Shalom United Church of Christ in Richland announced it has received the WISE (Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, and Engaged) designation for mental health awareness from the Mental Health Network of the United Church of Christ. This milestone recognizes the congregation’s dedication to eradicating stigma and providing a safe, supportive environment for individuals and families navigating mental health challenges.
“At Shalom, we believe that mental health is a vital component of holistic spiritual care,” said pastor Melanie Childers. “Receiving this WISE designation is not just a badge; it is a public promise to our neighbors in the Tri-Cities that they are seen, loved, and welcomed exactly as they are — without judgment or exclusion.”
As a WISE-designated congregation, the members of Shalom have undergone a comprehensive process of self-study, education, and policy development. The church has committed to integrating mental health inclusion into its worship services, educational programming, and congregational care. The sanctuary is set up such that those who need to can sit in an area adjacent to the main hall, with full visual and auditory access to the service, but where they are free to speak and move around. Just over a year ago, the church began providing fidget toys to children and adults who need to keep their hands busy during worship.
During its May 10 worship this spring, the church celebrated Mental Health Sunday, and invited a congregation member who is disabled due to mental health conditions, Cath Hopkins, to speak about her experiences.
“When asking children what they want to be when they grow up, I've never heard anyone say ‘queer’, ‘mentally ill’, ‘addicted’, or ‘neurodivergent’,” Hopkins shared with the congregation. “I know I never aspired to such things, because I was taught they were shameful moral failings — tragedies to be hidden at best. Yet here I am.”
Childers noted that through the years, Christianity has often misunderstood, or been unkind toward, people with mental health issues, and that has harmed many individuals.
“The hope and healing that we offer as people of faith is born from our shared brokenness, not our imagined wholeness,” Childers said. “We are the broken body of Christ. All of us carry far more confusion, grief, failure, and struggle than wholeness; but we rarely acknowledge our broken places publicly. Every time someone shares their story of brokenness and vulnerability, the world has a chance to heal.”
Future mental health-related initiatives at Shalom include offering seminars like mental health first aid training for church members, to help better equip them to support those with mental health challenges. In the meantime, the church is committed to making every Sunday service more accessible and meaningful to those with mental health conditions.
Shalom is a 150-member congregation of the United Church of Christ, located at 505 McMurray Street in Richland. For more than 70 years, the church has been dedicated to serving the Tri-Cities through meaningful worship, active community outreach, justice work, and inclusive spiritual support.
Melanie Childers is an outdoor lover who served as a hospital chaplain for 26 years in North Carolina before moving to the Tri-Cities to be pastor of Shalom United Church of Christ in Richland.
