The “Your Faith, Your Mental Health” seminar series at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church brought together nearly 100 community members across two Saturdays—January 25 and February 1, 2025—for an impactful and engaging exploration of mental health through a faith-based lens.
Led by Cooper psychiatrist Atasha Jordan, MD, MBA, the sessions featured presentations by Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU) medical students Abyson Kalladanthyil, Danielle Brown, Lindsey Nguyen, Sarah Kim, Jack Donlon, Christy Alhannat, and Catherine Zhang, all of whom dedicated their Saturday mornings to serving this faith community. Dianne Hyman, a manager and clinical nurse educator at MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper, helped to foster connections at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church. This important work is supported largely by CMSRU’s Viner Center for Humanism.
The first session focused on distinguishing mental health from mental illness, anxiety, and depression, while the second installment delved into substance use disorders and included interactive role-play exercises to help attendees practice responding to mental health challenges. These presentations provided a spiritual framework for biological concepts, fostering open, faith-centered discussions that made complex topics more accessible. Participants found the sessions engaging and inspiring, with 80% reporting the event as extremely relevant to their community’s needs and 90% rating the overall experience as excellent.
Local mental health service vendors were also present, creating opportunities for attendees to connect with resources tailored to their needs. The Camden Faith and Mental Health Work Group, under the Viner Center for Humanism, is excited to expand this initiative to more churches and to mosques in Camden in 2025.
If you are interested in supporting this important work, please reach out to Dr. Atasha Jordan at jordan-atasha@cooperhealth.edu.