THE BEST WAY TO OVERCOME THE PAIN OF STIGMA

The original faith-based mental health support group was founded in 2006 at a time when the Church was in the dark about mental health, many believing that mental illness was a spiritual problem. People with mental health challenges were being shamed out of their churches, left without spiritual support.

There were secular mental health peer support groups. But they were not places where our faith and its effect on our mental health could be addressed. Living Room gave Christians a place where they could safely talk about both—their mental health and their faith. The devotionals—most of them focusing on the unconditional love of Jesus. Their faith grew and they found a healing from their mental and emotional struggles.

The group became very popular. As word got out, attendance rose quickly until, about a year later, we had twenty people meeting around a huge table. Thanks to attention from the Christian media, the ministry quickly started to become a movement.

The group was founded on the unconditional love of Jesus and it was that sense of love that seemed to carry the healing power. Interactive devotionals that I prepared for discussion with the group featured some of the problems our lives with mental health issues had. And stories from Jesus’ life during his three-year ministry on earth helped us see him as someone who could understand what we were going through. Particularly in the way he accepted and loved the rejected people of his day.

I believe this group was the pioneer of this kind of spiritual mental health support that I have come to see as essential in overcoming the painful effects that stigma leaves us with. I led this original Living Room group for nine years but continued writing the devotionals which I began work on in 2013. These devotionals are now intended to form the backbone of Living Room’s Open Door ministry that I’m trying to get off the ground.

This spiritual approach to mental health support came from my personal belief in Jesus, whose love touched me deeply. I could identify with him because during his life he too was rejected, as was I. Others with lived experience would also identify with him. Because we’re all being rejected.

I later became familiar with the wide-spread research done by Harold Koenig, M.D. who has written many books about his discovery of the importance of spirituality and its effect on health. His studies included all major religious faiths.

Today, I’m trying to form Living Room’s Open Door – groups that will serve all faiths. Manual and devotionals available. marja@marjabergen.com