Engaging Global Mental Health provides a groundbreaking Christian integration perspective and practical guide for understanding and addressing the crisis of global mental health.

Drawing from decades of experience in counseling and teaching, Bradford M. Smith and Fred C. Gingrich show Christian mental health professionals, mission organizations, and churches how and why they should embrace a multidisciplinary paradigm of global mental health that intersects theology, psychology, public health, and mission.

The burden of mental illness worldwide is staggering, and Christians are uniquely positioned to respond and share God’s love to a world longing for healing. Yet for too long, global mental health care has been limited by overreliance on a Western, clinical-treatment model that is unable to meet the magnitude of the need. Engaging Global Mental Health reimagines care with pathways for mental health education, prevention, and scalable treatment approaches that can affect whole populations.

In Engaging Global Mental Health, Smith and Gingrich:

• describe the scope and magnitude of global need and limitations of the dominant mental health care paradigm
• explore a Christian perspective on global mental health and the critical role of the church in meeting the need
• feature real-world case studies and examples from practitioners from around the world
• include practical resources like discussion questions and recommendations for next steps

Whether you are a counseling educator preparing the next generation of practitioners, a clinician or student seeking to expand your skills, or a mission leader seeking a framework for community-level mental health ministry, this book is the resource you need. Engaging Global Mental Health is both an introduction to a vital and growing field and a guide for discerning your next step within it.

About the Series

Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) Books explore how Christianity relates to mental health and behavioral sciences including psychology, counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy in order to equip Christian clinicians to support the well-being of their clients.