Securing Grant Money for a Week-Long Mental Health Retreat for Church Members

Project Description 

Mental health remains a significant challenge facing workers in our church. And with the Covid-19 pandemic, this problem has worsened. This project aims to improve our church members’ mental health through a week-long mental health retreat. Through the retreat, church members will engage in recreational activities and be enlightened on mental health by psychologists and church leaders. The project also aims to establish a Train-the-Trainer model. This model will be used by other churches in assisting their members to overcome mental health issues.  

Purpose Statement 

The week-long mental health retreat for church members hopes to address some of the underlying problems and issues that many of the church members encounter in their everyday life exposing them to possible mental illnesses. 

Project Activities 

The project’s first goal is to highlight the prevalence of mental health issues in the workplace environment while creating an environment for discussing how these issues impact church members in their respective environments. The activity that will be conducted to achieve this objective is research. Research will be conducted to determine the prevalence of mental health issues facing church members in the workplace. Data for this research will be collected via surveys and structured interview questions. Before conducting the study, a request will be submitted to the church board and financial officers. Upon their approval, the survey will be created in collaboration with the church pastor and associate pastor. Structured interview questions will also be created, after which church ministry leaders will be trained to perform interviews. 

Once the church leadership approves the survey and interview, a pilot test survey will be conducted. Issues arising from this survey will be recorded and addressed. Data analysis will then be conducted to determine the prevalent mental health issues facing church members in their respective work environments. Conduction of the interviews will start with the selection of sampling techniques. The selected sampling technique will be used to select fifty targeted respondents, who will be interviewed. Data from the interviews will be cleaned and analyzed, after which results will be written and presented to the church board. The main goal behind the interview and survey is to identify some of the underlying issues and problems that many church members experience in the daily lives that expose them to mental illnesses. After these issues have identified, the next stage of the project will proceed. 

The activities in the next stage of the project are aligned with the second goal, which is the creation and organization of a week-long retreat for church members focusing on mental health. For this goal, the main activity will be the week-long retreat. The whole idea of having a retreat will be to create an atmosphere where church members can discuss the personal and professional challenges they encounter in their daily lives. The retreat will assist church members it taking a break from structured schedules and have ample time to focus on the promotion of their wellness and health. Getting involved in the mental health retreat will have several benefits. The first benefit is that as opposed to doing the outpatient treatment, attenders of the retreat will get to truly focus on their own recovery (Schuling et al., 2018) . They will not have to worry about what’s going on with work and home. The retreat will provide them with an opportunity to tune up to the real world while shoring up their own resources. Secondly, they will be able to try on a new identity. When in the life of daily routine, it’s difficult for them to take on new challenges or attempt new things. In a new setting, such as that created by the retreat, the church members will have an opportunity to try new things (Schuling et al., 2018) . For instance, those who have been living with depression will try new experiences to see what excites them. They will be able to test out new friendships, therapies, approaches, and experiences. By doing so, they will be able to recognize those that ring true to who they are. They will stop identifying with mental health issues and celebrate the core aspects of themselves. The retreat will also offer clarity. The church member’s minds and bodies will know what they need to do to heal. 

The retreat will consist of the following activities: 

Talks by psychologists ( Drs. Ham, Nickerson, and Smith) – These psychologists will speak to the church members on mental health. They will also be involved in conducting mental health examinations. 

Travel to the Red Door Spa – The purpose of this travel provide the church members with an environment to relax and break from the stresses of work. In the spa, workers will engage in recreational activities such as swimming and bike riding. 

Talks by churches – Church leaders will speak to the members on various mental health issues. They will enlighten them on how to uphold mental health despite busy work schedules. 

Research by Naidoo et al. (2018) has shown that mental health retreats can improve people’s mental health. Naidoo et al. (2018) conducted a systematic review of the health impact of residential retreats. They discovered that health retreat experiences have numerous benefits, including benefits for people with chronic diseases such as cancer, heart conditions, HIV/AIDS and mental health. 

The project’s third goal is the establishment of a Train the Trainer model for participating churches with the aim of having different churches adopt similar projects to assist their members. At the end of the project, a framework will be with the guidelines on how other members’ training will be conducted. Church leaders trained under the established model will then be in a position to train their members. The creation of the model will lead to the accomplishment of the project’s long term goals. 

