May is Mental Health Month. Here’s how the Church is striving to improve mental health around the world

The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE. 

After meeting with a therapist with Family Services for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brittany Westover said she had more confidence in herself and her ability to regulate her emotions.

“My mental health is now the best it has ever been,” she said. “I feel like I can handle my emotions. I have the skills and tools.”

Similar skills and tools are reaching people around the world thanks to resources from the Church.

Church leaders created Family Services to be a resource for local leaders responding to the social and emotional needs of members. Professional counselors who work with Family Services are aligned with gospel principles, and they use a solution-focused therapy model to focus on issues that interfere with the ability to make and keep sacred covenants.

Besides Family Services resources, the Church has a self-reliance course called “Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience,” which has been helping participants build more emotional resilience — the ability to adapt to challenges, change thinking patterns and increase positive emotions, all while moving forward with faith in Jesus Christ.

Sherilyn C. Stinson, commissioner of Family Services for the Church, said they are seeing growth and acceptance of the Emotional Resilience course throughout the world.

“This has just been a wonderful opportunity to normalize emotional distress and to provide hope,” she said.

Stinson said emotional resilience — and self-reliance in general — is an eternal principle found throughout the scriptures.

“We recognize that obstacles of emotional, mental, behavioral health can really be obstacles to recognizing [one’s] identity,” she said.

The following is a sampling of recent articles in the Church News, showing how people around the world are utilizing resources from the Church to overcome those emotional, mental and behavioral obstacles and grow closer to the Savior in the process.

To read the full article, CLICK HERE.