PHOENIX — John Dolan literally wrote the book on dealing with suicide.
The book is called "When a Loved one Dies of Suicide," and it sits on a table in the newly-opened Mental Health Ministry at the Phoenix Catholic Diocese.
Dolan wrote the book...because he's lived it. Three times.
"I lost three siblings," Dolan said in the courtyard outside the office. "One sibling just two months ago through suicide."
"I've gone through my conversations with God," Dolan said. "Acceptance, denial, anger, depression, bargaining...all that stuff I did."
And then, Dolan did something else. He decided his new job, the Diocese of Phoenix, needed a ministry focused on mental health and its effects.
So, 134 days after being installed as Bishop, he cut the ribbon for the new offices on Tuesday morning.
"You're not ashamed to say, Oh, I broke my arm, Dolan said. "But for some reason, when it comes to mental health, we're ashamed of it."
The Mental Health Ministry will train priests and deacons in the basics of mental health awareness. those priests will have access to counseling and other mental health resources. And the office hopes to be a meeting place, a kind of group therapy, for people who've lost a loved one to suicide and mental illness.
“We can see it," Dolan said. "The government tries to work on it. Religion tries to work on it. It's going to be hard, but I'm attentive to the people who fall through the cracks.”
And Dolan hopes this office will seal the cracks and prevent other families from going through the same things he has.
For more on the Office of Mental Health Ministry, visit the Phoenix Catholic Diocese's website.
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