Interfaith Community Services: Moving Past Modern Secularism & Serving the “Whole” Person

INTERFAITH COMMUNITYSERVICESMoving Past Modern Secularism & Serving the“Whole” Person

Dakota A. RiehlRCAH 292C

Professor Scot Yoder15 August 2015

Faith Liaison InternInterfaith Community Services

505 W. Washington Ave.Escondid, CA •92025

I N T E R F A I T H C O M M U N I T Y S E R V I C E S

Case Study: Interfaith Community ServicesHow does a service based organization remain secular after being born from the minds and collaboration of many different faith centers? It doesn’t.

After working at Interfaith Community Services, living in the

community of North San Diego County, and involving myself with

community members on various projects and events, I have been

witness to the evolution of “secularism” in action. By acknowledging

the role of spirituality and religion in the lives of individuals -

clients, volunteers, and staff members alike - Interfaith Community

Services is at the crossroads of becoming the ideal model of an

organization that fully empowers and serves the underprivileged and

mentally ill. Interfaith Community Services’ structure of

programming, after fully implementing the following recommendations,

could be the first organization that effectively breaks the barriers

of secularity while maintaining a professionalism and effectiveness.

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Section

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INTRODUCTION

Interfaith Community Services has worked diligently to create

and sustainably implement programs that provide benefits that mean

to increase the possibility of self-sufficiency with wrap-around

services, including counseling services, housing and employment

opportunities, emergency food support, and life skills training.

Established in 1979 by a small group of North San Diego County faith

leaders wishing to address the growing prevalence of poverty and

hunger, Interfaith Community Services began as a simple emergency

food program, but soon learned that hunger does not exist in

isolation; often being linked to other social condition such as

homelessness, unemployment, physical disabilities, mental illness,

limited education, lack of awareness of available resources, and

most of all, hopelessness. After recognizing this interconnected

cycle, Interfaith has worked to develop services that successfully

encompass all needs of the client so those in need are fully and

wholly supported to achieve self-sufficiency. Interfaith Community

Services is now North San Diego County’s largest and most effective

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social service agency, providing services to over 23,0001

individuals a year through the support of over 300 diverse faith

communities, thousands of volunteers, and more than 140 dedicated

staff.

Interfaith is defined as “of, relating to, or between different

religions or members of different religions.” The ideological

movement for interfaith action, formally acknowledged to have

started at the first World’s Congress of Religions in Chicago in

1893 (InterFaith Settlement Foundation 2004), was later backed by

the United Nations but only began gaining international acceptance

in 2001, after the traumatic events of September 11th in New York

City.

1 This number has fluctuated yearly. This amount is the number of individuals served in 2013 at Interfaith Community Services.

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On September 14, 2001 President George W. Bush called for all

to mourn the lives lost in the terrorist attack and interfaith

leaders answered loudly. “Around the world the need for interfaith

dialogue was identified as an urgent solution to counterbalance

extremist religious violence,” (Brodeur 2005). Since then, we have

seen an increase in interfaith events in response to both tragedy

and celebration. President Barack Obama, for instance, has given

speeches at two significant interfaith memorials after specific

tragedies –the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings and the Boston

Marathon bombing.

I was originally drawn to Interfaith Community Services for its

use of the word “interfaith”. Coming from a background in interfaith

activism and educational programing, I was under the impression that

this organization would be doing the same type of activism. When I

began working with Interfaith Community Services as well as other

interfaith and multi-religious organizations in San Diego County, I

came to understand that there are three distinctive branches or

types of interfaith collaboration that have been organized under the

same title.

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The first type of interfaith is the educational branch of

interfaith (Alberts 2014). This type urges people to walks between

belief communities – religious, spiritual, and irreligious – to

create understanding and community between the “barriers” that

individuals and societies have established between people. This type

of interfaith promotes the belief that when individuals make

relationships with those outside of their own culture, religion,

race, etc., they are able to successfully build understanding, and

thus respect, for all people. These organizations, similar to

Interfaith Youth Core or the Council for the Parliament of World

Religions, seek to educate others on theology, tradition, and

culture in order to achieve a society that works together while

respecting one another.

