After months of classes on counseling, Veron Blue got her chance to put what she has learned all year, to work.
Across from her, was fellow trainee Deborah Johnson, who, as part of a lesson, assumed the role of a hypothetical client, who had come to Blue for help dealing with depression.
By the end of the year, this initial group of 10 clergy and church members will move on to an internship where they will do nine skills-building sessions at San Antonio’s New Opportunities for Wellness clinic and three to five test cases under supervision. By November or December, they will be able to deliver services independently. Once they finish training, this first group will be tasked with helping train the next cohort of religious leaders.
“They had a hard time coming here. They told all kinds of stories. I assessed the woman using the training I had received, got her some help, and found her a program to get into,” said Roxanna Johnson, who is now the church’s Congregational Collective coordinator. “I am sure we are doing the right thing now.”
“Leveraging faith leaders has been done all over the world,” said John Naslund, an instructor in Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard, helping implement the EMPOWER program in San Antonio. “America is actually behind in this regard.” “That is the exciting part. We will be able to measure it and track the referrals and the monetary value of this work,” Brune said.
Still, there are some concerns and questions about making the church a general provider of mental health services. Religious leaders hear all kinds of problems from their congregation, whether it be rent, divorce, spiritual conflict, and more. Their natural reaction is to help their congregation immediately, but this training program focuses on not only helping the physical but also the mental.
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