HEALING THE WOUNDS OF STIGMA

Help with our mental health has come from many areas of the secular world. The medical profession and mental health professionals help us deal with symptoms of our illness. We have medications. We’re taught coping skills. We have counselors to listen to our day-to-day problems. But none of these worldly means will help us with the ingrained wounds that years of stigma have left in our lives.

Only through Christ can such wounds can find healing that will last.. For times when we’re hurting emotionally, there is nothing better than the knowledge of God’s immense love for us To hear a supporter telling us that we are God’s children and that we have great worth has more lasting significance than any other kind of support.

How can our friends help? How can they help us feel better about ourselves? How can they help us develop confidence and a meaningful life?

To facilitate such support, Bergen has developed a blog series of writings for peers, friends and family who want to help troubled friends. The series will be added to periodically.

The In the Name of Jesus series shows the perspective of people with mental illness and what it’s like to live with it. It’s about building a different kind of mental health awareness—awareness from the perspective of those who know the suffering.

marja

(I’m not a professional caregiver. Since 2006, I have given spiritual support as a peer to people living with all sorts of mental health issues. I write from the point of view of someone who has been there and understands—someone who wants to share the faith she has found in God.)

 

This has been Part 1 of the series In the Name of Jesus. To read Part 2  go to Low Self-esteem.