This one-day workshop is designed for pastors, church staff, faith-based clinicians, and other lay leaders in Black and African-American churches, Soul Shop for Black Churches focuses on

• the role of societal discrimination in suicide rates among black and brown young people

• the prominent role of the church in African-American communities and how that can be leveraged towards public health

• statistics, trends, and rates of suicide among people of color

• challenges of and ideas for engaging issues of mental health and suicide in black churches

This program equips leaders who are on the front lines of community mental health crises to minister to those impacted by all the faces of suicide

While The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation is not a faith-based organization, we understand that faith communities are perfectly positioned to identify and respond to individual needs, including those involving suicide. Therefore, our objective is to empower faith communities with the skills to better serve those experiencing suicidal desperation by facilitating the dialogue about the intersection of faith and suicide prevention.

Our programs do not endorse any religious doctrine or theological point of view but are ecumenical in nature so that each congregation can choose for themselves how to move forward by their own theological convictions and develop soul-safe communities.