The National Alliance for Mental Illness is working with local churches in Texas to educate and inform people about the everyday impacts of mental illness and the resources to address it.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS visited St. John’s Episcopal Church in McAllen with Contreras. She approached the church to present the letter. It’s a five-minute presentation to let people know about mental illness.
“The letter talks about a little bit of a personal view on what happens to a family when there’s a mental illness that occurs and then it talks about what we can do and it really stresses the point. And this is not necessarily Faith Net, this, what I chose to put in it about suicide prevention,” she said.
St. John’s Episcopal Church priest Jim Nelson started his seminary training in a federal mental health hospital in Washington D.C. He recognizes the signs and wants others too.
“Everybody, everybody deals with mental illness in some way or means. Particularly people that are in my vocation,” he explained.