Michigan Healthcare

Training imams, other faith-based leaders to spot first signs of mental illness

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published April 13, 2017 at 5:00 PM EDT

For many in Michigan, faith leaders can provide the first line of mental health support.

Stateside's conversation with Dr. Farha Abbasi, founder of the Muslim Mental Health Conference and assistant professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University, and Imam Steve Mustapha Al Turk with the Islamic Organization of North America.

When mental illness strikes a loved one, the first person many families turn to is often a faith-based leader: a priest, a minister, a rabbi, or an imam.

The Ninth Annual Muslim Mental Health Conference aims to help clergy do a better job of helping members of their congregation who are suffering from mental illness.The conference will run April 13-14th at the Michigan State University Department of Psychiatry.

This event brings faith leaders together with health care providers and researchers from all over the world. The public is also welcome.

Dr. Farha Abbasiis the founder of this conference. She is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University.Imam Steve Mustapha Al Turkis with the Islamic Organization of North America, based in Warren, and has participated in the Mental Health First Responder Training offered through the conference.

They hope the model of enlisting faith leaders in mental health response can expand into all religious and cultural communities.

Minding Michigan is Stateside’s ongoing series that examines mental health issues in our state.

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