Looking for resources on the pastoral care of the mentally ill and those close to them

I am putting up this post to request the input of the blogosphere. A recent intervention of mine touched, in part, on the question of how to exercise pastoral care of the mentally ill. The moderation queue filled up fast with comments, and I immediately saw I had touched on a very sensitive topic — and perhaps not very well. I decided to take down the post until I thought the issue through a bit more.

This doesn’t mean the subject is not worthy of serious consideration, however. Given its complexity, and the fact that being a priest does not make one an automatic expert in everything, I want to start by creating a file for myself on the question of the pastoral care of the mentally ill and those close to them. The goal is not to collect information on mental illness in general — there are already vast resources dedicated to that — but to collect references to resources specifically useful for the pastoral care to be provided. I am already aware of some writings on the subject (there are some interesting insights, for example, in the works of Father Benedict Groeschel). If blog readers would be interested in sharing additional possible resources that they know of (books, articles, websites, reference persons), feel free to drop me a line with the details — I would appreciate it.

While I do believe our society has made important strides in understanding mental illness, rather than just sweeping it under a rug of shame, I have witnessed situations that tell me that more can and should be done. If Christians can be part of helping, all the better. Many thanks in advance!