Serving all People with Care and Love
Over the past two months many of our faith communities, including Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians, celebrated significant religious holidays. During those special times of sacred devotion, individuals honored, in their own ways, a commitment to God and the desire of God for us to love all people—rich and poor, bond and free, black and white, male and female. Our faith communities are a beautiful fabric woven together to make Montgomery County a community of caring and loving people. While we are not perfect, we continue to strive to learn about each other, serve with one another, care for one another and love one another.
During this last year, many of you have come together to provide for our neighbors in need and have made special efforts to seek out and find those among us suffering during the pandemic. The isolation and loneliness have put significant strains on our community as we all seek normalcy. Many people are still suffering and have yet to be identified, but our faith communities stand ready to help. Our local faith community clergy members are well-positioned to be aware of individuals who may need mental or behavioral health support, in addition to food and raiment.
We are delighted to announce that the Faith Community Health group associated with Adventist Healthcare is offering free mental health training courses to pastors, rabbis, imams, and other faith community leaders and members. The course offers basic Mental Health First Aid, helping attendees learn how to identify those who may need help, to provide them with initial support, and to refer them to the appropriate medical professionals.
See below for details about dates, times and registration for these classes. If you are not able to participate, please invite someone in your congregation to attend. These classes complement the ones offered earlier this month by the nonprofit EveryMind. Please refer back to our last newsletter for the EveryMind Mental Health Resources for Montgomery County flyers (in both English and Spanish) or contact Laura Laskofsi at Llaskofski@every-mind.org for more information.
We continue to hear about more and more problems related to depression, anxiety, domestic violence, suicide and other mental health challenges. There are sisters and brothers out there that need us to reach out to them and provide guidance. Each of us needs to be aware of these issues and become better educated on how we can help.
We encourage you to sign up for a class; it will bless your life and put you in a position to bless the lives of others who are struggling.
With kind regards,
The Faith Community Advisory Group of Montgomery County
(formerly the Faith Community Advisory Council)
