Christian Faith & Mental Health Care

Course Description

Good mental health care is deeply needed in our world, but modern medical models of mental health care often leave people feeling like broken machines in a repair shop, with medications and other technologies applied to symptoms in a way that leaves our relationships, stories, and deepest longings unaddressed. The good news of the Christian faith is that we are not machines but creatures who are loved by God, people who are made in God’s image, and wayfarers on a journey to God. At its best, mental health care is a set of practices of attending to wayfarers, always asking “what is needed, right now, for the journey?”

Join a practicing psychiatrist and theological ethicist to explore the nature of mental health and mental illness, unpack the theological vision of human beings as wayfarers, and discover how Christians can draw on the best of both theology and psychiatry to accompany people who are living with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, dementia, and other common mental health challenges.