Diocesan Behavioral Health Committee with the goal of educating the faithful about the challenges of mental health, and minimizing the stigma associated with mental/behavioral illness.
The conference is intended to benefit both healthcare professionals and ministry leaders, and to facilitate closer collaboration between the two.
Sister Chilee Okoko, D.M.M.M., Director of the Diocesan Department of Life, Dignity and Justice, said greater understanding of mental illness among church ministers can create safer communities and more peaceful families.
“People have been exposed to grave dangers because some people who should be getting medical attention are not doing so,” said Sr. Okoko, the chief coordinator of the Behavioral Health Conference and a licensed physician, herself. “The spiritual leaders are at a loss on how to handle some issues brought to them by faithful followers who need help, people do not know where to seek help nor do they understand the problems that besiege their lives due to emotional/psychological instability.”
Sr. Okoko explains that the human person is made up of body and spirit. These two aspects are subject to the physical, physiological, biochemical and psychological imbalances. When one part suffers, the other suffers with it, she says. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This definition has not been amended since 1948. This implies it is a fairly standard and accepted definition.
Studies have shown that many people turn to their spiritual leaders for help and support. A lot of behavioral and mental challenges are traditionally seen as spiritual problems by those in ministry, Sr. Okoko said. For example, auditory and visual hallucinations which could be symptoms of a mental illness can be mistaken for spiritual revelations. The Behavioral Health Conference will attempt to help ministers understand the distinction between the two.
The keynote address and topics have been carefully chosen and dynamic speakers invited to present workshops that will educate participants on various aspects of mental health.
“We hope to create a good network between the behavioral health professionals and the spiritual leaders in all the parishes and schools within our diocese,” Sr. Okoko said.