Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries

🌟 Merry Christmas from all of us at Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries! 👋 This is the day we celebrate God entering into our reality as Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Whatever this season brings for you and your family, we hope you are comforted to know that God’s loving presence is with you. A note that our team is off for a Christmas break and will be able to respond to any emails or messages in the new year! #SanctuaryMentalHealth #SanctuaryMentalHealthMinistries #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAndFaith #FaithAndMentalHealth #ChurchMentalHealth #ChristianMentalHealth #ChristianityAndMentalHealth #Peace #GodsPeace #PlantingPeace #MerryChristmas #Christmas

Daniel Whitehead, Sanctuary’s CEO, was interviewed on The Perspective with Mike Sherbino this week. He shares about a new resource Sanctuary has developed, The Sanctuary Youth Series. It has been two and a half years in the making, and it is launching on January 13! This resource is aimed at young people aged eleven to fifteen, because most mental illnesses begin around age fourteen. Dan shares, “We want to get in early and help young people have a framework and have all that they need to navigate that as people of faith.” The Sanctuary Youth Series was created with three audiences in mind: the youth themselves, their parents, and their leaders or teachers. It’s intended to bring them all into dialogue about mental health to offer better support to each other. Together we have an opportunity to change the culture and conversation around mental health in churches, communities, and families. Learn more about The Sanctuary Youth Series at https://lnkd.in/eax_JKH3  Watch the full episode of The Perspective with guest host Andrew Blackwood, DMin, MDiv at: https://lnkd.in/eQwPjZFD

🎁 We have an early Christmas present for you: we’re announcing the launch date of our long-awaited youth resource. Monday, January 13 is the day you’ll see The Sanctuary Youth Series in full! Only a few more weeks until you can access the eight-session series on our resource portal (for FREE, by the way 🤯), plus everything you’ll need to facilitate. If you want to explore the topic of faith and mental health with your youth ministry or students in 2025, this series is a great starting point. By going through The Sanctuary Youth Series, you’re helping prepare students for a faith journey that includes seasons of flourishing and languishing. Learn more and see a preview of the first session by visiting our website at https://hubs.la/Q030cnjL0 #SanctuaryMentalHealth #SanctuaryMentalHealthMinistries #SanctuaryYouthSeries #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAndFaith #FaithAndMentalHealth #ChurchMentalHealth #ChristianMentalHealth #ChristianityAndMentalHealth #Youth #YouthMinistry #YouthLeader #TeenMentalHealth #YouthMentalHealth #ChristianYouthResources #YouthMinistryResource

We’re still looking for an Executive Liaison Officer to work with us at Sanctuary. The Executive Liaison Officer will work closely with the CEO in a fast-paced environment, providing high-level support to optimize the CEO’s engagement with donors, partners, and stakeholders. Beyond administrative support, this position requires strategic collaboration with all departments, the board, and the Chief of Staff to drive organizational initiatives. See the full job description here: https://hubs.la/Q02_9PD90. Applications are now due on Sunday, December 15 with a start date in mid - late January 2025.

Many people see the importance of donating towards the area of mental health support, but aren’t sure where to give. Sanctuary has been at the forefront of creating mental health and faith resources since launching The Sanctuary Course. We are honoured to be featured in Philanthropy Roundtable’s Mental Health Playbook, which showcases fifteen high-impact organizations addressing the most urgent mental health needs across America. It’s a vital resource for donors seeking to make a lasting change in society by investing in values-aligned organizations with timely and innovative solutions to our nation’s greatest mental health challenges. See more about Sanctuary in the Mental Health Playbook with some thoughts from Daniel Whitehead here: https://lnkd.in/eUJrS397

Join Sanctuary’s Bryana Russell and Lizzy Ojo Martens for a conversation on Facebook Live this Wednesday, December 11. They’ll be chatting about youth mental health, The Sanctuary Youth Series, and an opportunity for your youth ministry to positively impact youth mental health by running the series and participating in a research study. Date: Wednesday, December 11 Time: 3:00pm PST You can follow Sanctuary on Facebook so you’re notified when it starts: https://lnkd.in/eyshinbK. If you have any questions, add them to the comments below, or tune in live to ask. #SanctuaryMentalHealth #SanctuaryMentalHealthMinistries #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAndFaith #FaithAndMentalHealth #ChurchMentalHealth #ChristianMentalHealth #ChristianityAndMentalHealth #YouthMentalHealth #YouthMinistry

