MENTAL ILLNESS AND BEING HEARD I’ve been reading about William Wilberforce and how he worked to ban the Atlantic Slave Trade. It took years before the British Parliament would listen and abolish the trade. Wouldn’t we all like to have a voice like Wilberforce’s to speak for us when no one wants to listen? Some […]
Read More...VOICES OF MENTAL ILLNESS Have you ever noticed how some organizations created to be there for the welfare of people with mental health issues, talk more about us than listen to us? It’s the same when groups of people gather to talk about how they can support us. They talk about us. We ourselves are […]
Read More...When We Lose the One we Depend On As a person with a diagnosis of mental illness, dependent on others for your everyday needs, have you ever wondered what would happen if your husband, wife, or other caregiver were to die? Will your rights be protected? I fear for mine. Were your husband or wife […]
Read More...I have spoken with anger at the injustice I see towards people with mental illness like me. But angry words are not always counted as valid representations of what is believable and true. And so if that’s the way things are, I will endeavor to speak with the grief underneath that anger. You will hear […]
Read More...That’s the way it is when you have a mental illness. No matter how good a person you are or how much good you’ve done, you’re not considered to have credibility. Many like me have things to say: to protect ourselves, defend ourselves, explain ourselves. But we’re not listened to, not heard. Not like “regular” […]
Read More...We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 Dear friends, Please let me share some personal things with you. I’ve been writing to you for many years—for some of those years going through extremely tough times. […]
Read More...Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice. Proverbs 31:8-9 NLT “Speaking for the poor and helpless.” Is this what God really means? I think we need to be careful and think about that […]
Read More...When I raised mental health awareness in the church from 2006 on, I spoke as a person living with mental health issues. It made a difference. People heard me. But today, people with such issues have no voice – are not given opportunities to be heard. Why not? Do they really think we don’t know […]
Read More...What happened to those voices that did the initial work of raising mental health awareness in the Church? Stories of what it feels like to be discriminated against are not heard because those who are affected are shunned when they want to tell about their pain. No one listens anymore. Why do the powers that […]
Read More...There is an insidious form of stigma that’s common in the lives of people with mental illness. It’s caused by mistreatment that’s real but not obvious, and so, when complaints are made, they’re not believed. The victims’ ability tell the truth about a situation, is all too often questioned. That’s unfair and a great injustice. […]
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