National Catholic Partnership on Disability

History of Mental Illness Awareness Week

NCPD Council on Mental Illness Encourages Observance of the  

National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness Recovery & Understanding  

and Mental Illness Awareness Week

Washington, D.C. – The National Catholic Partnership on Disability (NCPD), through its year-old Council on Mental Illness, joins with thousands of individuals and organizations in marking National Mental Illness Awareness Week, October 7-13, 2007. Often overlooked as a disability, mental illness is in fact, included under the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and affects an estimated one in four families.

            As the highlight of this year’s observance, the Council is hosting a web seminar (“Webinar”) on Wednesday, October 10, from 12:00 – 1:00 pm (EDT). This hour-long, on-line seminar entitled “Supporting Persons with Mental Illness in Your Parishes” will provide personal, professional, and pastoral insights on mental illness and will include the opportunity for call-in questions. The target audience is priests; deacons; seminarians; and diocesan and parish pastoral, school and religious education personnel. 

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