Behavioral Health

(March 8, 2006) — Several local African-American ministers have teamed up with the University of Rochester to educate themselves on mental health issues.

About a dozen ministers graduated Tuesday after completing a year of classes, and another session starts in April.

"There's little that African-American pastors know about mental health issues," said Bishop Herman Dailey of the Outreach Community Center on Genesee Street. "They don't even know how to make a referral."

And there's little that researchers at UR Medical Center Department of Psychiatry know about issues facing the African-American community, said Silvia Sörensen, assistant professor of psychiatry.

That's why the program, which may be a first in the country, has worked so well.

The African-American population and other people of color have different cultural attitudes about mental health, Sörensen said.

"If our research only includes whites, then that's just one view of depression," she said. Plus, that means the treatment practices may be irrelevant for people of color.

"There's so much that the hospital can learn from us and so much we can learn from them," Dailey said, adding that several of the pastors appreciated being given new tools and skills to help their congregations. "They pass that educational part on to their own congregations."

When a man came in off the street and into the Rev. Betsy Crumity's Sunday morning service, she noticed that his thoughts were not clear and that his hands began to shake as he became irritated.

Crumity, who has a background as a social worker, might have picked up on those signals before she got involved in "Mental Health Topics for Pastoral Care," but she certainly watches for symptoms now after a year of classes.

"There is an assumption that anybody who regularly attends Sunday morning worship probably has it together," Crumity said. "We never assume that."

Even people who warm the pews every week bring their problems with them — and those of their children, mothers and uncles.

"No man is an island," said Crumity, who lives in Rochester but serves at Bright African Methodist Episcopal Church in Syracuse.

Starting in April, a new group of ministers will meet once a month and cover topics that range from aging and anxiety disorders to suicide and violence.

"It would be great if we get a full house again," Sörensen said.