The Need Is Real

Across Lake County, every day, people carry the burden of mental health needs. Often, they hold these needs silently and with shame. Ben Sanders, a board-certified mental health coach and mission facilitator at Bethel Lutheran Church, has seen the gaps up close.

“Family members trying to support someone they love but feeling completely unequipped,” he said. “People carrying things they’ve never talked about with anyone.”

Ben knows that weight personally. He walked through his own season of anxiety and depression in the early 2000s, and came out the other side convinced that the Church has a unique role to play.

“One of the biggest misconceptions I still hear is, if your faith were stronger, you wouldn’t struggle like this,” he said. “But when I was going through what I went through, walking through those church doors every Sunday was a lifeline. I found I could more easily focus on God than the things that wanted to distract me from Him. I also realized I wasn’t alone; I was supported by my church family.”

Love INC of Lake County has been working toward closing this gap since 2022, when a listening tour with area church leaders surfaced mental health as the most urgent unmet need in their communities. That process led to a partnership with White Stone Counseling Resources, a gathering of more than 30 local pastors, and the formation of a mental health task force. One of the task force’s goals for 2025 was to pilot a Grace Alliance group in Lake County. The question was which church would go first.

Who Will Go First?

Pastor Brandon Smith of Village Church of Gurnee had been asking that question for over a decade. As a youth pastor, he watched students cycle in and out of inpatient treatment. During COVID, he hosted recorded Zoom calls with leaders in the mental health space to offer as resources on their website.

Once lockdowns had lifted, the church partnered with White Stone to offer a workshop called “Taming Anxiety and Depression” that packed the building. Each step confirmed what he already suspected: the need is enormous, and a one-time event is never enough.

When Love INC brought Grace Alliance to his attention, something clicked. The curriculum is biblically anchored, draws on current research, and does not require a clinical license to facilitate. It is designed to be run by equipped laypeople, in community, and over time.

“You can put people in a group setting where they can dig into these things over multiple weeks,” Brandon said, “and in community with others, start to experience God’s work.”

He describes the decision to launch as a step of faith. “You could sit and talk and plan and analyze until the rapture,” he said. “But at a certain point, you have to take some steps of faith, and giving something a try. You learn as you go, you make adjustments along the way, and you celebrate the ways you see God working on each step of the journey.”

Megan stepped forward to facilitate the group. She is a Village Church member and 20-year special education teacher who has navigated her own lifelong journey with anxiety. She co-led the group alongside a therapist-in-training from Trinity International University, and admits the early weeks brought plenty of uncertainty.

“My brain was going straight to: what if this doesn’t work?” she said.

What actually happened was almost the opposite. Four women signed up. Three stayed the full course. And by the end of the first session, Megan knew the group had found something real.

“The women opened up very quickly, on a pretty deep level,” she said. “People sharing their real struggles within the first few weeks. That is rare. It doesn’t usually happen that fast.”

Each session opens with Scripture, grounds participants in a biblical truth, then moves into practical application: understanding what mental illness looks like in the brain, how it feels in the body, and how to respond with tools instead of just good intentions.

“I like that it starts rooted in Scripture, but then gets into the science and practical application,” Megan said. “It gives people language for what they’re experiencing. And then it always circles back: who in Scripture has a story like yours? What would Jesus say about who you are?”

What Changed

For Claire, the group delivered something she hadn’t known she was missing: a framework for understanding the people she loves.

“There’s a chapter that deals with how different people handle mental illness,” she said. “Some lash out. Some withdraw. My brother is a huge withdrawer. I didn’t know what to do with that until the group gave me language and tools.”

Now, when he cancels at the last minute, she responds differently. “I’m sad I’ll miss you,” she told him before one gathering he couldn’t attend. “But let’s plan a night when you’re feeling better.” That’s what they did. It worked.

“I used to feel so helpless,” she said. “Now I feel better equipped. There’s a time to be a cheerleader, but there’s also a time to just listen, meet them where they’re at, and let them talk.”

She’s already telling people about the program. When a friend asked why she was attending what looked like a second Bible study, she was quick to clarify.

“This isn’t a Bible study,” she said. “This is a group that’s helping me understand mental illness and how to actually help the people I love. And it might be coming to a church near you.”

Conversations in Community

This story did not happen in isolation. Love INC brought the relationships, the resources, and the right conversations together at the right time.

That is Love INC’s role: not drawing people to itself, but connecting churches to each other and to what their communities need. As Brandon described, “Love INC is that central hub. When there’s a need, they know where this church fills this gap, and this church fills this gap.”