Ministry and Mental Well-Being

Empowering Rural Congregations for Mental Well-Being

The Ministry and Mental Well-Being in Rural Communities and Small Towns initiative is dedicated to enhancing mental well-being and reducing isolation in rural communities through a collaborative, asset-based approach. By leveraging the resources of Indiana University, this initiative provides trauma-informed training, data and mapping services, and community support programs tailored for rural faith leaders and congregations. Through these efforts, the initiative fosters resilient, connected communities that can thrive despite the unique challenges of rural life.

IU to support mental well-being in collaboration with Lilly Endowment and rural congregations

A grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. will support IU in creating well-being resources that address needs expressed by rural congregations and communities.

Read the news release

Key initiatives

Through the collaboration and expertise of IU School of Social Work faculty members John Keesler, Ph.D., and David Wilkerson, Ph.D., this university-community partnership aims to develop an asynchronous training curriculum to enhance the capacity of rural faith leaders in addressing mental health needs.

Building on the Trauma-Informed Care Professional Development Certificate, the curriculum will consist of seven modules designed to equip rural faith leaders with the knowledge and skills to identify and address mental health challenges within their communities, fostering improved mental well-being and resilience among rural residents.

The Community Postpartum Support Training, led by the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, aims to enhance community-based social support for birthing people and their families during the postpartum period. Developed by maternal health experts from the Maternal Advocates Resource Alliance (MARA), the program will leverage the strengths of religious organizations and nonprofits to address challenges faced by new parents, reduce social isolation, and improve access to services.

This training will help faith organizations develop responsive postpartum support plans and resources, including parent support groups, infant supplies, meal deliveries, postpartum check-ins, and local resource databases. Participants receive foundational knowledge about the perinatal period, support in community needs assessment, sustainable plan implementation, and success evaluation. The project will include online training modules, biannual workshops, and comprehensive community plans and evaluations.

The IU team is enhancing the Parent Trouble Zone (PTZ) program to expand parenting resources for rural congregations. PTZ, developed by Dr. David Wilkerson and Dr. John Keesler at the IU School of Social Work, is a free online program for parents or grandparents of youth aged 10 to 16. The program helps manage challenging behaviors like opposition and defiance through individual web learning and anonymous group troubleshooting.

PTZ currently includes three modules: Engagement and Balanced Parenting, Avoiding Responsibilities, and Noncompliance. The IU team will develop additional modules with faith leaders, incorporating spiritual values in parent management.

Lay leaders will be able to leverage online training to help expand this parenting support resource to their congregations and communities. 

Research shows that arts-based wellness can improve mindfulness and reduce negative feelings associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma. To support youth, veterans, and seniors within and beyond the church walls, the Center for Rural Engagement will make and distribute arts-based wellness guides, designed for key populations:

  • Creative Arts for Vets: An art guide and kit developed for veterans and military-connected individuals that addresses issues of identity and self, stress, trauma, emotional regulation, and purpose.
  • Arts-Based Wellness for Youth: An art guide and kit developed for middle school students that addresses issues of identity and self, navigating change, social pressures, stress, trauma, and emotional regulation.
  • Memory, Art, and Aging: a creative aging guide, produced in partnership with Traditional Arts Indiana, supports seniors in improving their mental well-being as they age while leveraging and celebrating rural arts traditions.

Through a community-engaged teaching model that enhances student engagement and boosts the vitality of rural communities, this program seeks to strengthen connections between students, faculty, rural churches, and communities.

We will develop and deploy a virtual workshop for partnering higher education organizations that focuses on defining the rural community-engagement model, discovering asset-based community development, and exploring facilitation tools.

Brad Fulton, Ph.D., and his team at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs have mapped every congregation in the U.S., which provides an effective way to create detailed lists of organizations that will help grant recipients and rural congregations find potential community partnerships, referral resources, and existing infrastructure.

To help partners improve community collaborations, the center will provide support for customized mapping requests. This will assist in identifying the most suitable partnerships and locations for delivering services in rural areas.