Mental health issues are largely “normalized” within Canadian churches but stigma about the problems still exist, according to a survey sample of 1,000 church leaders and churchgoers.
The survey was featured in the first of four webinars on “What Canadian Church Leaders Should Know about Mental Health & Illness in their Congregation” hosted by Flourishing Congregations Institute (FCI) and supported by Ambrose University in Canada.
The webinar discussed a national survey conducted by FCI and Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries from February to May this year (2024), involving the views of 1,000 church leaders and churchgoers about the effect of mental health and illnesses in Christian communities.
During the webinar, Joel Thiessen, director of the FCI, explained that the survey looked at two key areas in Canada: attitudes and perceptions of mental health issues in churches, and support and resources provided by churches for mental health. He noted that the data should be interpreted with caution, as the figures were a sample and not necessarily representing Canadian churches as a whole.
Thiessen outlined the different responses within a framework to mental health issues by the church leaders and churchgoers, ranging from seeing it as part of the normal human experience, not talking about it all, or barriers to receiving Christian tenets such as love, peace, hope and joy, or the darker elements of spiritual oppression.
“I think it’s important to talk about how we talk about mental health and illness and how that can impact people’s experiences whether they personally experienced mental health and illness, or otherwise,” said Thiessen in the webinar.
Thiessen put forward different questions for churches to consider, such as if, “If you don’t talk about mental health and illness, what does that potentially reveal to those in the pews?”
Another example is refusing to talk about it at all: “How might the absent frame intentionally or unintentionally amplify an invisibleness or even guilt or shame or stigma toward those [with] mental illness or challenges in your congregation?
Thiessen further highlighted the importance of these “frames”, meaning approaches by churches to mental health because they can seriously impact the welfare of individuals and “how they see themselves and the kinds of resources they seek out in response to some of those experiences.”
Two thirds of respondents appeared to “normalize” mental health challenges in the survey. 67 percent stated they would not feel embarrassed if other churchgoers knew they had mental health challenges, as opposed to 28 percent who would feel that way.
76 percent had no issue with others in church knowing they had sought help from a mental health professional but 20 percent would feel embarrassed.
Thiessen said the figures showed that mental health issues weren’t headline news for Canadian churches but stigma still existed.
“For me one of the core storylines within this research are the ways that mental health and illnesses are normalized within Canadian churches. This isn’t happening across the board in all contexts and spaces but a general storyline is that the normalization of this topic does occur.
“But at the same time we shouldn’t overlook there are other experiences within congregations and this is where we see that stigma does exist for some in Canadian churches.”
77 percent of respondents self-reported personal experiences with mental health problems and of these, 60 percent sought help from other church members. Furthermore 81 percent of those seeking help did feel supported.
The type of help offered was shown in the answers given to the survey question, “In the past 12 months, my church has supported people experiencing mental illness or mental health challenges” by offering the following support: praying for individuals (77%), receiving pastoral care (66%), friendship (59%), offering food or hospitality (40%), help to find resources for support (40%), home visits (38%), supporting caregivers (36%), subsidized or free counseling (27%), financial support (25%), peer support groups (19%), driving to appointments (16%), offering Bible studies on mental health (12%), accompanying people to doctor visits (12%) and offering a dedicated mental health ministry (9%).
Thiessen added that whilst these types of support are important, he queried whether churches were making proper room to talk about the issues involved and how they are framed.
54 percent of those surveyed disagreed or strongly disagreed that their congregations had formally organized support systems for people experiencing mental health illness or related challenges.
The data also showed that congregations may need to be better equipped to support individuals with these issues - 55 percent said they are equipped personally to help (meaning 45 percent weren’t) and half (50%) of those suffering with mental health felt that fellow churchgoers lacked the expertise to help them.
In summary, Thiessen said congregations appeared to support people well, “yet opportunities exist for more comprehensive support and equipping for churches.”
