Asbury Psychology Department to Host Mental Health Conference

October 24, 2024

The Asbury University Psychology Department and Asbury’s PsiChi team will host a mental health conference for the community titled: “Wholeness in Christ: Integrating Faith and Mental Health Conference” in the Shaw Collaborative Learning Center (CLC) on November 15 and 16 to promote a Christian-integrated understanding of psychology and how it can be applicable to life. Register here.

“This conference provides a middle ground between the Church and psychology, helping people understand that there are explanations for certain behaviors and thought patterns, but there is also a church community that has the capacity to provide support and care that is necessary for growth and healing,” said Psychology major Elizabeth Bower ’24, who will present at the conference with Associate Professor of Psychology Dr. Marcus Kilian.

“We are passionate about informing the church and larger community about mental health topics and integrating them with Christian spirituality,” Kilian said. “People should come to be empowered and encouraged to apply what they will learn to their own lives as well as being helpful to others.”

Topics will include trauma, gender and sexuality, mental health in the Church, and family dynamics.

“Since sophomore year, one of my dreams has been to integrate psychology into the Church,” Bower said. “There seems to be such a disconnect between the two, yet so many people suffer from mental health issues within the Church. This gives me the opportunity to integrate both.”

Earlier this year, Bower and Landon Roberts ’24 served as research assistants and presented a research poster with Kilian and Louisville psychologist Dr. Paul Schmidt on “The Assessment of Personal Well-Being: Initial Validation of a Free Anonymous Online Test” at the Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) conference in Atlanta, Ga.

The Asbury University Psychology Department offers a major and minor in Psychology, with major emphases in Business Psychology, Biological Psychology, Child Psychology, Christian Counseling/Psychology, Clinical/Counseling Psychology, Equine Facilitated Mental Health, Forensic Psychology, Social Psychology, and Student Development Psychology.