It is essential to pay attention to the religious and spiritual side of clients' experiences in order to create mental health services that are holistic and genuinely responsive to clients' needs. Drawing on first-hand accounts of consumers as well as on current research, this volume of New Directions for Mental Health Services illustrates the ways that spirituality--whether defined traditionally or in the broadest holistic sense--can be an active part of recovery. The authors describe innovative collaborations among faith communities, mental health organizations and agencies, and people with mental illness--and offer specific guidelines for developing such relationships more fully. They also review existing research that demonstrates a positive connection between spirituality and well-being and suggest future directions for increasing the integration of spirituality into mental health services.

This is the 80th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Mental Health Services.