IN THE NAME OF JESUS

This is what people with mental health challenges want to tell us:

  • We are looked down on.
  • We are not understood.
  • Our truths are not believed.
  • We are shunned rejected, excluded.
  • We are made to feel ashamed.
  • Our abilities are often underrated.
  • Our opinions are not respected.
  • We are not taken seriously.

These painful experiences do not come from our mental illness. There is no medication for it. It comes from what the world makes us feel about ourselves. It comes from stigma and should not be ignored, just like pain from other health conditions are not ignored.

If you were to live with all these negative attitudes assaulting you, how would you feel? This is important to understand. Because when you understand how stigmatized people feel, you’ll be in an excellent position to be able to be good support for them.

Having a mental health condition is not our fault. There is nothing we could have done to prevent it. We need the kind of acceptance that Jesus once showed to those the world rejected.

marja