(OSV News) — Mental illness in America has been declared an official social health care emergency — especially since the COVID-19 pandemic and as community-fragmenting forms of social media continue to multiply.
“Recent data show that the United States is in mental health crisis, experienced by people of all ages,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in August 2024. “This trend was observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been worsened by pandemic-related factors.”
According to Mental Health America — a nonprofit dedicated to promoting mental health, well-being and prevention — nearly 60 million adults (23.08%) experienced a mental illness in 2024, while almost 13 million adults (5.04%) reported serious thoughts of suicide. In 2022, those who took their own lives numbered the highest ever recorded in the U.S.
Catholic mental health needs
And the faithful are not exempt: One in five individuals in the United States live with some form of mental illness, and 20% of Americans identify themselves as Catholics.
That’s a lot of Catholics statistically in need of mental health help; but some may still feel challenged to admit it — or to find faithful practitioners and resources for healing.
But they do exist.
“Historically, we are few and far between,” said therapist Kenna Millea, clinical director and co-founder of the Martin Center for Integration, a Minneapolis-based practice that offers “faith-filled mental health services for individuals, couples and organizations.”
The center takes its name not from Millea or her husband, Pat — the center’s formation and operations director and co-founder — but rather, from a family of saints.
“It’s well-documented that Louis, Zélie and Thérèse — and several of Thérèse’s sisters — all suffered with various mental illnesses,” said Kenna Millea, referring to Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and her siblings.
Currently operating with 10 clinicians, Martin Center staff will grow to 16 by the end of 2025.
“We were praying about what God might ask us to do with Pat’s and my respective backgrounds,” Millea told OSV News. “And this need we saw rising — certainly in the Twin Cities, but in the church globally.”
“The field of psychotherapy is a traditionally very secular field,” Millea explained, “and the doctrine of our faith around suffering; around the dignity of a human person; around being made in the image and likeness of a triune God; around the value and the goodness of our embodied incarnate experiences, thanks to God’s incarnation — all of that is missing from what we think of when we think of the world of psychotherapy and mental health care.”
Which critically underscores the need for Catholic mental health therapists.
“As I began to practice and began to work with clients, I saw that I could support them; I could help them connect the dots in their story,” Millea said. “But I could only take them so far if I was unable to bring in the concepts of our faith, and this belief of what we’re made for and what actually fulfills us as humans — what helps us to be fully alive; what helps us to thrive and to grow.”
Millea confirmed that Americans are in the midst of a mental health calamity.
“People are showing up in our emergency departments not for a medical need, but for something of a psychiatric or psychological nature,” she said. “So, yes, I absolutely think that the numbers aren’t lying.”
While the issue of social stigma has decreased, it does still remain. By some estimates — the American Psychological Association reported in 2024 — as many as 83% of those who could benefit from treatment don’t seek it out.
“It’s true that stigma remains an issue for certain subpopulations — and perhaps even more so for people of faith,” said Shannon D. Mullen, president and chair of the Catholic Psychotherapy Association. “And having the option of clinically integrated Catholic therapists, it definitely makes it more approachable. So the barriers to getting care are reduced.”
Bringing in a Catholic worldview
The Catholic Psychotherapy Association supports mental health practitioners by promoting the development of mental health practices encompassing a full understanding of the human person, family, and society — all in fidelity to the magisterium of the Catholic Church.
“When they feel like somebody is going to really understand them from that worldview — appreciate, value and not push back on their spiritual principles,” Catholic patients may feel more at ease seeking treatment, said Mullen.
That’s especially true when a therapist has skills and competency integrating faith into the treatment plan. “I do think it’s important for clinicians to be able to describe themselves as Catholic-integrated clinicians for that purpose,” affirmed Mullen.
The mental health crisis hasn’t escaped the notice of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which — in 2023 — launched the National Catholic Mental Health Campaign, a year-round initiative including a Nationwide Novena for Mental Health, Mental Health Sunday, special roundtable discussions on mental health and more. Plans are also underway for new components.
“It started out with a central idea that there were three goals,” shared Paul Jarzembowski, associate director for laity in the USCCB’s Secretariat of Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, “to raise awareness; to remove stigmas; and to advocate for people — just to encourage people who need help, to get help.”
Bishops have shared their own stories of mental health struggles as an encouragement to others, while simultaneously advocating with respect to mental health public policy.
Echoing Millea and Mullen, Jarzembowski also emphasized the necessity for a holistic outlook.
“One of the thought processes through this campaign has really been taking a dual approach of saying there’s the professional clinical support, and then there’s the spiritual support,” explained Jarzembowski. “The pastors and those in the communities certainly can provide the spiritual support — but we can make sure that our Catholic leaders are fully aware of the clinical and professional support networks that are out there.”
Kimberley Heatherington writes for OSV News from Virginia.
