The Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute

About the Institute

How can churches better understand and address mental health and pastoral care issues? The Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute at Mary Andrews College develops resources with this question in mind. We draw on the great wisdom and guidance offered in the Bible, combined with the best psychological and medical research. Our hope is that these resources will make a real and lasting impact on the mental and spiritual well-being of many in our churches and communities.

Sarah and Rev. Dr Keith Condie
Co-Directors/Founders,
Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute

Visit the Institute’s website:

The Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute 

Who we are

The Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute (MHPCI) is part of Mary Andrews College and provides reformed evangelical churches and ministry leaders everywhere with biblically and theologically informed training and resources for pastoral care with excellence. Our primary purpose is to promote well-being while alleviating distress, especially for those experiencing mental illness.

Since Anglican Deaconess Ministries launched the Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute (MHPCI) in 2016, the Institute’s Co-Directors, Keith & Sarah Condie, have been working within ADM to resource the local church throughout Australia in mental health and pastoral care.

While still working towards the same vision as part of the wider ADM community, on July 1, 2020 the MHPCI joined Mary Andrews College as an institute of the College, united with MAC in a desire to see the local church in Sydney and beyond be resourced for effective biblical and theologically informed pastoral care.

Our Directors

Sarah Condie is Co-Director/Founder with her husband Keith of the Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute. Before serving in full-time vocational ministry, she worked as a law librarian at the State Library of NSW for many years and loved it. Sarah loves to read, walk, quilt, drink cups of tea with friends at the kitchen table, and write on her blog when she can.

Rev. Dr Keith Condie is Co-Director/Founder with his wife Sarah of the Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute. He has degrees in psychology, theology and history, and for his PhD, he looked at meditation in the thought of a seventeenth-century Puritan pastor, Richard Baxter. Keith has worked in child welfare for the state government as well as serving as an Assistant Minister in two churches in Sydney. For nearly 20 years, he was on the faculty at Moore Theological College as Dean of Students and lecturer in ministry and church history. Keith enjoys reading, keeping fit, cooking and the ritual of Thursday night family dinners, while escaping occasionally to the coast to walk along isolated beaches.

In 2021, Keith & Sarah celebrated their 40th year of marriage. They have three adult children and two daughters-in-law. For over twenty years, they have led numerous workshops and courses across Australia on building better marriages.

What we do

The MHPCI functions across three levels:

Prevention – We provide programs and other resources that strengthen and enrich arenas that are formative for robust mental health;

Equipping – We provide training, courses and resource materials so that pastors and other members of churches can care for each other more effectively;

Support – We provide assistance to alleviate the distress of those experiencing long-term mental health issues, both the individuals concerned and those caring for them.

Find out more

Visit the Institute website:

The Mental Health & Pastoral Care Institute