Consumers, clergy, and clinicians in collaboration: Ongoing implementation and evaluation of a mental wellness program

Abstract

As a foundation of most cultures, with roots in persons' early development, religion can be a source of hope as well as denigration. Some religious institutions have made attempts to help persons with mental health problems, and some mental health professionals have sought to engage religion resources. These programs have rarely been sustained. In 2008, the Mental Health Center of Denver (MHCD) developed a program to assess the utility of religion resources within mental health care. In response to positive feedback, MHCD appointed a director of Faith and Spiritual Wellness who facilitates community outreach to faith communities and spiritual integration training to MHCD staff. This director initiated a Clergy Outreach & Professional Engagement (COPE) conference for consumers, clergy, and clinicians. The goal was to acknowledge borders between parts of persons' lives, and to build bridges of collaboration to facilitate care. Participants described lived examples of collaboration to improve mental wellness, including the need for a "solid welcome" from congregations. Subsequent, online surveys generated quantitative data on the usefulness of the conference to encourage and to generate ideas for interaction. Each group affirmed the utility of the conference; consumers and clinicians found the conference more useful than clergy. Qualitative assessment confirmed that across culture differences, participants found common language to demonstrate that persons of different traditions can provide care inclusive of religious resources. This assessment concludes with recommendations for future collaboration, led by consumer input, to expand recovery networks.

Mental Health Staff Perspectives on Spiritual Care Competencies in Norway: A Pilot Study

“…These findings emphasize the importance of personal maturity and work experience with teamwork. Moreover, connecting with others in a collaborative way to accomplish patient-centered spiritual care is critically important in mental health (Herrman, 2017;Milstein et al, 2017;Poncin et al, 2019).…”

Handbook of Positive Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality

“…These include the meanings and mechanisms of flourishing, purpose, character/virtue, and lives well-lived-matters that are both promoted in positive psychology interventions and grounded deeply in religious/spiritual teachings and traditions . Indeed, such big questions transcend the scope and expertise of any single field or community; the very nature of the task calls for (and even requires) interdisciplinary, intercommunity collaboration (Milstein et al, 2010(Milstein et al, , 2017.…”

“…In support of this work, Milstein et al (2010) developed a prevention-based model of Clergy Outreach and Professional Engagement (COPE) to delineate boundaries between clinical care provided by mental health professionals and religious care provided by clergy and to describe pathways of collaboration across these boundaries. This model has demonstrated effectiveness over time and across religious traditions (Ali et al, 2005;Milstein et al, 2017). It offers a promising guide for collaboration between positive psychology and religious communities.…”

Clergy and mental health clinician collaboration in Sweden: Pilot Survey of COPE

“…One model that demonstrates guidelines to acknowledge borders, as well as build bridges between religious communities and mental health professionals is the prevention science-based programme of Clergy Outreach & Professional Engagement (COPE;Milstein et al, 2010;Milstein, Middel, & Espinosa, 2017). COPE is derived from the National Institute of Mental Health four-part taxonomy of mental illness prevention: (1) Universal, (2) Selective, (3) Integrated, and (4) Relapse (Gordon, 1987;Milstein et al, 2008;Mrazek & Haggerty, 1994;National Advisory Mental Health Council Workgroup on Mental Disorders Prevention Research, 2001).…”