THE CHURCH, MENTAL ILLNESS, AND US Jesus came to love and to heal those who are sick. And that should be the Church’s role. Teaching about mental illness is good, but it does nothing to remove stigma or discrimination. It does the opposite. It only serves to point out how our disabilities make us different […]
Read More...DISABILITY AS A GIFT As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. […]
Read More...MENTAL HEALTH AND PEER SUPPORT [Some men] said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days […]
Read More...HISTORY BOOK PROMOTES CONFIDENCE AND SELF-ESTEEM Author Marja Bergen had many reasons for writing her recently-released book, Justice for All. The primary reason was to instill confidence in those who need encouragement to be all they can be—those who want a more meaningful life. The book looks at the stories of twelve of history’s […]
Read More...BOUNDARIES OR STIGMA? In 2017, during a difficult time of my life, I wrote the following: For a long time the concept of boundaries didn’t make sense to me. It hurt when I was shut out of various peoples lives. Oh, Lord, it hurt! How could I tell all I want to tell? How can I […]
Read More...BPD AND CHURCH SUPPORT According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), “BPD is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed mental health conditions. It’s so misdiagnosed, in fact, that there isn’t even an accurate prevalence rate for the condition. What we do have is an estimate of 2–6% of the population, which actually makes BPD very […]
Read More...Check out Pathways to Promise https://www.pathways2promise.org/ This is a Christian mental health organization founded in 1988, around, longer than any other. Check the following for their various training sessions if you’d like to give peer support (or companionship). Pathways to Promise is part of the companionship movement. For training go to: https://www.thecompanionshipmovement.org/ This is […]
Read More...EQUALITY IN MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT I write this from a personal experience of receiving support from one or two kind people in particular—people who became dear to me. And I wonder if there might be other good Christian individuals like them who mean well when caring for a person with mental health issues, only to […]
Read More...Some of you have asked how to get a copy. The only way right now is online through the publisher, FriesenPress. I included the link to them in my previous post. Here’s what Friesen’s wrote to me: “As well as being available on the FriesenPress Bookstore, your title is officially available for purchase through Ingram’s […]
Read More...Justice for All is now published!! Official Launch in early September Invitation to come Early copies now available at https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000248671635 But I hope you’ll wait until the party to come. Here’s what people have said: Today we live in a world which often speaks of human rights. In this book Bergen takes what is often an abstract […]
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