[...]... health without mental health (European Commission 2005, p.4) Mental health services are not created out of thin air They are constructed out of our values and vision for society, our history, and how we view human nature and the world we live in As Kathleen Jones, the doyenne 32 Spirituality, Values and Mental Health of social historians in mental health, puts it: ‘The way in which’ [people with mental. .. spirituality and mental health care It covers some fascinating and important ground, drawing on empirical research, personal narrative and, most importantly, retaining a continuous focus on the empowerment of service users While taking seriously research and reflection undertaken on people experiencing mental health problems, the volume retains a fundamental focus on research and reflection done with and by... sacraments and gatherings; and the promotion of ties of mutual obligation It creates a framework within which people seek to understand and interpret and make sense of themselves, their lives and daily experiences, and what might happen after death Faith communities can be welcoming, integrative and supportive, while some others can be exclusive and stigmatizing of people experiencing mental ill -health. .. Azim Kidwai and Ali Jan Haider Reflection: The Muslim Community and Mental Health Care Luthfa Meah Chapter 17 Organizational Health: Engaging the Heart of the Organization 222 228 Sarajane Aris and Peter Gilbert Poem: SIMBA’s Black Diversity Premila Trivedi 243 SECTION D – Education and Training 245 Chapter 18 A Plea for Broad Understanding: Why Mental Health Practitioners Need to Understand Spiritual... interlinked – we stand both as unique and together, or we drift atomized and alone The long search Ellison states that ‘It is the spirit of human beings which enables and motivates us to search for meaning and purpose in life…the spiritual dimension does not exist in isolation from the psyche and the soma, but provides an 19 20 Spirituality, Values and Mental Health integrative force’ (Ellison 1983,... mental illness I carried that dis-ease and worked alongside it for the whole of my nursing career Whether I always responded 13 14 Spirituality, Values and Mental Health constructively to its challenge in my practice I’m not sure, I hope so, but it was difficult and resistance was always on the horizon Some 19 years later I returned to that same hospital in a different role, as a community mental healthcare... people with these life experiences This genuinely collaborative and creative approach to spirituality and mental health is the way forward for the field We all have different gifts and perspectives It is only when we draw them together and learn what it means to live and work peaceably together that the field of spirituality and mental health can truly become a source for good This volume begins to... Foundation: Awareness and Context for People’s Lives Today 33 greatest attention Both are at the heart of the NIMHE Spirituality and Mental Health Project (see NIMHE/MMF 2003 and Cox et al 2007) Why is spirituality so important in mental health, and why should it be attended to among the plethora of performance measures? First, because users and carers are increasingly stating that their spiritual and/ or religious... more urgent at times of mental ill -health or distress, which many now term a spiritual crisis For decades, we have been told that humans are purely rational and material beings, but there has been a huge, popular and academic interest in spirituality (see Anderson 2003; Bianchi 2002; Francis and Robbins 2005; Heelas and Woodhead 2005; Howard and Welbourn 2004; MacKinlay 2006; Nash and Stewart 2002; Swinton... p.14) 24 Spirituality, Values and Mental Health Table 1.1 The central features of spirituality Meaning The ontological significance of life; making sense of life situations; deriving purpose in existence Value Beliefs and standards that are cherished; having to deal with the truth, beauty, worth, of a thought, object or behaviour; often discussed as ‘ultimate values Transcendence Experience and appreciation . Spirituality, Values and Mental Health of related interest Talking About Spirituality in Health Care Practice A Resource for the Multi-Professional Health. of the National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE), for initiating the Spirituality and Mental Health Project and being a constant source of