In my roller coaster blog I wrote the following on November 8, 2011:

Tomorrow  I take part in Sharon Smith’s lecture at Regent College, speaking to upcoming pastors. Sharon is the founder of Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries. I will tell them what it’s like to live with bipolar disorder. I will describe what my life is like now-a-days. Can I help them understand? Even a little bit? Enough so that they’ll be compassionate towards others who have bipolar disorder? Enough so that they’ll know how to offer support?

I remember a time not too many years ago, before I wrote A Firm Place to Stand before Living Room, and before Sanctuary, when I tried to interest various seminaries in town in having someone speak to their counselling students about mental illness. Nothing happened. There was no interest. Maybe I didn’t have the credentials. As a person with mental illness, it appeared I was not trusted to have my thoughts considered seriously.

But how things are changing, I wrote again on November 8th, 2011.

Tomorrow Dr. Sharon Smith will be presenting a three-hour lecture at Regent College in Vancouver on mental health recovery in the Church. Caroline Penhale and I will be speaking as well. I will tell my story and will talk about the Living Room support ministry.

The next day I reported the following:

Have to let you know that the talk at Regent went well. I felt calm—exceedingly calm. Not nervous, not shaking as I had been the couple of days before the talks. And I knew it was because people were praying for me and I prayed for myself. Trouble was—and I feel bad about this—I’m pretty sure I talked far longer than I should have. Sharon ran out of time and at the end had to cram an hour of material into half an hour. I feel bad about that.

My presentation at the very end of the lecture, where I talked about Living Room, went much better. I was able to fit everything into 5 minutes and yet feel I said all I needed to say. The note I ended on was that it would be wonderful if the whole church could be like Living Room. A place where people can be authentic and not have to hide painful things they live with because of shame.

And today, in 2023, I would add this: If the Church could only be a place where individuals with the unique needs of people with mental health challenges could be fed the kind of food they hunger for. Their need for spiritually rich support is a calling the Church should be responding to . . . if they only would.

In case you’re interested in the history of mental health and the Church, you might find this old blog http://marjabergen.blogspot.com/ an interesting read. It dates back from 2006 the year when Living Room was founded. Very casual with lots of comments from readers. It was a different world back then,

marja