Caring for the Cared For: The Roles and Responsibilities of Lutheran Pastors and Mental Health Professionals

Abstract

Mental health is a more open and prominent topic in the culture of 2023. As mental health clinics fill up, pastors must be ready to address and care for mental health illnesses in their congregations. This paper seeks to define the roles and responsibilities that pastors and mental health professionals should have when providing care for mental illness. This will be accomplished by presenting and synthesizing how both pastors and mental health professionals of varying religious and philosophical worldviews have understood the relationship between mental and spiritual health and how pastors and mental health professionals can use their expertise to provide the best overall care for mental illness. While pastors will bear the primary responsibility for spiritual care, and mental health professionals for mental health care, the boundary lines are not as cut and dry as one might think. Because there is a significant interrelation between mental and spiritual health an integrated approach to care, where pastors work with and learn from mental health professionals, and vice versa, is best when it can be achieved. This paper will highlight what an integrated approach to care looks like as well as provide warnings and considerations for WELS pastors who are providing care for members living with mental illness.