The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast CNLP 767 | Solving the Mental Health Emergency: Shaunti Feldhahn and James Sells on a Better Approach to Pastoral Care
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Nov 18, 2025 In this insightful discussion, Shaunti Feldhahn, a social researcher and bestselling author, teams up with Dr. James Sells, a clinical psychologist and professor, to tackle mental health in churches. They reveal the emotional burdens pastors carry and the underestimated mental health crisis congregations face. The duo introduces a lay listener model to provide effective support and explains how intentional community building can alleviate loneliness. They emphasize the crucial role of simple, compassionate presence in fostering healing within church environments.
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Pastoral Burden Is Deep And Historical
- Pastors carry a chronic, heavy emotional load because congregations bring complex, ongoing needs into church life.
- That burden dates back to early church leadership and often overwhelms a single pastor's capacity.
Punting Creates An Unsustainable Funnel
- The usual church response to mental health is to refer people out to clinicians, which creates a funnel out of the church.
- That model can't scale because professional clinicians are vastly outnumbered by people in need.
Huge Unmet Demand For Mental Health Care
- Nearly 60 million U.S. adults have diagnosed mental illness and only about half receive care, leaving huge unmet demand.
- Cost and access barriers exacerbate the gap between need and professional treatment.