The last objective of the proposed project involves finding a long term solution to some of the underlying mental issues affecting church members. The activities that will be conducted to achieve this objective include the encouragement of members to take breaks from their professional lives and focus on themselves, encouragement of members to take good care of their bodies, and education of members on how to deal with stress. These interventions will reduce the chances of exposure to mental health issues. The church members will also be physically examined and psychologically evaluated to determine any underlying mental health issues. Upon physical examination and psychological evaluation by doctors or mental health professionals, appropriate treatment measures will be recommended. For instance, health professionals may recommend medication, psychotherapy, and hospital or residential treatment programs. 

Evaluation 

Goal 1 

The first goal is that the project will seek to highlight the prevalence of mental health issues in the workplace environment while creating an environment for the discussion of how these issues are impacting church members in their respective environments. The main activity that will be conducted toward achieving this goal is research on the prevalence of medical health issues among the workers. This goal will be evaluated by follow-up research. The research will determine whether mental health issues facing workers have been identified.  

Goal 2 

The second goal of the project is to create and organize a week-long retreat for church members focusing on mental health. The main activity for this goal is the conduction of the mental health retreat. Evaluation for this goal will be simple – asking whether the mental health retreat will have occurred at the end of the week.  

Goal 3 

The third goal associated with this project is the establishment of a Train the Trainer model for participating churches. The goal’s focus is that the different churches would adopt similar projects to help their members. The goal’s main activity is the development of a framework with the guidelines on how other members’ training will be conducted. The goal will be evaluated via follow-up research, which will focus on determining whether other churches have implemented similar programs.  

Goal 4 

The fourth goal associated with this project is finding a long-term solution to some of the underlying mental health issues affecting church members. This goal will be achieved through talks by psychologists, recreational activities and talks by churches. Two main activities will be conducted to evaluate this project goal. First, a training and educational program will be used to evaluate the impact of training and educational interventions. In planning for the evaluation, a logic model will be developed. The logic model will outline the structure, processes, and outcomes of the evaluation program. The key questions related to the evaluation of teaching and educational activities will focus on determining whether the activities affected the long-term outcomes. In other words, the evaluation will seek to determine whether the teaching and educational activities have any impact on the church members’ mental health. Addressing this out will require survey data. Interviews will be conducted to determine the effect of the training and educational programs on the participants’ mental health. The interview questions will be open-ended. The questions will be structured to extract as much information form the respondents as possible on the impact of interventions. For example, one question will ask the respondents to rate the effectiveness of the interventions on their mental health. Data from the interview will be analyzed qualitatively to determine whether training and education had any impact on the respondents’ mental health. 

Besides the evaluation of outcomes of interventions, a general assessment of mental health will be conducted after the retreat. Mental health assessments of the participant’s mental health will be conducted by psychologists, psychiatrists, and family doctors. Mental health assessments will directly determine whether the participants’ mental health has improved. They will be conducted in intervals, with the first assessment on all participants being conducted two weeks after the retreat. The mental health assessment will incorporate: 

Mental evaluation – Mental health experts will ask church members questions about their behaviors, feelings, and thoughts. Church members may be asked to describe any symptoms in more detail. The experts will observe their behavior and appearance to determine any possible signs of mental illnesses. 

Cognitive evaluation – During the mental health assessments, doctors will engage the church members’ ability to use mental reasoning, recall information, and think clearly. Doctors will perform basic tests such as tests on how church members focus their attention. They will also engage them in questions about their daily responsibilities, such as going to work or caring for themselves. 

Information from the mental health assessments will be compared to that obtained before the program’s commencement. In this way, the doctors and mental health specialists will determine whether the church member’s mental health has improved. Subsequent mental health assessments will be conducted at monthly intervals over six months to fully evaluate the project’s impact on long-term goals. 

References  

Naidoo, D., Schembri, A., & Cohen, M. (2018). The health impact of residential retreats: a systematic review.  BMC complementary and alternative medicine ,  18 (1), 8. 

Schuling, R., van Herpen, N., de Nooij, R., de Groot, W. T., & Speckens, A. (2018). Silent into nature: Factors enabling improvement in a mindful walking retreat in nature of people with psychological symptoms.  Ecopsychology ,  10 (2), 77-86. 

Vita of PI 

John Russell, M.Sc., Ph.D. 

Formal Education 

2016: Ph.D. from the University of California Berkeley, Department of Psychology, California, The United States of America. Thesis: “Advancing our comprehension and its assessment using experience sampling method”, 87 p. and 8 papers. 

2010: M.S in Social Psychology from the University of California Berkeley, Department of Psychology, California, The United States of America. Thesis: “Cognitive Control, Retrieval Orientation and Ageing”, 130 p. 

