MHC?!? What's That?

August is a month of many important anniversaries. This month we celebrate…

• The birth of our beautiful twins Branden and Emily who have just turned 30.

• The anniversary of Sean asking me to marry him in 1990. Spoiler alert: I said "YES!"

• Sean’s birthday (along with many other Foley family members)

• Starting my masters in family therapy at Friends University in 2012.

Twelve years ago, as I started that new adventure, I was very unsure of my capacity to successfully complete a master’s degree or become a therapist. It was a leap of faith to try, and without the help of God and the wonderful support and encouragement of Sean I would not have made it. As I reflect on what I am doing now, the years of training that started that August, and how they have prepared me, I want to share more today about one big part of our regular duties as missionaries.

In my career, I have often wished for better collaboration between doctors, psychiatrists, religious leaders (in their role of providing spiritual counseling), and mental health workers. I often worked with individuals seeking spiritual guidance along with the counseling we were doing together. I also met with individuals who were struggling with psychotropic medications and asked me for help. The nature of my work generally has included working with individuals for an hour at a time on a weekly basis. While that still doesn't give a complete view of a person's functioning, I often see things that can be missed by others who don't have as much time to spend one on one with an individual. I often wished that I could speak with the other professionals and religious leaders and that together we could build a more complete picture of the people in a way that could provide them even better help and support.

Fast forward to now for a look at what we call an “MHC” or “Mission Health Council”.  Since launching back in about 2018, each mission spends about one hour each month in a formal MHC. That hour is then followed up and complimented with many messages and smaller meetings throughout the month. The MHC includes mission leaders, mission health advisors (AKA mission nurses), a dental health advisor, the area medical advisor (usually a retired doctor), and the area mental health advisor (like me!). There is also a long list of additional medical advisors and specialists with whom we can consult. All of the members of this team participate as volunteers/missionaries and all who advise in a medical role previously worked in the medical field. It is a dream come true to work in council with all of these individuals to discuss the needs of missionaries in my seven missions.

An example of how these mission health councils work involves a missionary who first went to the mission health advisor in their mission with a physical complaint. Because of the missionary's symptoms, she reached out to the area medical advisor for advice. The two of them then brought the case to our MHC and we decided together that it would also be helpful to have this missionary meet with me. As I worked with this missionary, I recognized that we could be dealing with depression but there was also a history of an accident. After a couple of meetings, I sent an email requesting advice back to our MHC members and added one of our specialized advisors who is a psychiatric consultant. The next morning, we had an email back from this advisor who, during his long career, had worked with many people suffering similar symptoms. By mid-morning our area medical advisor had information on how to obtain the medications in the country where this missionary is serving and by evening the mission health advisor was able to send the medication to the missionary. This missionary started the medication and has had wonderful results!

It really was a miracle to watch this happen. With many people working together and with each person's expertise contributing to the outcome, we were able to quickly target assistance. If I was doing that on my own or simply on the side of encouraging a client to seek doctor's help as I would have in the past, it could have taken much longer (if at all) for this missionary to find a good answer for their particular needs.  Not all situations are resolved this quickly but all are blessed by councils and working in them in this and other areas has been one of the great joys of our mission.  I love serving with so many good people invested in helping others. Now my next question is how can I make that happen when I get home?!

Sneak Peek: Stay tuned for a near future blog when I talk about my upcoming visit to an amazing Muslim organization, Jamiyah.  They are the largest NGO in Singapore and after meeting them at one of our interfaith activities (see pictures below) I was invited to come spend 30 minutes meeting with their counselling team and talking about my approach to mental health. 

Photos

Halfway dinner: We had a nice dinner at the first restaurant our predecessors took us to when we arrived, Poulet.

Interfaith activity 1:  Durians!  You can check out this fun article and our pictures below about our Saturday 27 July adventure.

Interfaith activity 2:  Food pantry!  On Saturday 3 August we spent the afternoon with our stake president and church communications leaders celebrating the opening of a food pantry to which our church is a key contributor.  This collaboration across religions and organizations has been delightful.  And they even had a little fair with VR roller coaster rides as you can see Vivian doing.

Short Video:

Zone Conference!  We love connecting with these great missionaries from the five zones of the mission, and this time with many of the senior couples.  We also met the granddaughter of our wonderful temple colleagues and former neighbors, Wayne and Loralee Miller. And we always have to stock up on supplies first. 

Institute Our amazing YSA flooded Bangkok at a YSA convention with peers from all over Asia. When they return we have just two weeks left in this term, then on to a new term starting September 4th with the Presidents of the Church as our curriculum.

Meanwhile back home, it is thrilling to see the church grow!

And finally, in case you didn’t think that ridiculous things are isolated to America...