Mental Health Best Practices
A discussion with Rev. Joel A. Bowman, Sr., MSW, LCSW
Founder & Senior Pastor of Temple of Faith Baptist Church- Louisville, Kentucky
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
KEY DEFINITIONS
MENTAL HEALTH includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices (SAMSHSA- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).
MENTAL ILLNESSES are medical conditions that disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life (NAMI- National Alliance on Mental Illness).
Biblical Framework for Understanding Mental Health
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3 John 2 (NIV)
2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
Mark 12:30 (NIV)
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind and with all your strength.
Luke 2:52 (NIV)
52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Romans 8:19-22 (NIV)
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
About Pastor Joel A. Bowman, Sr.
He is a native of Detroit, Michigan. Raised in a Christian home, Pastor Bowman accepted Christ as his personal Lord and Savior at the age of 12.
Pastor Bowman holds a Bachelor of Social Work degree and a Master of Social Work degree from Wayne State University. Pastor Bowman also graduated from Michigan Theological Seminary (now known as Moody Seminary- Michigan Campus). Upon moving to Louisville in 1999, Pastor Bowman began his ministry as a senior pastor. Since 2001, he has served as founder and senior pastor of the Temple of Faith Baptist Church in South Louisville.
Pastor Bowman is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), with over 30 years of experience in the mental health field. He has practiced as a clinician in the states of Michigan, Kentucky, and Indiana.
Currently, Pastor Bowman is a team leader and therapist with the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), providing mental health treatment to America’s military Veterans.
Pastor Bowman has guest lectured at the Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University, Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville, Campbellsville University, Carver College and the Baptist Seminary of Zimbabwe. A respected thought leader and free-lance writer, Pastor Bowman has been quoted in The Washington Post, USA TODAY, the Associated Press, the Christian Post, and the Baptist Press.
Pastor Bowman and his beloved wife, Nannette Mitchell Bowman, are the proud parents of 2 daughters, Kayla and Katie, as well as 1 son, Joel, Jr. They also have one informally-adopted daughter named MaKayla.
Note: Though Pastor Bowman is federal employee, in this presentation, he is representing himself.
Pastor Bowman can be followed @JoelABowmanSr and acompellingvoice.com.
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