Faith, mental health community gather to answer 'how are the chidlren?'

Mar. 5—Author, minister and mental health justice and disability minister Sarah Lund spoke to a group of clergy and nonprofit professionals Tuesday about how children are faring in the mental health area.

The gathering of about 60 was held in the Rea Greenhouse Hall at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center.

Lund said she also is on the board of Mental Health America.

What she spoke about Tuesday was "how are the children."

"Today we came together with faith leaders and mental health care professionals to ask each other the question, how are the children doing in our community? What we heard is that a lot of children are struggling, themselves and their families, with mental health challenges — depression, anxiety, suicide, drug use," Lund said.

"Children are experiencing the effects of the pandemic, isolation. There's online bullying, and there's a lot of things they're exposed to that are overwhelming to them. I shared stories from my own family about how we've navigated a suicide loss and how important it is to educate and provide resources, so we're sharing tools, encouraging education, in church and in schools and for every child to have a safety plan to know what their mental health resources are, and to create spaces of no stigma and shame where every child can feel encouraged to share when they're struggling," Lund said.

She added that children need to know that it's OK not to be OK and there are safe adults to talk to if they're having thoughts of self harm or suicide.

There is also 988, the national suicide hotline and suicide prevention number.

"We're really here to share that we care about our children, that in the face of this national mental health crisis, there is hope and healing when we come together and partner, both the faith community and the mental health care community and the schools. We're stronger together," Lund said.

The safety plan is where every child would have three trusted adults.

"They would know their name and cell numbers so that if they're having overwhelming thoughts of despair or suicide, they would contact the safe adults in their lives. A lot of times children or teens will tell other children and teens. They haven't been trained or equipped to respond and they are afraid of telling because that would be a betrayal of their friendships. What we're hoping is that there's a safe person for them to talk to so there can be an intervention and connect them to help and resources," Lund said.

Mellessa Brenem, director of prevention programs at Permian Basin Regional Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, said for substance abuse professionals the gathering was very helpful.

"We do depend on our faith community as well, when we're looking at environmental strategies and changes in our community, and with all the sectors that we work with through our coalition. Most importantly is connecting with young people, and how the faith-based community can help us and we can help them having these difficult conversations with them to empower them," Brenem said.

The Rev. Dr. Dawn Weaks, pastor of Connection Christian Church, said the event was a beautiful connection with people in mental health, religious organizations, local mental health counseling centers and more.

"Our speaker was challenging us to end the stigma around mental health and to break the silence and speak about it more in our churches and our faith community, as well as in our workplaces and be a part of the movement to begin healing the mental health in our community," Weaks said.

Tom Jones, executive director of the Faith Inclusion Network, a nonprofit that helps churches include people with disabilities, said the program was excellent.

"She brought a really good message about the need for mental health interventions. She related her own experiences, too. I think all of us in this room today know of people that are struggling and (we) are just trying to figure out ways how to help them. She was very inspiring," Jones said.

"I think one of the goals was to get people together, faith leaders, counselors, mental health professionals, and social workers to address the problem and this was a good first step," he added.

Jones said he is in the Midland West Rotary Club and the president of the club has said mental health is one of their priorities.

"There's just so much interest and need for mental health. Our kids are growing up in an age that just has so many things different than when I grew up and so many challenges and things to deal with. It's really kind of up to us to give them some support through all this. Dealing with sexuality, drugs, peer pressure, bullying, any any number of issues. So hopefully, we can be more aware of that and be aware of what's out there; what kind of supports we can offer teenagers and they one another, too," he added.

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