WHEN I RETIRED FROM LEADING LIVING ROOM, I WAS EXCLUDED When a group was being formed promising to promote deeper relationships, I wasted no time signing up. I had for a long time waited for such an opportunity. I played a supportive role in many people’s lives. But I needed a peer with whom I […]
Read More...OSTRACIZED Maybe my worst emotional problems started around 2014 when frequent depression and other forms of mental health crises forced me to give up my Global Living Room ministry to the stronger Sanctuary Mental Health Ministry. I hoped that they would be able to help it grow into the big ministry I envisioned. My own […]
Read More...I FOUGHT STIGMA AND SUPPORTED THE STIGMATIZED My work started many years ago, in 1993, when I was determined to try and overcome the stigma attached mental illness. I was ready to give it my all, and I did give everything I had, still doing so today, in the year 2026. I openly revealed everything […]
Read More...UNCONDITIONAL LOVE HEALS – Please stop for a moment and think what it would feel like to be: looked down on, not understood, not believed to have credibility, shunned, rejected, excluded, made to feel ashamed, to have your abilities underrated, to have your opinions ignored, not to be taken seriously. In human terms, what […]
Read More...ONE SUCH AS ME? finally brought to light. In 2011, an organization was founded in Vancouver that promised to equip churches and parishes to support mental health recovery within their community. They did this by providing online courses that explained the ins and outs of mental health. Churches were delighted to have information that improved […]
Read More...Part of what I have not yet talked about was my misdiagnosis of borderline personality disorder, the result of a psychiatrist’s not listening carefully to my story – making assumptions on the basis of only two or three of the symptoms I displayed. This caused much of the stigma I experienced at the time. And […]
Read More...MY TRAGEDY – I’ll tell it as briefly as I can, and then move on to sharing the positives that God has for us – his unconditional love and his hope. At the end of December 2013, and probably earlier, the friends I had were drawing away from me more and more. It was probably […]
Read More...ONE SUCH AS ME? Not too long ago, when I decided to shut the door on my painful past, I said that I would only talk about the good parts of my story. And I did that—told it as fully as I could. It felt good to remember that I had done all I could […]
Read More...STIGMA PERPETUATED I published the following not long ago. But it’s an important truth and I must make sure it’s heard: “As long as people with lived experience are being talked about and not heard, stigma will be perpetuated, not reduced. Only by hearing the voices of those who suffer can compassion be aroused.” . […]
Read More...“As long as people with lived experience are being talked about and not heard, stigma will be perpetuated, not reduced. Only by hearing the voices of those who suffer can truth be known and compassion aroused.” marja
Read More...© 2026 Marja Bergen
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