LEAVEN gathered 70 faith leaders for lunch today to hear from the Rev. Dale Kuhn. Dale leads St. Louis’ Mental Health Training Collaborative (MHTC), a program of Care and Counseling that equips faith leaders as mental health first responders.

It’s a model our own regional Mental Health Ministry Initiative — a collaboration of Samaritan, NAMI Fox Valley, the NEW Mental Health Connection and LEAVEN — has been exploring here with help from a planning grant from the Basic Needs Giving Parntership Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, supported by the J. J. Keller Foundation, Inc., the U.S. Venture Fund for Basic Needs and other community partners.

Dozens of participants expressed interest in learning more as the Mental Health Ministry Initiative develops. The initiative will consider whether creating cluster groups to provide mental health education and case management for faith leaders — as the MHTC has done over the last five years — would be an effective approach in our community.