Fruitful collaborations with religious and spiritual communities to foster mental health in general society: An international perspective

Abstract

Collaborations between mental health professionals (including psychiatrists) and spiritual care professionals/members of faith communities have been recommended by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and several national psychiatric organizations – to help attain high quality and equitable mental health care. Nonetheless, some are concerned about potential harms of such collaborations. It is imperative that such collaborations be ethical and person-centred. The diverse range of individuals who might be regarded as members of spiritual/religious communities also leads to significant variations in how these collaborations may occur. While the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Mental Health and Faith Community Partnership has presented one such model of collaboration at the national level, this chapter endeavours to illustrate the diverse forms, levels, cultural and geographical contexts of how these collaborations may occur – through the perspectives of mental health and spiritual care professionals from Canada, Hong Kong and India. Implications from these examples are also explored.