Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Category: Our voices (page 1 of 6)

Our worthiness and dignity

LIVED EXPERIENCE AND THE CREDIBILITY GAP Picture yourself: A capable person in most respects, having opinions and able to present them logically, having thoughts and ideas no less meaningful than those others have. Perhaps you’re a leader, a person who can make things happen. A person who can make a difference. But despite having many […]

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Is this what God really means?

APPEAL FROM THE OPPRESSED AND STIGMATIZED 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 […]

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Why? My tragedy continues – Part 4

MY EMPATHY FOR REJECTED PEOPLE GROWS in May, the flashbacks started. Over and over the pain of being excluded from the group appeared, bringing deep depression. This continued for a number of years. Many other forms of rejection were to follow. A friend who had been dear to me refused to spend time with me. […]

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“Let us speak for ourselves”

A LIVING ROOM RESPONSE FOR MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS My Living Room work helping stigmatized people led to personal tragedy when I myself was stigmatized. But I have learned things that I can now pass along. I pray that this piece will show how we who suffer need to be heard for justice to be served. […]

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“I still believe in humanity”

Photo by Ro Niyamot Ullah A Voice from the World’s Largest Rohingya Refugee Camps by Mohammed Rofique Please Don’t Forget Us , I am a displaced Rohingya refugee survivor. For the past 8 years, I have stood beside my community as a CPC Community Para Counselor under the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency  MHPSS program, […]

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Why don’t you believe me?

  I wrote the following in May 2021, at a time when I was working very hard to make the voices of people with mental health conditions heard. The injustice of being ignored by the world when we had important things to say angered me. I tried and tried but I was never sufficiently heard. […]

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Rohingya’s forced exclusion from the world

Photo by Rohim Ullah I recently read an article entitled The Architecture of Rohingya Exclusion by Shafiur Rahman, published in the September 16, 2025 edition of United Against Humanity. The following is an excerpt. It is a statement I wish I had seen earlier so that I could have commented on it before the September […]

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The story must be heard

I have been closely following the Rohingya story since February 2025, hearing through LinkedIn the reports from Rohingya refugees themselves as well as multiple news stories about them. Stories about the suffering of a people who have, for decades, faced some of the worst discrimination the world has seen. They are stories that haven’t reached […]

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I cry out to those who still care

MY PASSION: • As a person who knows what it is to suffer I cry out to the world to wake up to the grave injustices that are occurring yet ignored by those who don’t have the courage to stand up for what is right. • I cry out to all who remember that love […]

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Even in the midst of tragedy

ROHINGYA ARE NOT MADE TO BE VICTIMS At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,     and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of […]

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