The second type of interfaith organization is those based on

the pursuit of social justice. These organizations “look at those

things that are equal rights for all people and work to change laws

to grant these rights to all people,” (Alberts 2014). Organizations

such as Interfaith Workers Justice or the Anti- Defamation League

work with interreligious communities to promote social activism on

5

http://www.adl.org/

http://www.iwj.org/

http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/

http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/

http://www.ifyc.org/


subjects such as immigration, workers justice, women’s reproductive

rights, etc. Organizations such as these emphasize that religious

leadership are “called by their respective religious traditions to

work for justice and stand up for the poor and marginalized,”

(Interfaith Center for Worker Justice of San Diego County 1998).

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The final type, that which Interfaith Community Services has

dedicated itself to, are service organizations. These are

organizations or, often times, events that are done with multiple

faiths that share the similar goal of serving those who are

underprivileged. These organizations

encourage intentional collaboration within communities as a way of

merging the resources, funds, and manpower of multiple faith centers

to serve those in different communities. Examples of this include

the “Helping Hands” day put on by the Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter Day Saints in conjunction with many other faith groups to

effectively clean up the city of Poway after funds for clean up or

repairs had been diluted. This encourages work between faiths but

does not mandate an education or understanding of the theology,

traditions, or customs of the different faiths in order to

accomplish the goal of the event.

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Interfaith Community Services has focused on the combining of

resources rather than the actual education of religious differences

since its founding. Though “interreligious harmony” – defined by the

Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions as a way of

accepting the fact that “within each tradition are the resources

(philosophical, theological and spiritual teachings and

perspectives) that enable each to enter into respectful,

appreciative and cooperative relationships with persons and

communities of other traditions” while maintaining the uniqueness of

each tradition (Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions 2007)

– has never been the expressed focus of Interfaith Community

Services, it has actively encouraged its member faith centers to

actively work together while respecting the traditions and language

of others.

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After the previous administration of Interfaith Community

Services attempted to limit the voice of faith center members, there

has been a resurgence of support in creating a designated space for

faith and faith center voices within the organization. With the

installation of a Faith Leader’s Council, an advisory committee to

the Board of Directors for Interfaith Community Services, and the

election of two faith leaders onto the Board of Directors,

Interfaith Community Services, CEO Greg Anglea, and the Board of

Directors have begun to reinstate the importance of faith centers to

the organization.

Christine Carrick, Board Chair, said, “We still believe that

Interfaith, as a network, has the potential to be a conspicuous

public witness for the very real connection between expressions of

faith, acts of charity, and the realization of the social good in

North County.” It seems that with this definition of Interfaith

Community Services’ mission the combination of all three types of

interfaith could become plausible.

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THE FUTURE OF FAITH

Since there has been a resurgence of faith focused programing

and administration at Interfaith Community Services, many doors have

begun and will continue to open. Recently, San Diego County launched

the North Inland Faith Based Partnership Council which started February 2013

after the San Diego County Health and Human Services, Behavioral

Health Services Division (BHS) sought to develop a partnership with

faith congregations, communities, and BHS service provider as a way

of spreading county mental and behavioral resources to underserved

populations.

This need was recognized after BHS data revealed that African

Americans and Latinos received disproportional mental health

services – often receiving care for mental illness the first time

after incarceration (North Inland Region Behavioral Health Services

and Faith Based Dialouges 2014). According to their findings,

African Americans are 20 percent more likely to report having

serious psychological distress than Non-Hispanic Whites, while Non-

Hispanic Whites are more than twice as likely to receive

antidepressant prescription treatments as their African American

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counterparts (Hill 2014). Because faith based organizations had

proven to be extremely culturally relevant to individuals in this

case study, it was decided that the best path to prevention and

early intervention was to partner these organizations with BHS

resources.

On November 14, 2013, over 100 individuals representing faith

communities, county staff, and service providers participated in the

“Healing Hearts and Minds Breakfast.” The purpose of the breakfast

was to begin to develop a stronger working relationship between

faith communities, faith leaders, service providers, and the County.

In small groups, individuals discussed the problems in their

community and the North Inland area, afterwards crafting ways to

solve these problems.

This original breakfast inspired an interest in working with

the well-established program in Los Angeles County that mirrors the

partnership between mental health services and faith communities. In

July 2014 the council brought in Adrienne Hament, from Los Angeles

County Department of Mental Health, and Pastor Melvin Ashley Jr.,

from Faith-Build International, to discuss the way in which

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collaboration has been built and maintained in Los Angeles County

for the past 15 years.

