Mental health is wealth, especially during Mental Health Awareness Month, which is celebrated in May. The stigma around mental health and treatment has long existed, even though this has started to change. Still, people hesitate to seek help or even talk about it with their loved ones for fear of being judged and facing unnecessary backlash. Simple logic dictates that if we are hurt anywhere, we must seek treatment to get better. This applies to both our mental- and physical well-being.
Mental Health Awareness Month has been observed in the U.S. since 1949. Every year during the month of May, NAMI joins the national movement to raise awareness about mental health. Together, we fight stigma, provide support, educate the public and advocate for policies that support the millions of people in the U.S. affected by mental illness.
While mental health conditions can affect anyone regardless of background, culture or identity, the experience of racial trauma and ongoing discrimination can cause and significantly worsen symptoms. Additionally, communities of color face added barriers to mental health care, such as cultural stigma, lack of available mental health professionals and inadequate community-based treatment options. This is something we must change: Mental health conditions don’t discriminate, and neither should our mental health care system.
Mental Illness Affects Everyone
Mental illness affects nearly 60 million Americans every year. Regardless of race, age, religion or economic status, mental illness impacts the lives of at least one in four adults and one in 10 children across the United States. People living with mental illness need help and hope. They need a community that supports them, their families, and their recovery.
Did You Know?
One in four adults experience a mental health condition in a given year, including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other conditions. Faith and spirituality are essential elements of healing and recovery for many, yet many clergy and people of faith feel ill-equipped to provide appropriate support, education and assistance to persons living with mental illness. NAMI FaithNet can help.
What is NAMI?
NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness. NAMI FaithNet is an interfaith resource network of NAMI members, friends, clergy, and congregations of all faith traditions who wish to encourage faith communities who are welcoming and supportive of persons and families living with mental illness.
NAMI FaithNet strives to encourage welcoming, caring congregations as well as to promote the vital role of spirituality in the recovery journeys of many who live with mental health conditions, those for whom faith is a key component.
Through NAMI FaithNet | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness and through efforts nationally and in local communities, NAMI and NAMI Affiliates encourage an exchange of information, tools and other resources which will help educate and inspire faith communities about mental illness and the vital role spirituality plays in recovery for many.
An Advocate’s Prayer
O God of Light and Knowledge, -- we pray that darkness, fear and ignorance about serious mental illnesses might be dispelled by the light of knowledge.
We pray for Peace and Wholeness – for those with troubled minds and hearts, that broken lives and relationships might be mended.
We ask for Understanding -- that the walls of stigma, labels, exclusion, and marginalization might be broken down through education and advocacy.
We pray for Healing -- for men, women and children living with mental illness, for better treatment, for steadier recovery, for greater opportunity to work and serve.
We ask for Faith and Hope – for those who feel no one cares. Dispel their despair through a cup of cold water, an outstretched arm, a listening ear, and a committed advocate.
We offer our Thanks - for new discoveries in medical research, for faithful caregivers, for dedicated mental health professionals and persistent researchers.
Most of all, O God of Steadfast Love, we thank you for your Love -- that sustains the weary, that defends the weak, that sets the lonely in families, that brings beauty out of ashes, that brings a song in the night; that inspires courage to hope, to watch, to work for a new and brighter Day.
AMEN.
