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Lauren Hurley/PA Wire
UK News

Churches "discriminate" against believers with mental health issues

by Hannah Tooley

Will Van Der Hart, Pastoral Chaplain at Holy Trinity Brompton, and an author on mental health, told Premier's News Hour that the Church, as a whole, could do more to welcome people with mental health issues.

He was speaking after more than 200 people, including the Archbishops of Canterbury and York signed an open letter to the Government supporting the Equality for Mental Health Campaign.

Norman Lamb, a former minister who is leading the group, is calling for equality between physical and mental health.

While welcoming their intervention, Will Van Der Hart called for churches to up their game.

Speaking on Premier's News Hour, he said: "Many churches find that people who come through the doors with mental health problems are bounced out again because they don't necessarily fit the mould of worship and order that might be the natural style of everyone there.

"So I think the key point here is that we think intentionally about welcome and create access, where mental health is concerned, in the same way that we thought about creating access for disabilities 15 or 20 years ago.

"Now, I think it's unlikely you're going to go to a church that doesn't have a disabled ramp or disabled access toilet, or hearing aid loop.

"But many churches haven't thought about mental health in that same way, and so they do discriminate against those with mental health problems because they haven't actually thought about how they can integrate and welcome people with those problems into their services."

Other signatories of the letter include actress Emma Thompson and Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes.

They say people with mental health issues are treated as second class citizens.

The letter addresses many of the consequences that a lack of adequate support can have: "Too few people who lose their jobs are having the mental health impact of unemployment taken into account, and so lack treatment that might help get them back into work.

"Too many children and adults are still ending up in police cells rather than hospital when going through a mental health crisis."

Listen to Premier's Marcus Jones speaking to Will Van Der Hart on the News Hour here:

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