Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Category: Mental illness and the church (page 2 of 10)

Narrowing the gap that divides

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS IN THE CHURCH After many years of fighting to overcome the stigma of mental illness in the Church, starting with publication of a couple of articles for the Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division in 2005 and 2006, I’m coming to see that “well” people will never truly understand what it is […]

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Let’s get angry at mental health stigma

  Throughout history, anger has proved to be an instrument of change. It leads to revolutionary action that can upend unjust social structures. Mahatma Gandhi was incensed with the state of his Indian nation, where his countrymen were made to feel inferior under British rule. Some years later, Nelson Mandela felt the same way when […]

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Church mental health – Awareness or care?

When talking about those in need of our help, Mother Teresa is probably the best example of compassionate love and care for the suffering. We would do well to study her thoughts about feeding the hungry and helping those for whom life is feeling hopeless. She did not wait for institutions to be established. If […]

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Mental health care and the church: Building self-esteem

The Church has made great headway in offering more accepting communities for people with mental health issues. But is the acceptance and the support it now gives enough? I believe God calls us to do more. One of the most difficult things people with mental illness face is low self-esteem. With the love of Christ, […]

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Talk with us, not about us

Bored? William Wilberforce, the British slave trade abolitionist, once said, “It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to reach and so much misery we could alleviate.” I’m certainly not bored. I only wish I were younger so that I would have more […]

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Reducing the feeling of shame

EXCERPT FROM A FIRM PLACE TO STAND (PAGE 198) – MARJA BERGEN (2008) In the introduction to his book, No Man is an island, Thomas Merton said that loving ourselves properly is “desiring to live, accepting life as a great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of […]

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Carving a role in the church for mental health care – God at work

“I WAS DETERMINED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE” Excerpt from A Firm Place to Stand, Marja Bergen, 2008   If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths you are there. Psalm 139:8 The last straw, the final thing that started my mind working overtime and threw […]

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The problem with advice

  Job’s three friends…set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground […]

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Caring – Jesus’ way

  … a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The […]

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With compassion like Jesus

    Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him.  As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. […]

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