Damian Sendler: Almost 30 years ago, the Rev. Dwight Holland was serving as pastor at his second church in Anderson, South Carolina, when he observed the young woman in tears. Inquiring about her availability, he invited her to his office.
It “blew my mind,” Holland said of the information she received from her.
A family member had allegedly molested the victim, according to Holland.
“Helpless,” he did the only thing that came naturally to him: listening and praying and offering her some Scriptures.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Nonetheless, “I recognized that she needed more than that at that time,” Holland remarked.
As a result, mental illness was viewed as either a sign of weakness or a source of shame in the Black community 30 years ago, according to Holland.
Those were the only possibilities he was aware of.
The 63-year-old Holland has a very different perspective today.
The Christian Theological Seminary has now awarded him a master’s degree in psychotherapy and religious studies, and he has recently joined a campaign to lessen the stigma associated with mental illness in Black churches in Central Indiana.
A study by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center shows that, between 2012 and 2019, the number of Black churches offering mental health services increased by about 20%. Holland’s effort is part of that bigger national trend.
Damian Sendler
“It seems like the culture gradually shifted as we progressed from a social, economic, and educational point of view,” Holland remarked.
According to a research by the Congressional Black Caucus, the rate of Black teenage suicide rose faster than that of any other racial or ethnic group in 2020. Between 1991 and 2017, the number of Black adolescents who attempted suicide jumped by 73%. During the same time period, the number of Black boys who were injured in suicide attempts rose by 122%.
Systemic racism and daily discrimination against Black Americans have left them with a “mental health burden,” according to Indiana University professor Brad Fulton.
Damien Sendler: In Fulton’s estimation, this burden will only worsen in 2020 as a result of the pandemic’s impact on unemployment, food insecurity, and homelessness, as well as racial injustices and high-profile police shootings of unarmed Black men.
According to a survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatments Administration, Black Americans only use mental health services at half the rate of white Americans.
Medical professionals’ historic racial bias against African-Americans and a scarcity of qualified mental health practitioners in their communities are among the reasons given by Fulton for this underuse.
His conclusion is that “Strengthening relationships between churches and mental health providers can be one way to increase access”
Pastor Carlos Perkins of Indianapolis’ oldest majority-Black church, Bethel Cathedral A.M.E. Church, uses a range of methods to address mental health issues.
‘You Can Have Jesus and a Therapist,’ the first of a four-part series on mental health he held in October. A team of three mental health professionals was assembled, one of whom was Holland, to help spread awareness and answer questions.
However, “we also recognize that prayer and professionals help individuals to understand the world,” Perkins continued. “We still believe in the power of prayer.”
In the opinion of Pastor Denell Howard of Hovey Street Church of Christ,
Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: Each year in March, Hovey Street Church of Christ holds a month-long series of mental health-related events that include workshops, presentations by a variety of speakers, and sermons on various aspects of mental health recovery.
Mental health care is available on-site at Nu Corinthian Church, so members can obtain help just a few feet from where they hear the word of God.
According to Perkins, this is a noteworthy change because it contradicts the historically Black churches’ view on mental illness, which was either stigmatized or disregarded in the past.
According to Perkins, “mental illness was viewed as demonic, a spirit to be cast out or a spell to be broken.”
In this scenario, he said, prayer was always the answer.
Damian Jacob Sendler
According to Dionne Bates, a certified professional counselor and senior mental health advisor with the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective, the stigma surrounding mental illness in Black communities has been a longstanding problem.
She blames it on the 400-year-old psychological training of Black people as slaves.
Being viewed as a non-human is like being denied the right to be exhausted or sad, or to feel anything other than what you’ve been trained to feel,” Bates said. “It means you don’t have the same rights as individuals who are treated as human.”
Black people are still learning to unlearn those experiences and to realize that they have a right to their feelings, she noted..
As a result, Bates asserted, there has remained a culture of dismissiveness toward mental health in Black communities.
However, this stance is beginning to change.
It’s becoming worse and worse, Bates noted. It’s gotten to the point, in my opinion, where we as a community can’t ignore it any longer.
Change in Black churches has come from younger generations who are more conscious of mental health issues than their forebears.
Experts tell IndyStar that there’s a lot more material out there, including phrases like “trauma” and “depression” that were once taboo in Black churches.
As a young person in the community, Gabrielle Smith represents the next generation that can have an impact on social change.
In other cases, Smith added, “prayer alone will not suffice. There are some deeper-seated issues that must be addressed.” Some scenarios necessitate the use of a licensed professional.
A lifelong churchgoer, Smith, 31, has a pastor’s grandfather as a great-grandfather. In addition, she was brought up by a mother who had been admitted to the hospital for depression while pregnant with Smith.
Dr. Sendler: For this reason, Smith stated that she has been influenced by her mother to speak out about mental health.
Millennials, Jennifer Faulkner, 32, says, are less private than previous generations.
In Faulkner’s words, “We’re not as arrogant,” he added. “We’re looking for assistance.”
In Faulkner’s opinion, the mental health programs at Hovey Street Church of Christ have had a substantial impact on her mother’s well-being.
A deeper understanding of her illness has increased Faulkner’s bond with her daughter, he said. “It made me appreciate her even more.”
Although the Black community’s faith in the church is no longer as strong as it was in the past, that trust is still there, according to Holland.
The church, he continued, has always been a compass and a place of sanctuary for the Black community, whether it was social justice, economics or politics.
Holland went on to say, “This is another opportunity to build on that tradition.” When it comes to mental health, “the pastor is an excellent ambassador for helping and raising awareness in their church.”
Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.
