Saint Luke is privileged to host a support group called Connections, that's a service of the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI is the largest grassroots organization in the US that's focused on mental illness. One of its services is to enable groups like Connections.
This twice-monthly group comes to us because one of the facilitators is the Rev. Ed Kane, who served as Interim Pastor here before Pastor Sue Ericsson was called in 2006. The group Pastor Kane has been helping to lead since 2019 was looking for an in-person home after CoViD restrictions eased. He remembered that when Schlack Hall was reconstructed after our 2003 fire, the leadership of the congregation wanted it to be a beneficial resource to the community. We continue to make that desire real by hosting groups like Connections at nominal or no fees.
Rev. Ed Kane
While they're not therapy, these support groups are led by trained, NAMI-certified facilitators, in this case, Pastor Kane and Danielle Sulpizio. Pastor Kane said that among the most rewarding aspects of his involvement with Connections has been, "... seeing people heal, helping each other through times of crisis and moving forward on life's journey." He observed that the level of empathy in the group - people who have been managing mental illness over the course of their lives - allows them to encourage each other: “I struggled like that. Here’s what helped me.”
When public meetings shut down in 2020, Connections went on Zoom, like pretty much everything else. The need for groups like this mushroomed, with attendance at this meeting going from 30 potential members to over 70, meeting twice a week on Zoom. There’s nothing like meeting face-to-face, though, so this group adopted a hybrid schedule, twice a month online, twice here at Saint Luke. People who are interested in attending Connections should contact Pastor Kane at 484-744-1326.