2004: B.A. Honors in Psychology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, The United States of America. Thesis: “Examining the effects of loneliness and resilience on social media addiction”, 50 p. 

Employment 

From 2004 to 2008: Cognitive psychologist at Mater General Hospital. Studies human memory, thinking and perception in patients with mental illnesses. Worked with neuroscientists to understand the cognitive biases in the thinking of patients with depression. 

From 2008 to 2009: Clinical psychologist at Trevor Care Hospital 

From 2009 to 2010: Clinical Psychologist at Life Hospital. Responsible for assessing and treating mental disorders ranging from short-term crises to severe conditions such as schizophrenia. 

From 2012 to 2014: Deputy Head of Psychology Department at George Mason University 

From 2014 to 2016: Head of Psychology Department at George Mason University 

From 2018 to 2019: Principal Investigator at George Mason University. Responsible for the preparation of research grants and other projects in accordance with the applicable laws and institutional policies governing the conduct of sponsored research.   

Other Activities 

Invited Speaker including 

George Mason University International Conference on Psychology, Grand Hotel 23.5.-2.6.2018. 

2nd Annual Conference on Psychology, Life Church, California 24 & 25 August 2016. 

3rd annual symposium on mental health, The University of California Berkeley, 25th November 2017. 

Arizona State University, September 2015. 

Honors 

Honorary Price from the University of California Berkeley, 8th August 2018. 

Best Clinical psychologist at Trevor Care Hospital, 5th August 2008.  

Best Student in Psychology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 5th August 2004.  

Cover Letter  

Anna Smith, PHD 

Program Officer 

California Foundation 

4321 Blue Lane 

California, YZ 55555 

8 th August 2020 

Re: Request for a Grant 

Dear Mrs. Smith 

The Life Church respectfully requests for a grant of $54,000 for a week-long mental health retreat for our church members. 

As one of the largest churches in California, we serve a huge congregation, and we are committed to ensuring that all our members grow to become all-rounded people in society. With most of our members being workers in urban areas, they experience mental illnesses due to their busy schedules and stress at work. The church leadership understands that church members need more than spiritual growth. The leadership understands that work is stressful and can expose church members to mental health issues. The church provides spiritual nourishment to the community and has conducted programs aimed at improving its members’ wellbeing. The main problem is that church members cannot access professional assistance in dealing with underlying mental challenges and illnesses. Many church members face the problem of inaccessibility to mental health services. Thus there is a need for securing a grant, with which we will set up a mental health retreat for our members. 

A local health facility has indicated that cases of anxiety disorders and depression are on the rise. This rise is attributed to the tough economic conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Significant economic downturns have affected people’s businesses and employment, and the community lacks adequate mental health professionals to address the resulting mental health issues. The local hospital lacks a psychiatry department to address mental health issues. Therefore, most church members end up suffering from mental illnesses. The mental health retreat will work towards the improvement of our members’ mental health by: 

Highlighting the prevalence of mental health issues in the workplace environment while creating an environment for the discussion of how these issues are impacting church members in their respective environments. 

Giving church members a break from their everyday life as a way of improving their mental health wellness, especially during this time when the world is going through a health pandemic. Members will take part in social activities, including games, field trips, and tours. 

In addition to the improvement of our church member’s mental health, the proposed project also has the interests of the whole community into consideration. A Train-the-Trainer model will be established. We hope that other churches will adopt the model and help their members with mental illnesses. Since mental health is an issue that faces the entire community, we are interested in helping other churches develop similar training programs that will create conducive environments for their members to take a break from the daily work routine. The Train-the-Trainer model will be a comprehensive approach through which people will be trained to become trainers. The project’s long term goal is to solve underlying mental health issues affecting church members. 

The church leadership is enthusiastic about the project and eager to initiate it so that the mental health of church members can be improved. Should we find that the project has positive outcomes, our church leadership has committed to including part of the project’s annual expenses in its yearly operating budget, so that the mental health retreats become an integral part of our activities. 

Through this project, we trust that more members will join our church, not only for spiritual nourishment but also for mental health improvement. This is why we propose the development of a Train-The-Trainer model so that other churches can assist their members.  

Thank you for considering our request. I will follow up with you over the next month to respond to any queries as well as learn whether we might meet to discuss more of our proposal. Meanwhile, in case of any queries, feel free to contact me at (971) 555-3245 or georgemadison@lifechurch.org. 

Sincerely 

George Madison 

Life Church 

4321 Blue Lane 

California, YZ 55555