The full report “Mental Health and Illness in Canadian Congregations” is out now! Head to our website to access it: https://hubs.la/Q02-zWFG0 In our research with the Flourishing Congregations Institute, we saw that churches continue to focus on providing pastoral care as the main form of support for individuals with lived experience, but there is clearly a felt need for the reality of mental health to be threaded into the fabric of church life. Church members are eager to see mental health discussions embraced in their faith communities. Incorporating the topic into sermons, worship services, and workshops can help raise awareness in congregations and better equip the people in the pews to address concerns within the community. And creating spaces for lament and honesty within services can foster a sense of shared understanding and belonging amongst congregants. It’s great to see this eagerness to participate in the mental health conversation, but there seems to be some missed opportunities for churches to nurture these topics within their church structure. A resource like The Sanctuary Course, a free study guide for small groups to engage in nuanced conversations about mental health and faith, can help churches create supportive spaces to bridge some of these gaps.

As we enter the Christmas season, at Sanctuary we're focusing on all the ways we can cultivate peace in our communities. Peace is a familiar word this time of year: you hear it sung in Christmas carols and see it written on holiday cards. But peace is more than just a word that can make you feel warm and fuzzy. Peace isn’t an emotion we need to conjure up or a state of being we need to attain. It isn’t even the absence of fear or anxiety. Peace comes from experiencing God’s presence. As one of the themes of Advent, we see how integral peace is to the Christmas story. The angels declared peace on earth when Jesus was born, who is the Prince of Peace. We can find comfort that God gives us peace in a way that the world cannot. Peace also comes from the assurance of our salvation, and knowing that Jesus will return again and the earth will be made new. This month we will be sharing a few free resources including a blog post, a devotional series, and A Prayer for Planting Peace. Throughout Advent, these will be made available freely for you to download and use. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when they are available: https://lnkd.in/eNGgujRH. With all of our resources at Sanctuary, we equip the Church to start conversations about mental health and faith, and help churches to become places of peace, support, and belonging. This Christmas you can play a part in planting peace. Would you consider partnering with us financially? Donate now to help us reach our goal of $100,000 by visiting https://lnkd.in/eBuVHT6P Every dollar you give during December will be matched by a generous, anonymous donor. Now is a great time to give, if you are able! Learn more about "Planting Peace" at https://lnkd.in/eTXEgzRb #SanctuaryMentalHealth #SanctuaryMentalHealthMinistries #MentalHealth #MentalHealthAndFaith #FaithAndMentalHealth #ChurchMentalHealth #ChristianMentalHealth #ChristianityAndMentalHealth #Peace #Advent #GodsPeace 

Today is #GivingTuesday, the global day of generosity. We recognize there are many deserving causes that you could give to today, but want to take a moment inviting you to consider supporting our work here at Sanctuary. Do you share the vision of a future where the Church is known as the safest place for people experiencing a mental health crisis? Sanctuary is the leading organization in the mental health and faith space. With our emphasis on the bio/psycho/social/spiritual model of mental health—and our collaboration with experts in all of those fields—our resources are uniquely positioned to make this vision a reality. If you believe in this vision and want to be a partner in making it happen, we invite you to give. Your money will go directly to putting mental health and faith resources in churches around the world. This year, a generous donor has agreed to match every donation we receive by the end of Giving Tuesday. Every dollar you donate today will be matched up to $10,000, doubling your impact and transforming the way mental health is supported in the Church. If you want to partner with us this Giving Tuesday, you can give at https://hubs.la/Q02-2tX-0

Churches across the UK are responding to the wellbeing needs of their communities. Sanctuary is one of the partner organizations with ChurchWorks, helping equip churches in their wellbeing efforts and initiatives. Gareth Brown, a leader at Raglan Road Church Smethwick, shares this about The Sanctuary Course: “People have said they feel safer in church, which I think is one of the best things to hear. And that’s not just on the course, that’s as a church.” This is what we love to hear: that churches are becoming safe spaces for people to open up, be themselves, and find needed support. Consider using The Sanctuary Course in your church this coming year. It’s available for free on our resource portal: https://hubs.la/Q02ZPTgb0 Read the full report by ChurchWorks: https://hubs.la/Q02ZPKM30