WHAT IS IT?

Spiritual mental health support had its beginnings in 2006 when I founded the faith-based Living Room peer support ministry. This was at a time when the Christian Church knew very little about mental health and those with symptoms were often made to feel ashamed, told that there was a problem with their relationship with God. There was little support for them.

Quite a few ended up at Living Room meetings where they were able to address their mental health issues and their faith together.

The foundation of Living Room was the unconditional love of Jesus. That love is what brought healing to many.

God had been a big part of my life from the moment I asked him to fill my heart with his love, asking him to help me share it with others. He naturally became a part of Living Room meetings where I led the group in interactive devotionals, most of them based on Christ’s story and teachings.

The work came naturally to me because I myself had suffered from severe mental health problems and was able to find relief by turning to God. I understood members of the group in ways that would not be possible for people who had never experienced such problems. The devotionals formed a basis for our discussions about how to find hope, strength, comfort, confidence. We discussed Scripture which helped us find relief from anxiety, stress, and fear.

Mostly, we learned about Christ’s immeasurable love for us.

At the time Jesus was on earth, he brought healing to those who the world was rejecting—the stigmatized of his day. He accepted them and gave them a sense of dignity. And through his love, they found healing. Through his Spirit we who experience so much rejection can find healing as well.

Medications and secular counseling can’t do anything to help the feelings that come from being looked down on, shunned and excluded, made to feel ashamed. I have learned that overcoming such painful effects of stigma can only come through Jesus. Only Jesus can help us with the low self-esteem and lack of confidence we live with because of stigma.

In equipping churches to support individuals with lived experience in their midst as some are doing, there is a lack of teachings about Jesus and what he can do. It was a tragic thing for Living Room to be dropped in favor of only supporting those who wish to support with learnings about mental health.

The unique form of spiritual support—support that included teachings about what Jesus can do—could only be provided at peer support groups where all members struggle in similar ways and they all understand each other.

This is why we need to have peer support groups in place where faith in Jesus Christ and mental health are addressed together as they did initially, in 2006. And they will need to include all people who need healing from their mental health issues. Not only Christians, but those of different faiths.

How could that work? To be followed in next post.

marja