Discussions were centered on what the best ways of starting

collaboration were and how to get faith centers involved. The

presentation received a powerfully positive response from those in

attendance, and in the effort to create an environment of

partnership, the speakers encouraged dialogue between participants

to continue past the event and into the future2. During this

breakfast event, an important discussion on the fear based avoidance

of spiritual rhetoric or even acknowledgment of individual or

cultural spiritual importance in the mental treatment and service of

individuals seemed to be extremely relevant to the barriers the Los

Angeles partnership had faced. Through the use of secularism in

modern society, discussion of spirituality is often not permitted.

This has built a barrier between health service professionals and

faith center leaders that prevents conversation but, more

importantly, education.

2 For the use of Interfaith Community Services, findings from the meeting have been added on an additional page of this report.

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Though mental care was originally called “moral treatment” in

the United States, primarily being done in monasteries or in

conjunction with churches, it all changed in the late 19th century

with the neurologist Jean Charcot and Sigmund Freud. They began to

associate religion with hysteria and neurosis which created a divide

that would separate religion from mental health care for the next

century (Koenig 2008).

If Interfaith Community Services – and/or any service-based

organization - is serious about helping those with mental illness

not only achieve health but self-sufficiency, acknowledgement of

spirituality in individuals’ lives is essential. Religion and

spirituality structure the world-view of individuals and

understanding the world-view of the client is central to addressing

mental illness. With the correct case manager training concerning

spirituality inclusivity as well as educating on ways to discuss

different religious cultures, case managers could not only better

understand the way that clients are framing their thoughts

concerning the world around them but also be capable to refer

clients to communities that share similar world views and thus

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provide a support network and unlock potential programs within those

religious communities that would help individuals specifically with

mental health.

In the same breath, educating faith leaders on ways of

discussing mental illness as well as available resources through

community mental health services would empower these leaders to have

constructive conversations with members concerning mental illnesses

while simultaneously de-stigmatizing those who suffer from them.

They would also be equipped to acknowledge when individuals in

communities may be battling mental illness and maintain effective

support through times of need.

By creating an interconnected web of support between service

organizations and faith centers, those in need can effectively enter

a supportive, inclusive community that is not only fitted to their

cultural needs but has been effectively prepared to communicate

about mental illness, mental health, and resources specifically for

those individuals. Installing programs like this will increase early

intervention of mental illness, which is a huge factor in the

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incarceration of minorities as well as homelessness, and promote

prevention of mental and behavioral illness.

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BibliographyAlberts, Rev. Dr. Stephen Albert and Rev. Dr. Abigail Albert,

interview by Dakota Riehl. Understanding Interfaith (June 2014).

Brodeur, Patrice. "FROM THE MARGINS TO THE CENTERS OF POWER*: The

Increasing Relevance of the Global Interfaith Movement." Cross Currents,

2005: 42-53.

Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions. About Us - Our Mission.

2007. http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/index.cfm?n=1&sn=1

(accessed August 2014).

Hill, Kimetha. Breaking Down Barriers in Mental Health Services for Africans and African

Americans. San Diego, April 17 , 2014.

Interfaith Center for Worker Justice of San Diego County. About ICWJ.

1998. http://icwj.org/section.php?id=84 (accessed August 2014).

InterFaith Settlement Foundation. A Brief History of the InterFaith Movement.

September 2004.

http://interfaithsettlement.org/about_us/history_of_the_interfaith_mov

ement (accessed August 2014).

Koenig, Harold G. "Research on Religion, Spirituality and Mental

Health: A Review." Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2008: 1-30.

North Inland Region Behavioral Health Services and Faith Based

Dialouges. Resource Compendium . Resource Guide, San Diego: Live Well San

Diego, 2014.

Teague, Toby, interview by Dakota Riehl. Counceling Training (July 2014).

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Zarsadiaz-Ige, Karen. "LACDMH LAUNCHES CLERGY ACADEMY." January 29,

2014. http://file.lacounty.gov/dmh/cms1_209133.pdf (accessed 2014).

Establishing a Sustainable Plan for PartnershipWorking to discover how Interfaith Community Services and other service organizations can assist in meeting the goals of partnerships between faith centers and mental and behavioral health services

Establishing a plan of effectively introducing the ideals stated above does not only include the necessity for collaboration between those directly in the mental and behavioral health services and the faith centers involved with them; it is crucial that the organizations that are making direct contact with individuals who may be homeless, displaced, etc. are also training staff on spiritual inclusivity as wellas educating case managers on how to comfortably making connections for referrals as well as effectively making referrals to faith communities. The following is a timeline plan of how to effectively start implementing spirituality and faith center’s into these organizations:

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Section

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Establish relationship with Faith Centers Similar to the structure of Interfaith Community Services,

establishing a service based organization with the third type ofinterfaith as a cornerstone to their organization. By establishinga relationship such as this, the possibility of creating a well-rounded and supportive environment can be realized.

