In June , Dr. Awa Jangha the Loise Henderson Wessendorff Associate Professor of Spiritual Integration in Counseling at Seminary of the Southwest, released her book, Mental Health Basics for Spiritual and Religious Leaders. Created as part of the work funded by a grant from the Henderson-Wessendorff foundation, the purpose of the book is to provide, “mental health information, space for reflection, and resources for persons working in spiritual and religious contexts.”
Dr. Jangha is sharing the book as a resource for all who might want it on the Seminary of the Southwest website. “This book was created in order to provide information on foundational mental health concepts and resources for spiritual and religious leaders as they often encounter people in their community turning to them first for support,” said Dr. Jangha.
After joining the Southwest faculty in 2016, Dr. Jangha steered the creation of the Spiritual Integration in Counseling scholars program at Southwest. She has also been a faculty leader in helping to infuse the professional counseling curriculum with anti-racism and spiritual competencies. The creation of this book was inspired by the unique faculty make-up at Southwest that spans across the disciplines of Mental Health Counseling and Theological education.
“As a counseling faculty member at Seminary of the Southwest, I have the privilege of having conversations with colleagues across disciplines as we train graduate students to become counselors, priests, chaplains, spiritual directors, and theologians,” said Dr. Jangha. “Part of this work includes the formation of students and the preparation for the encounters they will have with the pressing needs of the world today. For spiritual and religious leaders, mental health is one of those pressing matters. This book has the goal of sparking conversation across the realms of counseling and spirituality, by empowering spiritual and religious leaders from any background with basic information, resources, opportunities for reflection, and examples of ways to collaborate with counselors.”
For Dr. Jangha, one important motivation in writing this piece grew from her perspective as a mental health counseling educator among a community with a broad commitment to form people for vocations of ministry, service, and healing.
“Personally, writing this book has been formative as consulting with colleagues has widened my perspective of the challenges that spiritual and religious leaders face,” said Dr. Jangha. “As an advocate for the integration of spirituality in counseling, I wanted to be able to provide a resource for spiritual and religious leaders that addresses mental health. I also believe in the benefit of reflecting on our own experiences regarding emotional and interpersonal health prior to working with others on these sensitive matters, and this book provides ample reflection questions for that purpose. The hope is that this book is not only a resource for leaders to use when assisting their community, but also a resource for leaders to personally use as well.”
