Brochures, Fact Sheets, Guides and Toolkits

Multicultural competence, intense spiritual experience, and mental health: A self-help, peer support and service provider technical assistance tool
This technical assistance tool was developed as an outgrowth of a National Alliance on Mental Illness Support, Technical Assistance and Resources Center (NAMI STAR Center) workshop that included individuals who had gone through intense spiritual experiences as well as those interested in learning more about this type of experience and about how to be helpful to someone going through this experience. This resource discusses spirituality in depth and includes a list of guidelines for honoring intense spiritual experiences as well as ways providers and others can support individuals having these experiences.

Mental Health Matters: Native American Mental Health Concepts
This program, which can be viewed online, discusses differences between mainstream mental disorder models and those of the Native American community. This episode features the Director of the Children's Trauma Center and the Cultural Facilitator, both from a Native American Health Center in California, and a young adult community member/advocate who utilizes services at the Native American Health Center.

Recovery Advocacy Toolkit: Engaging Your Community
This toolkit highlights the benefits that recovery from addiction can have on a community. It goes on to describe ways community involvement in advocacy can enhance public perceptions of recovery and promote effective public policy. This toolkit provides action steps for community members based on their different roles in the community. Educators, faith community members, community coalitions, families, government/public officials, criminal justice professionals, business leaders, healthcare professionals, local media outlets, and addiction treatment providers are all provided with specific steps that will help in engaging and guiding the community toward effective and positive attitudes toward recovery.

Resources, web pages, and internet links for faith communities
List of helpful resources for faith communities and NAMI affiliates which provide resources for persons of faith to help congregations in their understanding of mental illnesses.
Contact information:
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Colonial Place Three
2107 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201-3042
Phone: (703) 524-7600

1 in 4 households in your church is afraid to tell you this secret
A fact sheet discussing the stigma that surrounds mental illness within faith communities.

Creating caring congregations
A brochure providing basic steps in developing a congregation with a better understanding of mental illness, where individuals with mental illnesses and others are welcomed.

Faith in recovery toolkit
A toolkit developed to aid in the creation of a mental health ministry.

Understanding stigma
Part of the "Working with the Family: Impact of Mental Illness on Families" section of the Pathways to Promise Web site, this fact sheet provides information on understanding the stigma that is encountered by the families of individuals with mental illnesses.

Helpline fact sheet: Ministry, mental illness, and communities of faith
A brief fact sheet discussing how "religious communities are in a unique position to combat stigma and provide a message of acceptance and hope."

Creating a circle of caring: The church and the mentally ill
A curriculum designed to sensitize adults in the church to the plight of those suffering from severe and persistent mental illness and their families.