Pastoral Care, Mental Health

Bishop Orville Beckford and Bishop Herman Dailey discuss the benefits of training to recognize mental health problems.

His Branches has been hosting a monthly meeting of community pastors and mental health professionals from the University of Rochester Medical Center for the past four years. Recently City Newspaper ran an article about the program:

In the city's underserved African-American and Hispanic communities, ministers often encounter people suffering from serious mental health problems. And frequently, it's before anyone else, including family members and physicians, says Silvia Sorensen, a researcher in the University of Rochester's Department of Psychiatry.

"Ministers are faced with people who have mental health issues on a regular basis because of the work they do," says Sorensen. "And they don't necessarily have the training or background to recognize what's going on, or the information needed to refer people."

As part of the Department of Psychiatry's Aging Well Initiative, Sorensen developed a seminar in conjunction with the city's African-American faith community to help provide ministers, pastors, and lay counselors with the counseling tools they need.

Click here to read the entire article by Tim Louis Macaluso.