Utah Faith Summit on Mental Health
LOGAN – Next Friday, October 27, a group of individuals and professionals concerned about the mental health of people in Cache Valley are holding the first ever PAZ Faith Summit on Mental Health.
The Summit will be held at the Riverwoods Conference Cener located at 615 Riverwood Pkwy, in Logan on Friday, October 27. Check-in begins at 7:45 a.m. and the opening signing invocation will be at 9 a.m. and keynote speaker will be Jane Clayson Johnson. Breakout sessions will begin at 10 a.m. and will last approximately an hour.
“This is open to all community members and leaders of congregations interested in mental health issues,” said Esterlee Molyneaux, a cofounder of PAZ Wellness, the group responsible for organizing the event for the community. “I’ve been in social work for 28 years. I retired and just started having these feelings there are these service gaps that we need to take care of.”
She found that Dr. Ryan Stolworthy, an emergency room doctor, was seeing a 400 percent increase in kids being brought in for mental health issues.
“Dr. Ryan Stolworthy was the other cofounder of PAZ,” she said. “PAZ means pause, it also means peace in Latin, Spanish and Portuguese.”
“The focus of this summit is mitigating mental health issues by incorporating faith,” Molyneaux added. “We want to help all faith leaders no matter whatever religious persuasion they are.”
The focus of the summit is to equip participants with essential skills to give unwavering support and guidance to others facing difficulties and for nurturing the well-being of loved ones and themselves.
“Some faith leaders are not sure what to say or do when they are dealing with mental health issues,” she said. “We have renowned professionals and experts, with inspiring speakers who will tell their stories.”
Jane Clayson Johnson is a journalist who worked as an anchor at Salt Lake City’s KSL and later worked at CBS as a morning host.
She retired after she married Mark W. Johnson. Clayson experienced depression and has become an advocate of mental health issues. She will be one of the keynote speakers.
Eric Hipple, former quarterback at Utah State University and for the Detroit Lions, will speak on his struggle with depression.
“He was riding in the passenger seat while his wife was driving and gave her a note that said he couldn’t do it anymore and jumped from the car,” Molyneaux said. “Then later he had a son that died by suicide.”
Hilary Weeks, a popular Christian singer-song writer, will also perform.
“We have work to do about talking to teenagers about social media,” she said. “We have a session on the importance of forgiveness.”
There will be information on caring for loved ones who have issues.
“Cache Valley has the highest rate of men who complete suicide from ages 35-55 years old,” she said. “Society tells us to be strong and not talk about it. We need to talk about depression if we can be vulnerable and talk about things it could save lives.”
They have experts that will talk about sexual betrayal and addiction, giving personal experiences.
“We have experts who will talk about self-injury, suicide and teenage mental health challenges,” Molyneaux said. “There will be a lot of practical hands-on tools for people.”
The summit will cover a range of vital topics, including, but not limited to:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Fear and shame
- Forgiveness
- Sexual addiction and betrayal
- Screen time and social media
- Suicide
- Self harm
- Communication
- Youth and Addictive Behaviors
- Supporting those questioning faith
- Depression and teens
Sessions will be focused on providing both education and tools for healing and being mentally well.
Registration closes on October 23, 2023. To register or get more info call (435) 994-7500 or email [email protected].