Almost from the time she met Bishop John Dolan, Barb Rechterman sensed that one day she would work with him.
One of 10 children, Rechterman lost her oldest sister to suicide in 1998. In the time leading up to her death, Rechterman recalls how, as she describes it, her sister “lost God in the process” of her mental-health struggle.
“She had stopped going to church; actively participating in anything, in life,” she said.
Shortly after his August 2022 installation, Bishop Dolan shared his own story of losing not one, but two siblings to suicide. Less than three months later, he would lose a third.
“He shared his story, and it struck me,” she said. “He’s lived what I lived, three-plus times.”
But their meeting was more than an exchange of understanding, empathy and fellowship between a devoted donor and a shepherd of the faithful.
Passionate about Catholic schools and effective mental-health outreach to students, Rechterman often shared her thoughts and ideas with the elementary school principal at her parish, St. Gabriel in Cave Creek.
When the Diocese of Phoenix decided to launch a new pilot program to enhance the delivery of those services in schools, Rechterman was all in.
“My reaction was very positive. We have to deal with the whole child. So, (there’s) this holistic approach. It touched me.”
This fall, the diocese, its schools and Catholic Charities, with master’s degree level social work and counseling interns, are teaming together for an unprecedented effort to address students’ mental health.
‘INNOVATIVE, CREATIVE’
The Office of Mental Health Ministry will oversee outreach in eight central Phoenix and Glendale Catholic schools in a collaboration intended to maximize the benefits of basic counseling by linking youngsters and their families to resources and programs at a variety of levels, including the home parish, social agencies, and the schools themselves.
The one-year pilot program will involve six elementary schools – clustered in two groups of three – and two high schools in areas where financial resources may not be robust enough for the schools to do this on their own.
“We wanted to (address) schools that don’t have as many current resources as (others) that are out there,” explained Superintendent of the diocese’s Catholic Schools Office, Domonic Salce. The intent is to expand the program in future years.
Some of the schools also have partnered in the past with Catholic Charities, which has offered counseling services for years to a variety of demographics, including school-age children and families.
“This is both innovative and creative,” said diocesan Office of Mental Health Ministry Director, Mary Permoda.
“In the past, we’ve done a great job at the clinical component. (This pilot program) has a broader scope. We want this to be a holistic approach. Clinical health only goes so far.
When you have a community and wraparound services, the clinical piece can reach its full benefit,” Permoda explained.
Built on Bishop Dolan’s threefold vision of education, accompaniment and advocacy – a theme he used when launching the Office of Mental Health Ministry two years ago – the pilot program will be carried out by interns and professionals in the mental health field.
Beyond traditional on-site counseling, components can include helping teachers with classroom wellness plans, as well as connecting children and their families to social programs or parish-level ministries, such as peer groups or grief support. A typical referral might direct a family not just to counseling but agencies or workshops to address, for example, food insecurity, unstable employment, medical challenges or substance abuse to name a few.
One intern will be assigned to each school and will be there 8-10 hours per week. The diocese will add a mental health professional for each cluster of schools. That clinician will shuttle between the schools he or she is assigned to. These individuals will report to a program supervisor based at the Office of Mental Health Ministry at the Diocesan Pastoral Center in downtown Phoenix.
The interns will be selected from the psychology and social work programs at Grand Canyon University and Arizona State University.
Participants are required to be licensed through the state of Arizona in counseling and social work, as well as carry a master’s degree in a particular discipline.
The program is very Catholic.
“We are focused on the entire mind, body and soul – these have to come together,” said Salce. “As Catholics, we want to bring our faith to any kind of therapy.”
Such integration has been part of the Catholic Charities model for years.
“Although this (pilot program) is new, our role in counseling therapeutic interventions is not,” said CarrieLynn Mascaro, MA, LAC, vice president of Central Program Operations, Catholic Charities Arizona.
“We have a great history in supervising, managing and supporting master’s level interns in parishes, the general community and in schools,” Mascaro said.
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‘THE RIGHT RESOURCES’
The program will also widen the reach and effectiveness of individual parishes.
“I am always there to assist people on the edge of having a crisis,” said Father Al Abainza, SOLT, pastor of Most Holy Trinity Parish in central Phoenix, whose elementary school will take part in the pilot program. “(But) alone, I cannot do much. Now, with an active team giving time and talents, we can make a great impact.”
Father Abainza said the parish has set up office space for program personnel and begun training teachers and staff in mental health “first aid” for children. “We’re not interventionists, but we will lead (people) to the right resources,” he said.
“We’re very excited.”
The schools are equally enthusiastic.
Tanya Bartlett, principal at St. Mary’s High School in Phoenix, which also is part of the pilot program, said her school has offered on-site counseling for two years but without a community approach, parents who lack clinical experience may be hard-pressed to build on the counseling at home.
Bartlett said today’s student needs a more holistic approach to mental health.
“Our kids are bombarded 24-7. Their phones keep them constantly plugged into stuff that is stressful, even for adults.”
“Social media draws them in. It’s constant. They don’t get enough sleep. It makes them more vulnerable to stressors; family issues.”
A part-time or even a full-time job, or the pressure to achieve academically can undermine a student’s mental health as well, she said.
“The world is not in a good place right now. We have to take care of our kids.”
This new program intends to do just that.
It’s the reason Permoda and her colleagues are so excited. And passionate.
“Bishop Dolan always says, ‘The only thing we’re responsible for is to love.’ We could have all the tasks, but they’ll be just tasks, if we don’t do them with love – this unconditional love God has for all of us,” she said. “It is not always easy, but that is what we are called to do.”
“We are giving away what we already have been given.”
For Barb Rechterman, that translates to the stewardship of dollars, as she has stepped up to support this vital program.
“I have a philosophy about donations: I truly believe God instills the ability to increase your own capacity to love. I think being donors does that.”
