How do you manage and protect your mental health?

Fruitful leadership and inner wholeness are critically related, but how often do ministers take a spiritual MOT? Ishbel Straker addressed this issue with Stuart Blount at ELS

Three years ago, Ishbel Straker realised a hugely significant area of ministry was being overlooked: mental health for ministers.

As a mental health practitioner she recognised the importance of addressing this and approached Elim to discuss it.

What would it look like to provide mental health support and therapy bespoke for ministers? she asked.

So began regional workshops which are now spreading out across Elim.

“It’s really important that Elim is taking mental health very seriously in ministry. They’re putting a lot of resources into it and allowing me to run with that,” she said. Here are some of the areas Ishbel addressed at ELS.

The importance of spirituality

We need to focus on mental health in the same way we do with physical health, Ishbel said. We’re getting better at that, but we have a way to go.

“The pressure on a leader is huge, and when I work with ministers what I see is that they take that pressure on, they really feel it and they use it as a motivation,” she said.

But how do you manage that and protect your mental health? “The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance says there are pillars of wellbeing which are very important to enable us to function to the best of our ability. Spirituality is a significant one,” said Ishbel.

“You would probably think when I’m working with ministers that it’s a foregone conclusion – you’re all spiritual, you’re all focusing on it. But when it becomes part of your day job it’s hard to segregate work and actually spending time with God.

“Defining that, looking at that and taking that time out to have that quality time is incredibly important.” People she works with who aren’t ministers are generally far more focused on their spirituality and find that mindfulness very beneficial, she points out.

“The encouragement from this is to find ways to invest in your spiritual life that are refreshing and new,” she said.

The monster under the bed

“One area we work on during cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is identifying negative thoughts, but what I’ve noticed in leadership is that it’s very difficult for people to do that. Generally, you push it to one side and just try to soldier on,” said Ishbel. “Changing that mindset and enabling you to identify a negative thought doesn’t make it any worse. It actually empowers you to take hold of it, acknowledge it and challenge it.”

Not every negative thought is true, and examining them helps you identify what is true and what isn’t, she said.

“The reason that’s important is because when we have high levels of anxiety, generally it’s because people don’t want to look at the monster under the bed.

“I say to people look at the monster, because it’s not as big as you think and you might be able to deal with it better by focusing on it.” It’s about replacing these thoughts with more realistic ones, she said. Was the sermon you did on Sunday really that bad? Did it really impact people in a negative way or did you just get criticism from one person?

Taking time to consider your thoughts

“Allow yourself to work things through ,” advised Ishbel. “That’s very different to ruminating on a thought, chewing it over and over. Allowing yourself an hour to really focus on it is the healthy way to manage it. Journaling is also important. It’s not just about vomiting your thoughts onto a page but actually being able to see the progress you’ve made by looking back on it.

“People tell me, ‘I don’t seem to be getting any better.’ But journaling enables you to graph success. That’s important because the small things matter when you’re trying to move through mental health. It allows you to focus on it. It also allows you to put it into a realistic picture when you’re writing it down.”

Setting a good example

“ We have a responsibility to ensure we have good wellbeing and mental health within our leadership positions,” said Ishbel.

“You’re setting examples to people, not just yourself or the people working with you but to families and congregations too. Looking after yourself is an important part of your job, so stop seeing it as something you will be lucky to be able to do. It’s actually what you need to do to function.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

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