Diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 28, Cathy Sitzwohl vividly remembers leaning against a bureau, her head heavy from what she called a “not-right cocktail” of medications, and quietly asking God why.
“My exact words were, ‘Why are you making me like this? I should be helping others,’ ” said Sitzwohl, a parishioner of St. John the Evangelist in Severna Park. “I never forgot that.”
When she was later asked to be a part of St. John’s mental health awareness ministries, and when the Archdiocese of Baltimore started a mental health ministry, she knew she wanted to be a part of it.
“Mental illness is just another category of illness,” Sitzwohl said. “The more it is talked about, the less the stigma will become for people.”
The Archdiocese of Baltimore launched its Mental Health Ministry plan in 2021. During its first phase, nearly 1,000 people were trained in mental health first aid, according to Melissa Freymann, a mental wellness consultant for the archdiocese and a therapist with St. Lucia Counseling.
The initiative’s second phase started with a mental health retreat at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg in May 2024. More than 200 people from across the archdiocese attended and were encouraged to go out and start their own ministries at their home parishes.
“There are dozens. So many people came out at the events we had,” Freymann said. “Each ministry takes on what the needs are for their area.”
Part of Sitzwohl’s responsibility is helping other parishes start their own mental health ministries.
“I tell them I can get it started,” Sitzwohl said, of churches that express interest. “I put a notice in the bulletin, and it needs to stay there consecutively for three months so people can notice it, think about it and pray before signing on.”
A first step is having parishioners train in Mental Health First Aid. Like CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), mental health first aid “equips people with the tools,” Freymann said, to recognize and help someone in a crisis.
“Basically, what a person needs is compassion, patience and understanding,” Sitzwohl said. “All these good virtues we should strive for anyway when dealing with other people.”
St. Andrew by the Bay in Annapolis was one of the first parishes to start a mental health ministry.
“We were looking for ways to help,” said Richard Youngk, leader of the parish ministry. “I believe it is needed, a group of us did. Only a few of us are able to get counseling because of the costs of it.”
Youngk emphasized that he and the other members of the ministry are not professionals, but trained volunteers. They meet twice a month, both in person and virtually, Youngk said, to learn about mental health and how they can help. Meetings regularly feature speakers, and the group participates in numerous lecture series provided by the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and others.
“The reason we’re here is to get information and help to our parishioners so they know this is a safe place,” said Kathie Taylor, who attended the group’s May 12 meeting virtually. “There are still a lot of people who don’t know who to call in a crisis.”
Despina Thomas, Anne Arundel County Suicide Prevention coordinator, was the featured speaker at the May 12 meeting. She spoke to the group about the importance of “prevention and focusing on upstream as much as possible.”
“Take care of your mental health before the struggles,” Thomas said. “Some days are better than others. Find the middle. ‘What can I do to pump it up?’ ”
Whether it is enjoying a good meal, reading a book or taking a walk, find something that makes you feel better and do it, Thomas said. She also provided techniques such as “box breathing” (inhaling, holding, exhaling and holding, each to the count of four, repeating four times, like the sides of a box) to relieve stress. She noted that in the month of May, Mental Health Awareness month, there was a calendar available featuring daily stress reduction activities.
“So often mental health is not talked about until there is a mental crisis,” Thomas said.
Freymann noted that there are such a broad array of mental illnesses that there isn’t a “cookie-cutter approach” for treatment. Some parishes, such as St. John in Severna Park, offer professional counseling services at a reasonable rate. Freymann is a counselor at St. John and, for now, is excited that churches from each county in the diocese have expressed interest in starting a mental health ministry.
“We want people to know they are not alone,” Freymann said. “People can feel very isolated and alone. They are not alone. There are people who care for them.”
Email Katie V. Jones at kjones@CatholicReview.org
To learn more about the Mental Wellness Ministry or to support it with a gift, visit www.archbalt.org/help-is-here
Editor’s note: This story was updated May 31 to indicate the correct age when Cathy Sitzwohl was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and correct the spelling of Freymann’s name in several places.
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