After meeting with a therapist with Family Services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brittany Westover said she had more confidence in herself and her ability to regulate her emotions.
“My mental health is now the best it has ever been,” she said. “I feel like I can handle my emotions. I have the skills and tools.”
Similar skills and tools are reaching people around the world thanks to resources from the Church.
Church leaders created Family Services to be a resource for local leaders responding to the social and emotional needs of members. Professional counselors who work with Family Services are aligned with gospel principles, and they use a solution-focused therapy model to focus on issues that interfere with the ability to make and keep sacred covenants.
Besides Family Services resources, the Church has a self-reliance course called “Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience,” which has been helping participants build more emotional resilience — the ability to adapt to challenges, change thinking patterns and increase positive emotions, all while moving forward with faith in Jesus Christ.
Sherilyn C. Stinson, commissioner of Family Services for the Church, said they are seeing growth and acceptance of the Emotional Resilience course throughout the world.
“This has just been a wonderful opportunity to normalize emotional distress and to provide hope,” she said.
Stinson said emotional resilience — and self-reliance in general — is an eternal principle found throughout the scriptures.
“We recognize that obstacles of emotional, mental, behavioral health can really be obstacles to recognizing [one’s] identity,” she said.
The following is a sampling of recent articles in the Church News, showing how people around the world are utilizing resources from the Church to overcome those emotional, mental and behavioral obstacles and grow closer to the Savior in the process.
Strengthening Marriage course
Couples in Lome, Togo, who have participated in the Strengthening Marriage course from the Church said they were delighted to have taken part.
“I believe that you are never finished learning, and I learned a lot in this class,” said Folly Mikpeayevo.
He and his wife, Pierette, were among 27 couples from the Lome Togo Agoe Stake who became the first in the West African country to participate in the course.
Subjects included applying the principles of the gospel in marriage, promoting equality and unity, communicating with love, overcoming anger, resolving conflict and enriching marriages.
The Strengthening Marriage and Strengthening the Family courses can help couples enrich their marriage relationship and improve their skills in parenting. Manuals can be ordered by ward or branch — or a PDF version of each can be found online by searching ChurchofJesusChrist.org for the course name. The resources are available in several languages, including French, the official language of Togo.
Read the full story here
Embracing mental health in West Africa
Church leaders and members in the Africa West Area of the Church are embracing principles of self-reliance, mental health and emotional resilience, thanks to more open conversations around these topics and trainings from Family Services.
Tamara Esi Dadson, a Family Services agency manager in the area, often travels throughout West Africa to help Church leaders understand the emotional health needs of the members they serve. She also helps these leaders access mental health resources to support themselves and their wards and stakes.
Dadson said she is also seeing many members of the Church get the help they need as their leaders have embraced the principles Dadson and other Family Services employees are teaching.
“Members feel like ‘I don‘t have to hide. I can go to my leader and talk to him, because he talks about it in sacrament meeting.’”
Read the full story here
Learning emotional resilience
Darleen Nulty, the Plainview New York Stake Relief Society president, attended a “Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience” course online for 10 weeks.
Each meeting included spiritual principles and lessons from the manual and discussions led by a facilitator.
Nulty learned how to relate better to others and to tolerate people’s feelings. She also learned how important it was to take care of herself.
“I saw things from their perspective,” she said. “ I thought I was resilient in my emotions, but I learned how lacking I was in emotional resilience.”
Read the full story here
The Addiction Recovery Program
Earlier this year, the Church updated the name of the program that helps people struggling with or affected by addictions. The new name, "Healing through the Savior: The Addiction Recovery Program,” reflects the healing many participants have experienced as they’ve turned to the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Scott and Melissa Harker both participated in the program as he worked to overcome a pornography addiction.
“I know that it works,” said Scott Harker. “Turning your life to Jesus Christ, that’s one part of the gospel that I know is 100%, because I experienced it, and so that became a strength in my life.”
Melissa Harker said the experience not only helped her husband but helped her experience the Savior’s healing power.
“It took a lot of work,” she said. “And then I was able to be more vulnerable with him, and forgiveness just came as part of that.”
