Montgomery County Crisis Center provides crisis services 24 hours a day/ 365 days a year. These services are provided over the telephone (240-777-4000) or in person at 1301 Piccard Drive in Rockville (no appointment needed).

Mobile Crisis Outreach will respond anywhere within Montgomery County to provide emergency psychiatric evaluations. Full crisis assessments and treatment referrals are provided for all crises, both psychiatric and situational. In addition, the program has six crisis beds as an alternative to hospitalization for those who are uninsured or are insured within the public mental health system.

NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness
NAMI Montgomery County
Find local resources for mental health support, education, and ways to raise awareness of mental health issues.

SAMHSA: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
US Department of Health and Human Services. Find treatment near you, mental health training, and crisis support.

Have you read something that helped you? Here are some sources that may help.

Please send email to kirsten@stjamespotomac.org if you’d like to share a resource. St. James’ does not endorse or promote these sources, and they are not a replacement for professional care.

Article: Best Mental Health Apps to Use, from Healthline
From the article: Many mental health apps can give you tools, activities, and support to help you manage your stress. There are apps available to help with general mental health concerns and specific conditions. This article covers the 10 best mental health apps for 2022.

Book: The Art of Calm: Spiritual Exercises for the Anxious Soul, by Roger Hutchison

A practical guide with exercises to manage stress and anxiety.

Perfect for Mental Health Awareness Month in May: the author shares his personal struggles with mental health to de-stigmatize these issues and let readers know that they are not alone. The exercises and reflections included at the end of each chapter encourage readers to try out a variety of creative practices to find their way to a more centered and peaceful life. These exercises and reflections also lend themselves well to a group context, where readers can share their projects and reflections with an encouraging community.

St. James’ Mental Health Ministries

Since 2018, St. James’ has discerned a call from God to a ministry with people living with mental illness and the people who love them. This ministry has included many initiatives, but underlying them all is an overarching understanding of how we are being called to the Mental Health Ministries that has developed.

We value and respect the contributions that mental health professionals and medications are able to offer people living with mental illness. Our ministries are not a substitute for them, yet we seek to find how we, as a church, might provide a positive addition to what they offer in ways that we are best suited to do so as a congregation.

This is what we have developed so far:

• We create a supportive community where people are able to be open, to the degree that they feel comfortable doing so, about their experiences with mental illness, knowing that they are fully loved by God and the community.
• We help reduce the silence and stigma that surround mental illness, and increase compassionate awareness and accurate understanding of it.
• We advocate for society meeting the needs of people living with mental illness and the people who love them.

The Leaders Group of the Mental Health Ministries meets monthly to help plan the year’s MHM Initiatives. If you have more questions about the ministries, contact The Rev. James Isaacs, james@stjamespotomac.org, or the parish office, office@stjamespotomac.org.