Case management approach shift Creating a spiritual/ religious aspect in assessment intake

paperwork – Though there has been documentation of assessments thatinclude spirituality, they seem to focus on the negativity thatclients may have had with religious communities, not inquiring towhat faith the person may feel comfortable with, etc.

This would also need to implemented with educational training onreligious communities including their traditions, taboos, basictheology, etc. as well as constructive ways of discussingspirituality with clients - inquisitive questions and professionalreferrals instead of evangelizing or conversion efforts)

Faith leader education (in conjunction with Mental Health Services) Faith leaders would need to be trained on the signs of common

mental illnesses and extreme mental illness symptoms – i.e.depression, anxiety, and suicide. This would ensure that leaderswere able to productively and effectively screen members for mentalillness or be prepared to see signs of extreme times of need. Thesetrainings should be shares excessively with faith center members ofthe organizations, possibly conducted at the organization’sheadquarters. After talking to a faith leader, there was not an established

education system on counseling or mental illness at theirseminary (Teague 2014) though there was an expressed priorityof marriage and personal counseling on the part of the faithleader. More research is necessary to indicate a pattern of thisbut if it is, this training is invaluable.

Interfaith Community Services would assist in providing small seminars or trainings for faith centers in North County. Seminars would be taught – per topic – by Interfaith Community Service Case Managers, Applicable Staff, and experienced volunteers as well as inviting officials from San Diego Mental Health Services. ICS staffwould be able to educate clergy on:

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Limits in Counseling – what types of counseling clergy members can do and when to acknowledge that professional help needs to be called.

Language to use in Non-profit business – Something pointed out at the luncheon to be greatly needed for clergy leaders to participate in these programs

Collaboration Outreach Education – How clergy leaders can benefit from collaborating with Mental Health Services and othergovernmental organizations.

Grant writing – How to write a grant to access money through this collaboration

How to communicate about mental illness – what are some productive ways that clergy members could talk to their congregations about mental illness

Where to direct clients for services – Receiving services can limit the stress in an individual’s life. Some types of mental illness - i.e. depression, anxiety, etc. – can be sourced by financial stress or homelessness.

With “Referral Agreement,” stating that the faith center faithcenter agrees to be a community of referral for customers seekingspiritual support as well as being willing to refer clients in needto the organization, these trainings should be mandatory for faithcenter leaders (specifically the basic mental illness training andthe limits of counseling) as well as case managers fulfillingappropriate training on spirituality.

Other Specific recommendations Interfaith Community Services could act as collaborative support –

aligning faith centers with the council as well as directing faith centers looking for services to the correct location.

Interfaith Community Services could provide space for other trainings, seminars, etc.

Meeting the Needs through Other Resources and Services

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By looking at the methodology of other organizations and services with similar programs around the nation, organizations could uncover productive and impactful resources to implement in their organization.

Pathway2Promise Walking Together: A Training Workshop for Faith Communities Interested in

Supporting People with Mental Illness The aims of this workshop are to: Reduce the stigma associated

with mental illness and reduce the discrimination experienced by people with mental illness; empower those who experience mental illness to be an equal and respected member of the church community; create a safe place in our churches for those who experience mental illness; and encourage each participant to become more accepting and welcoming within their faith communities. This workshop is built around 9 activities to enable the participants to reflect, to remember,and to understand the how and why of stigma – for an individual and for the faith group. By understanding how stigma and discrimination are associated with mental illness how they manifest in the community, we can create an environment in which persons with mental illness can find the personhood and healing that they seek. Originally produced by the Anglican Diocese of Auckland, NZ in collaboration with Pathways to Promise, the manual has been modified for publication in the United States.

