For People in Crisis

If you or someone else is experiencing a medical emergency and their life is in immediate danger, call 911.

If you or someone you know is in a crisis, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988. The current Lifeline phone number (1-800-273-8255) will always remain available to people in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, even after 988 is launched nationally. The Lifeline now also has an online chat option.

You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. 

For LGBTQ+ Youth: The Trevor Project provides phone, chat, and text support. Click here for the website, call 866-488-7386, or text 1-202-304-1200.

For transgender individuals: The Trans Lifeline offers support for transgender people by transgender people. Call 877-565-8860 in the U.S. or 877-330-6366 in Canada, or click here for the website. 

For veterans: Call 1-800-273-8255 and then Press 1; text 838255; or click here for online chat. 

Pastors and community leaders, research and know your local mobile crisis unit, if your community has one. For example, where I live in Wilson, NC, Easterseals UCP provides mobile crisis services which can be reached by phone at 866-241-7245.

A great coalition of mental health groups under the umbrella of the Pandemic Crisis Services Response Coalition has created a website aggregating a wide range of helplines for a diversity of populations: covidmentalhealthsupport.org

Using David’s Books in Your Congregation or Community

Want to use Grace is a Pre-Existing Condition and/or Christ on the Psych Ward as an educational resource for your congregation, community, or small group?

Download an excerpt from Grace is a Pre-Existing Condition about voting for mental health by clicking here. A free discussion guide for Grace is a Pre-Existing Condition can be downloaded here.

Download a free discussion guide for Christ on the Psych Ward by clicking here.

Invite the author to speak with your group in person or through an online platform by filling out this contact form.

Educational and Practical Resources

Many denominations have begun developing mental health resources for use in congregations—check out the United Church of Christ Mental Health Network and the Disciples of Christ Mental Health Initiative.

I highly recommend Mental Health First Aid training for anyone, but particularly for people like security guards, administrative assistants, church greeters, and others who often end up being “first on the scene” during mental health crises.

Everybody Belongs, Serving Together is a comprehensive guide for church ministry with people with disabilities, including mental health challenges. You can find the guide fully online here, or order it in print, e-book, or audiobook formats. The guide does include a short article written by David, which you can also find online here.

CXMH: A Podcast at the Intersection of Faith and Mental Health is an absolute goldmine of resources, interviews, and meaningful conversations. I’m a big fan of the hosts, Robert Vore and Dr. Holly Oxhandler. You can listen to a recent interview I did with them, but I’d recommend skimming through their episodes and listening to whatever catches your eye.

The American Psychiatric Association has a quick and helpful reference resource for pastors and faith leaders. 

There are a number of organizations with peer-to-peer support groups, such as NAMI, Recovery International, and the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance . NAMI also has a network specifically for faith communities called NAMI FaithNet. On many college campuses, Active Minds organizes student support and advocacy groups.  

A powerful liturgical resource for churches can be found in Stations of the Cross: Mental Illness by Mary Button.

For congregations looking for practical models for ministry, I highly recommend Resurrecting the Person: Friendship and the Care of People with Mental Health Problems, by John Swinton. A more recent work by Swinton, Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges, is based off of in-depth interviews with Christians facing mental health challenges and is an excellent resource for pastors and theologians. Sarah Griffith Lund’s Blessed Are the Crazy includes a step-by-step guide to starting a mental health ministry in your church, and her more recent Blessed Union: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness and Marriage, is excellent for couples or groups wanting to explore the topic. Rachael A. Keefe's The Life Saving Church: Faith Communities and Suicide Prevention, contains practical guidelines for churches to recognize and respond to those struggling with suicidal ideation and behavior. Tonya D. Armstrong's Blossoming Hope: The Black Christian Women's Guide to Mental Health and Wellness is a practical resource for African American Christian women in particular, and also has helpful tools and guidance for faith communities generally. Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and Their Families, edited by Robert H. Albers, William H. Meller, and Steven D. Thurber, provides pastoral caregivers with a practical guide to the diagnostic categories used by modern day psychiatrists and psychotherapists.

Advocacy Resources

Many organizations advocate for a more just and equitable mental healthcare system in particular and/or healthcare system more generally. Here are just a few I recommend supporting and learning from:

The National Alliance on Mental Illness has a page dedicated to mental health voter information and as well as public policy advocacy.

RIP Medical Debt aims to cancel billions of dollars in medical debt. They were originally founded out of Rolling Jubilee, which now focuses on other forms of debt relief . I’m such a big fan of their work that we donated profits from the sales of Grace is a Pre-Existing Condition to the organization, helping to forgive more than $200,000 in medical debt.

The Poor People’s Campaign is a moral fusion movement that organizes nationally around issues of poverty and a more just economy, including healthcare.

I’m a huge fan of the voting rights organization Fair Fight, both because of their work but because their founder, Stacey Abrams, has spoken courageously and openly about the ways that mental illness, addiction, and debt caused by medical bills have impacted her family.

TRACC (Trauma Response and Crisis Care) for Movements is a new, national organization dedicated to training trauma-aware caregivers in support of social movements.

Other Books

In addition to Christ on the Psych Ward, there are any number of powerful accounts from people with mental health struggles and their family members. Titles that have been particularly meaningful for me include: An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, by Kay Redfield Jamison; The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, by Andrew Solomon; I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying, by Bassey Ipki; and Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith, by Monica A. Coleman. Not Alone: Reflections on Faith and Depression, also by Monica A. Coleman, is a devotional resource — with 40 relatively brief devotionals, it’s perfect for a Lenten discipline.

While not explicitly about mental illness per se, the writings of Dr. Brené Brown on shame, vulnerability, and owning our whole stories have been particularly meaningful and important for my journey.

While I hope that Christ on the Psych Ward will be an important resource for those for whom faith can be a source of resilience and hope, it is also the case that many people experience hurt and trauma at the hands of religious leaders and/or religious communities. For those struggling with religious and spiritual trauma, an excellent resource is Sacred Wounds: A Path to Healing from Spiritual Trauma, by Teresa P Mateus (formerly Teresa B Pasquale).