Vienna worship service focuses on mental illness
VIENNA — A Communities of Faith worship service will be 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at Christ Lutheran Church, 4513 Grand Central Ave. in Vienna.
“Our ecumenical service is to help eliminate the stigma of mental illness, promote understanding and support to the mental health systems in our communities,” said Patrice Pooler, executive director of the Mid-Ohio Valley Fellowship Home Inc. in Parkersburg.
The service will be held in observance of World Mental Health Day and is sponsored by the Mental Health Ministries Committee of the Parkersburg Vicariate, Pooler said.
“The ecumenical worship service is meant to encourage understanding and to provide hope for those with mental illness, their families, care providers and faith communities,” she said.
The Rev. Emilie Theobald-Rowlands of Christ Lutheran Church will lead the opening prayer. Pastor Daniel Morikone of Parkersburg Seventh-day Adventist Church, Parkersburg, will give the sermon. Deacon Steve Wharton of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church will do the benediction. Christ Lutheran Church will provide music.
There will be light refreshments served after the service.
Based on findings of the Surgeon General’s report, the magnitude of mental illness in the country is 1 in 4 families has a loved one dealing with mental illness, Pooler said.
“Because of the stigma surrounding mental illness, many of these people suffer in silence,” she said. “There are many ways that congregations can minister to persons with a mental illness and their families — by welcoming, supporting and integrating persons with a mental illness into their faith community; we can extend our hand to one another, reduce stigma and break down the barriers between ‘us and them,'” she said.
The Mental Health Ministries Committee will be sponsoring a Mental Health First Aid workshop in the spring of 2017 to the local community. This is an educational program that introduces risk factors and warning signs of mental illnesses, builds understanding of their impact, and overviews common supports.
The date, time and location will be announced later, Pooler said.
The workshop will demonstrate how to offer initial help in a mental health crisis and connect persons to the appropriate professional, peer, social, and self-help care. Common risk factors and warning signs of specific types of illnesses, like anxiety, depression, substance use, bipolar disorder, eating disorders and schizophrenia, will be explored, she said.
There is a free community support group, “Hearts Made Whole,” for loved ones and caregivers of those with mental health issues. The group meets at 6 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month in the back of First Presbyterian Church, 1341 Juliana St., Parkersburg.