Carole Wills

The quarterly Church Health Reader recognizes the challenge of maintaining spiritual, emotional, physical and social well-being in a world of stress, violence, confusing value systems and social turmoil and offers practical, timely instruction and helpful options.

This organization provides online and print resources for those with disabilities and mental illness, as well as their families and congregations.

Designed for clergy and lay caregivers, this resource takes an interdisciplinary approach to symptoms, treatment, and caregiving principles for those who live with mental illness.

This resource reveals one pastor's journey with bipolar illness in a manner that sheds hope and light through a collection of short essays, poems, and scripture.

This organization offers free peer-led education courses and support programs of family members, individuals with a mental health illness, and the general public. They also have an interfaith resource to provide resources to congregational leaders.

Written by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness of the Presbyterian Church, this study guide details 16 practical recommendations for ministry to and with people living with serious mental illnesses.

This resource balances medical information and scriptural insights to help congregations minister effectively to individuals and families impacted by mental illness.

This news article is part of a series that explores the state of the mentally ill in America.

This organization promotes faith-based ministries for people with mental illnesses and their families through educational and networking resources and increased awareness.

This resource uses real-life stories to shed light on the harmful assumptions surrounding depression while addressing real life issues like worry, numbness, despair, and relational difficulties.

Written by the wife of a wounded Navy Seal veteran, this resource weaves the author's experience with 25 other spouses to help military families address the challenges of postraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

This book explores neuroscience and faith from the perspective of a Christian psychiatrist.

This resource challenges, today's Christian church to take seriously Jesus' teachings about serving the poor and alienated, especially those with mental illnesses.

Based off the authors' experience as street chaplains in Seattle, this resource challenges stereotypes while demonstrating the value of genuine ministry among homeless men and women.

This book explores the link between spirituality and mental health recovery.

This workbook details a support group model for those diagnosed with bipolar disorder, combining medical information with scripture to pave the path towards healing.

This training curriculum looks at the spiritual and psychological effects of trauma to help clergy support survivors and assist in the healing process.

This book examines issues that arise for many who live with long-term illness.

The American Association of Pastoral Counselors is dedicated to bringing healing, hope and wholeness to individuals and families by integrating spirituality and psychology into all their care, counseling, and psychotherapy training, programs and endeavors. Their core values include "excellence in practice, accountability and ethics; respect for the rich diversity of human life...religion, spirituality; ongoing critical analysis and revision of their practice and organization; and lifelong personal, spiritual and professional formation." Collaborative partnerships with religious institutions and mental health-related community organizations provide a broad base for their strong leadership and visibility in training faith leaders, lay persons and behavioral health partners. In addition to being a certifying agency for institutions which offer degree programs in professional Pastoral Counseling, the AAPC offers training for clergy, students and lay counselors as Pastoral Care Specialists. Their website lists counseling centers and pastoral counselors across the country.

This organization provides resources for increasing awareness and understanding of mental illnesses among clergy and members of the faith community.

This organization provides support groups, access to affordable recovery care, resources for family members, and other resources for those with mental illnesses.

This organization provides resources to help congregations become more caring and supportive of people and families living with mental illness, such as DVDs and downloadable resources.

This web resource offers a professional yet succinct overview of mental health issues, written in lay language, and summarizes the basics about common mental illnesses, suicide, diagnosis, treatment, the connection between mental and physical conditions, recovery, wellness and building resilience while also addressing the many ways in which faith leaders can provide support for people with mental illnesses.

This organization addresses domestic human trafficking through clinical services, aftercare, awareness, outreach, and discipleship.

This web resource includes a study of 1,500 ministers in the Duke Clergy Health Initiative Longitudinal Survey which revealed that 28 percent of ministers said "they had at one time been forced to leave their jobs because of personal attacks and criticism from a small fraction of their congregations", and offers suggested ways church-goers could contribute to the health and well-being of their minister.

Based off the author's experience living with depression and bipolar disorder, her story illustrates how hurtful and even dangerous uninformed assumptions about people with mood disorders are.

Faith.Hope.Life. is a suicide prevention web resource for all faith traditions, equipping them to focus one day or Sabbath each year on values common to most faith traditions: hope, community, reasons to live, the value of life and support. The website addresses challenging questions, support and how to respond to someone who may be suicidal.

Written by a licensed mental health counselor, this article outlines treatment options, tools for self-soothing, and skills for enhancing safety for individuals struggling with trauma and addiction.

This organization provides grief support groups and divorce support groups with videos and journal prompts for participants.

This series of 30-minute videos from PBS provides stimulating and relevant topics related to mental health through a series of perspectives.

This organization offers trauma education, advising, and coaching for congregations navigating disaster and tragedies.

This hour-long documentary details the stories of everyday people while breaking through the silence, shame, and stigma related to mental illness.

Celebrate Recovery, developed by John Baker, Saddleback Minister of Celebrate Recovery, is now a nationwide recovery support curriculum, created after Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, lost their son, Matthew, in 2013 to mental illness.

This research article reveals factors unique to clergy positive mental health and how these can prevent psychological and physical illnesses.

This resource shares unconventional wisdom about spirituality and human behavior, looking specifically at the issues of addiction.

This collection of 15 stories from a community health organization in Maryland describes examples of society stigma resulting in impactful experiences.

By focusing on commonalities, this resource invites readers to explore and appreciate core beliefs of Judaism, other world religions, and psychology.

This organization provides mental health resources to support people with addiction and mental health issues.

This organization provides a free suicide prevention lifeline that offers support for those in a suicide crisis 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This web resource, by Christian psychiatrist and author Curt Thompson, provides a YouTube lecture "Spirituality, Neuroplasticity and Personal Growth" which instructs the audience to explore relational and psychological problem solving from the perspective of recent findings in neuroscience.