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...PEER SUPPORT – As most of you who read here know, I’m working on behalf of individuals who live with mental health challenges. I’m trying to help those who don’t understand what it’s like to live with stigma, to better understand how they could help heal the pain caused by stigma. It must be stated […]
Read More...FOLLOWING A RADICAL JESUS – SPIRITUAL SUPPORT Dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus’ sermons; but this caused complaints from the Jewish religious leaders and the experts on Jewish law because he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them! Luke 15:1-2 (TLB) Jesus was a radical in the […]
Read More...THE IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING – PART TWO – Imagine, having something very important to tell someone, but you’re not listened to. There are nine symptoms that determine whether or not a person has BPD (borderline personality disorder). I had only three, but still received the diagnosis. It was official—put in my chart. And I believed […]
Read More...© 2025 Marja Bergen
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