Mental Health Ministry Development
The first place many turn to in a crisis is their faith home. SamaraCare equips congregations to advocate for and walk alongside people with mental illness. Our goal is to help faith communities think through and implement the best ways to support people with mental illness as well as the individuals and families caring for them.
Just as CPR helps you assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid helps you assist someone experiencing a mental health or substance use-related crisis. In the Mental Health First Aid course, you learn risk factors and warning signs for mental health and addiction concerns, strategies for how to help someone in both crisis and non-crisis situations, and where to turn for help.
1 out of 2 people in most congregations are personally impacted by the reality of suicide. Soul Shop™ provides training and support to faith community leaders, teaching them to respond to the needs of the desperately hurting.
For further information about Mental Health Ministry Developlemt, contact Robert Skrocki, Mental Health Ministry Coordinator at rskrocki@samaracarecounseling.org. To learn more about our talks and workshops click here.
Robert Skrocki has a special interest in how faith communities can help build mental health resiliency and support the recovery of persons with mental illnesses. He is a certified trainer in Mental Health First Aid, Youth Mental Health First Aid, and Soul Shop. He has a Master’s In Social Work and clinical pastoral education training. In addition, Robert is communications coordinator for the Interfaith Mental Health Coalition, a local organization working to connect faith leaders to mental health resources and chairs the board for Pathways to Promise a national organization that is helping promote mental health training coalitions for faith communities all over the country.