Doctors and Clergy Fall Short in Mental and Spiritual Health
This is not an article on the wonderful work done by both dedicated physicians and clergy, on the contrary...it is an article on why conventional wisdom in these two profoundly equipped professions, whose sole purpose is on healing NEVER intersect?
As an entrepreneur now scaling an enterprise in the mental health space and a leader over this past decade in a lay ministry, I have had the privilege to interface with many highly successful doctors and clergy of many disciplines and denominations. My perspective has been one that has seen the successful and as a businessman see great opportunities for a newer, bolder approach to both health care and faith. Both however, require risk and vision to implement change and hone a new path for tomorrow.
My focus for the sake of this article will be on health care but interchange ministry in each mention of health care and you will save both of us time writing and reading.
There is a lyric in a song written by Peter Gabriel saying "DIY, DIY, if you want to keep control you have to keep it small, so, Do It Yourself...Hey, DIY..." That lyric sums up the problem in that things have become so big they become forced to be a literal cookie cutter approach to make an economic model sustainable. Often referred to as a protocol, to maintain a system which is really based on experience and averages but not really treating the individual fully to assure wellness. As much as this approach of one size fits all that becomes the norm unless of course the situation is out of control where life is in immediate danger.
Doctors and Clergy could and should benefit from cross referencing with each others' best practices...like we do in business. The Oscar Wilde quote "the greatest form of flattery is imitation" is sound wisdom and each should seek outside the medical box with what works and how they can work together. Each has a flock or panel...but how well equipped in terms of true critical thinking is the Physician or Shepard?
Mental and Spiritual health are more closely aligned than each is given credit for...remember the status quo or don't stray from the protocol? We have the cure, I have no doubt, but the methods are literally prolonging and or killing people because we don't take off our myopic blinders to see what else is around us that can help rather than compete...ouch!
In this world of federal regulations, compliance mandates, confidentiality, religious secularism and more...when is it wrong for a doctor to pick up the phone and call a pastor about something they might need some advice on, or vice versa? The patient's mental health is at stake and maybe the doctor or pastor needs to get over the notion that they have all the answers because from where I stand....they don't. Remember, God uses people, whether you believe in Him or not, to make change happen and those people help cure others of both mental and spiritual infirmities.