Introduction to Mental Health Coaching

Matthew Stanford, Ph.D.

Summary
We will take a look at the role of a peer mental health coach and how this fits in a local church.
A peer mental health coach can be a bridge between a family and the mental healthcare system
that allows individuals to access resources easily, quickly and at virtually no cost. A peer mental
health coach is therapeutically effective, as they help individuals manage their illness more
effectively, while growing closer to God. The mental health coach will be a point on a
continuum that currently does not exist in the mental healthcare system, to assist pastors to
get the mentally ill the therapeutic and supportive intervention needed to recover more fully.

Learning Objectives:
1. Participants will learn what a Peer Mental Health Coach is.
2. Participants will learn the role of a Peer Mental Health Coach in the local church.
3. Participants will understand how to fill the void that exists in the mental healthcare
system.
I. Introduction
A. What is a peer mental health coach?
1. Combination of a variety of skill sets that make up peer mental health coaching:
• Lay counseling
• Life coaching
• Pastoral care
• Case management
• Advocacy
• Family care

B. Statistics
1. 1 out of every 5 individuals in the USA suffers with a mental health problem in a
given year.

2. 1 out of every 25 individuals in the USA is dealing with a serious mental health
disorder.
• Half of these individuals have the disorder in place by age 14.
• 75% of these individuals have the disorder in place by the time they are 24 years
old.

C. Definitions
1. Mental Disorder: A clinically significant disruption of a person’s thoughts, moods,
behaviors, or ability to relate to others, that is severe enough to require treatment
or intervention to help the individual function normally.
• The majority of individuals with mental disorders receive no treatment.
(1) Over 40,000 individuals die from suicide each year
• Those who do seek treatment are more likely to seek out clergy than mental
health providers.

D. The Role of Peer Mental Health Coaches

1. Act as a bridge between family and the mental healthcare system
 2. Allow individuals with a serious mental disorder to access resources easily, quickly
and at no cost
3. Allow individuals to manage their illness more effectively
4. Help individuals grow closer to God
5. Be a point on the healthcare continuum that currently does not exist
6. Assist church workers to get individual therapeutic and supportive intervention
needed to recover more fully

II. The Role of the Church

A. Brief History of the Role of the Church
1. Historically, the church was involved in serving the mentally ill
• In the 13th century in Belgium, the church began caring for individuals who
prayed for healing from madness
• Quaker movement and William Tuke, the York Retreat became the model for
model for early psychiatric hospitals
• Bethesda communities out of the Lutheran church taught the gospel to the
intellectually disabled in the late 1800s/early 1900s

B. The Church’s connection

1. The Church is already heavily involved and connected to the mentally ill population
• Prison ministry
• Homeless
• Addiction
• Human trafficking
• Natural Disasters
2. There is a void of Christ-centered care that focuses on serious mental illness

C. Mental Healthcare System

 1. What is the problem with the system now?
• Individuals with mental illness are engaged in crisis, not at the beginning of
symptoms
• No clear point of entry
• Difficulty to access
• There is not a continuum of care but a disjointed mess
• Stability of the individual is considered the best outcome

2. What can Mental Health Coaches offer?

• Clear point of entry (the Church)
• Easy access
• Promote independence
• Provide long-term support
• Low cost
• Integrate the family into care

III. Treatment
A. Treatment
1. Manage a chronic illness, not out of context of “sick” to “not sick”, but a process of
recovery
• It is a lie to say someone cannot recover from mental illness
B. Recovery
1. Definition: a process of change through which individuals improve their health and
wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential
C. Steps for Recovery
1. Help individuals with a mental disorder develop hope
2. Help them acquire skills in self-management and self-care
3. Help build support network
 4. Help take active role in the planning of their care
5. Move away from discussions that focus on illness pathology
• A mental illness does not define a person
6. Help individuals rediscover a sense of personal identity
7. Help them work towards participation in a local community
8. Help them develop a meaningful and satisfying life

IV. Role of the Mental Health Coach

A. A Mental Health Coach:

1. Someone who takes strengths-based approach to care

2. Not about fixing mentally ill individuals, about loving them
3. A guide them towards decision making
4. An advocate
5. Helps individuals develop mental healthcare plan
• To reach goals, overcome barriers, and manage the illness
6. Helps them develop supportive system
7. Points them to professionals in the mental healthcare system
8. Provides care at no cost

B. What the Church offers to the Mental Healthcare System

1. Hope that transcends circumstances

• Hope is a Person not a feeling
2. Holistic view of the person
• Body, mind, spirit and relationship
 3. Accessibility
• Simple, shameless and easy access
4. Supportive therapeutic communities

C. Conclusion
1. Relieve suffering
2. Reveal Christ
3. Restore life