Former First Lady discusses helping churches relate to mental health issues

Rosalynn Carter, first lady of the United States from 1977-1981, is the guest on this week’s Shaping Families radio program. Burton Buller, the program’s host, originally interviewed Mrs. Carter for a documentary from Third Way Media on mental illness, Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness. 

Since the early 1970s, Mrs. Carter has worked tirelessly through the Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga., as an advocate for those suffering from mental illnesses. In Shaping Families, she speaks to how the can church respond to those with mental illness.

Mrs. Carter said of a sample Shaping Families program sent to her by longtime friend and Mennonite architect Leroy Troyer, “Thanks for sending the CD Shaping Families. I have listened to the first story, and it is compelling. I’m going to share it with the staff of my mental health program.”

May is mental illness awareness month and resources for churches can be found through links at the Shaping Families website after May 1: www.ShapingFamilies.com

Shaping Families is now in its fifth month of broadcasts and is airing on twelve stations. Upcoming interviews will include singer/composer Ken Medema and religious historian and long time Christian Century columnist, Martin Marty. The program is produced by Third Way Media, a division of Mennonite Mission Network.