Would you know what to do if the person in the pew next to you confided that he or she was having trouble coping with life? That his or her situation prompted even fleeting thoughts of harming themselves? That even with prayer and the sacraments, their struggle remains?
In an Aug. 29 report, the World Health Organization stated that more than 720,000 people worldwide die annually by suicide. Many more attempt or consider it.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 1,475 Arizonans took their own lives in 2021, the most recent year figures are available.
“This [is] a very real reality that faces so many people within our country,” said Bishop John Dolan in a 2022 video, “A Life Changed by Suicide,” in which the bishop discusses his own family’s experience of losing three siblings and one in-law over the years.
Within weeks of his installation, Bishop Dolan announced creation of a multifaceted plan by the diocese to meet those suffering, as well as family and friends, with robust connection to resources, education and accompaniment, along with advocacy for improved policy and funding.
The Office of Mental Health Ministry does not diagnose or treat mental illness, but rather serves as an avenue to provide literacy in mental health to promote the reduction of mental illness stigma, encourage conversations around mental illness and create a safe environment for individuals to share and seek help surrounding their mental illness. A number of personnel have been trained to recognize the signs and offer referrals. But the diocese always intended to do much more.
This month, its Office of Mental Health Ministry is taking another significant step forward.
This month, 16 lay persons representing each of the Diocese’s deaneries will complete a 3-day training, capped by their certification as instructors in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). The course will be led by members of the national organization that oversees MHFA implementation throughout the country.
“This is a great milestone for our office,” said Mental Health Ministry Education Program Manager Maricela Campa.
“Since being installed [in 2022], Bishop Dolan has talked of wanting clergy, lay ministers, all of us, to be trained. With this, and all the need and requests (for help) we see, we’re bringing this into the community,” Campa said.
A deanery is a cluster of parishes grouped geographically. There are 15 within the Diocese of Phoenix.
Once certified, the new trainers will expand the diocese’s ability to train at the local parish level in far less time, said Mental Health Ministry Office Director Mary Permoda.
“The goal is to have one trainer responsible for each deanery, so they can train people within that deanery,” Permoda said. “There [will be] a point person, and the training can be carried out on a regular schedule.”
Until now, the diocese has been training individuals at its pastoral center in downtown Phoenix. However, Permoda noted it can only handle 30 at a time.
“When you have 94 parishes trying to get everybody trained, it becomes a barrier if you don’t have other trainers,” she explained.
The new trainers also will mean more laity who can teach the course.
Previous graduates have included priests, deacons and women religious.
“These [new trainees] are lay people,” Campa said. “Pray for them.”
From a variety of professions and occupations, Campa said none of the 16 trainees have a clinical background in mental health and substance abuse.
“They’re not [experts]. They’re individuals who want to serve and learn how to have better conversations to accompany somebody else. For a lot of them, it was an inclination to help somebody and a desire to ensure our community has this information,” she said.
Created in 2000 by a health-education nurse and a mental-health literacy professor in Australia, and later brought to the U.S., Mental Health First Aid enables any certified lay person to provide resources, information and referrals to someone with signs of a mental health or substance abuse concern. Trainees learn to recognize the signs and symptoms, give initial support and connect them to appropriate professional help. They also learn about risk factors and warning signs associated with mental health and addiction concerns, as well as strategies for helping someone in both crisis and noncrisis situations, and where to turn for help.
Topics include depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma, psychosis and substance-use disorders and others.
Mental Health First Aid in the U.S. is managed, operated and disseminated by the National Council for Mental Illness (NCMI).
A 501C (3) association, NCMI includes 3,400 mental health and substance-use treatment organizations across the country. It also advocates for public policy.
Since 2001, over 15,000 instructors have trained more than 3.5 million people across America in Mental Health First Aid.
The Sept. 23-25 sessions will be a welcome occasion.
“A lot of parishes have been asking, ‘When are we going to be trained?’ or ‘Could this be for parents also?’” Campa said. “[The answer is] Absolutely [yes].”
One husband and father greeted the prospect of accessible parish-level trainers with enthusiasm.
Though his family has never faced a crisis, Ss. Simon and Jude parishioner Carlos Carbajal said having peers with knowledge and information is reassuring.
“You can’t get through it alone when it happens. It’s important to know there are other people to guide [you],” said Carbajal, who with his wife, Irene, has three children.
Future parish-level courses will be open to all and will connect interested individuals through their parish.
“It’s information we want everyone to have access to,” Campa said. “It does save lives.”
To learn more or sign up for training, contact Maricela Campa at mcampa@dphx.org.