Mental Illness Awareness Interfaith Worship ResourcesThe three booklets in this series were created in response to requests for materials to use during Mental Illness Awareness Week, which takes place the first week in October; during the month of May which is Mental Health Month; and other times duringthe year that are appropriate. The booklets are: Worship Resources The Bible as a Resource: Materials for Sermons and Articles Caring Congregations: Observations and Commentary

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Notes Concerning the North Inland County Faith Based Partnership Council’s LA Collaborative BreakfastMeeting Notes & Resources Referenced during the activities

During this meeting, the following needs were recognized: Need for training and access to funding opportunities related to Mental illnesses

Behavioral therapy and medication education Education to congregations to reduce stigma within the

individuals “safe zone” Early intervention practices Prevention services: awareness of Signs and Symptoms to help

before someone is referred County presents and discusses available resources Capacity building and resourcing

Funding and sustainability Grant application knowledge: grant writing

orientation/education

Concerns that were addressed by the North Inland Faith Based Partnership Council during their Faith and Behavioral Health Collaboration luncheon: How to get partnerships started

What are the most important points about the collaboration in LA? What are the most effective pieces of the project going on there? What do clergy members wish they had more information on?

How to motivate clergy members to participate in this event How do we move beyond talking and into “doing”

What are some road blocks that the LA program has seen?

Section

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What is the main complaint from both the Mental and BehavioralHealth department and clergy participants?

What role does spirituality play in wellness How is spirituality in health being communicated?’

Answers provided by Adrienne Hament, from Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, and Pastor Melvin Ashley Jr., from Faith-Build at the Faith and Behavioral Health Collaboration luncheon: How to get partnerships started

What are the most effective pieces of the project going on there? There are now different levels of communication and

collaboration in Los Angeles County. They provide the yearlybreakfast that brings many of the faith centers and mentalhealth representatives together so discuss problems in theircommunities, brainstorm new ideas, and hear from speakers inthe field. They also provide round tables in differentdistricts; placing a mental health specialists with clergymembers every month to discuss particular clients orcongregation members. They recently have started offeringClergy Academy. This 10 month program provides “faith-based andcommunity leaders with information about various mental health-related topics and social issues. The goal of the Academy is tobuild healthier communities by promoting mental healthawareness, reducing stigma associated with mental illness andincreasing access to quality mental health services. Throughthe Academy, participants can attend free presentations on anytopic, such as crisis management, domestic violence, substanceuse, etc.”3

What do clergy members wish they had more information on? Because each client/person is different, so are the needs of

clergy. They wish for more information as time evolves and theyare able to recognize more signs of mental illness.

How do we move beyond talking and into “doing” What are some road blocks that the LA program has seen?

Pastore Melvin Ashley Jr. expressed concern with the programmoving slowly. Collaboration takes time and a lot of talking

3 Quote found in article by Karen Zarsadiaz-Ige at http://file.lacounty.gov/dmh/cms1_209133.pdf

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http://file.lacounty.gov/dmh/cms1_209133.pdf

before “correct” action can be taken. This can seem endless. Itis hard to motivate participation and collaboration whenresults are few due to slow change. Clergy have also hesitatedto participate due to time restrictions.

What is the main complaint from both the Mental and BehavioralHealth department and clergy participants? There are still stigmatisms on either side about the validity

of work in the realm of healing people. Many mental healthrepresentatives have been taught to distance their work fromfaith, religion, and/or spirituality while clergy have areoften times parts of cultures and societies that do notappreciate mental health officials. There are many workshopsdone on both sides to help express the importance of bothsides.

What role does spirituality play in wellness How is spirituality in health being communicated?

“According to the California Mental Health & Spirituality Initiative, “spirituality is a person’s deepest sense of belonging and connection to a higher power or life philosophy, which may not necessarily be related to a religious institution.” Spirituality can enhance coping skills and accelerate recovery. In Los Angeles County, at least 80% of residents say they use spiritual beliefs to cope with difficulties in life.”4

4 Definition of spirituality found at http://dmh.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dmh/about_dmh/clergy?1dmy&page=dept.lac.dmh.home.about.detail.hidden&urile=wcm%3Apath%3A/dmh+content/dmh+site/home/about+dmh/about+dmh+detail/clergy+spirituality+connection#_ftn1 – For more informationon this topic, please the see provided packet.

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http://dmh.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dmh/about_dmh/clergy?1dmy&page=dept.lac.dmh.home.about.detail.hidden&urile=wcm%3Apath%3A/dmh+content/dmh+site/home/about+dmh/about+dmh+detail/clergy+spirituality+connection#_ftn1



Interfaith Community Services: Moving Past Modern Secularism & Serving the “Whole” Person

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