As I told a friend recently, each time I post a memory from my Living Room days, my spirit is boosted.  I’m reminded I have a beautiful past worth remembering.  

How I thank God for that!

Thank you for spending some time there with me.

Have you been able to find some time to read some of the history of Living Room and mental health awareness I’ve been publishing on my blog so far? I believe you’ll find some of it interesting – even inspiring. Go to http://marjabergen.com/archives/category/living-room I publish a new piece of history every day.

Here’s what is, and will be, on the blog this week:

  • Monday – The first Living Room meeting ever
  • Tuesday – Stigma in the church
  • Wednesday – I speak to the congregation
  • Thursday – When is much too much?
  • Friday – Rest
  • Saturday – A crummy day
  • Sunday – Living with confidence

Re my previous post:  In my early days of raising awareness about mental illness in the church I was angry and outspoken about the failures I saw in the church. I wrote much about it in my blog and also wrote articles. This was before the days of Sanctuary Mental Health Ministry and at a time when mental illness received much less attention in the media than it does today.

My articles were welcomed by secular publications. Nonchristian writers being as critical would have been suspected of having an axe to grind. But I was a Christian writer, someone who herself had a mental disorder. I spoke from a faith perspective and could be considered more trustworthy – and more publishable. This is how I believe I was able to make an impact.

In 2005 Visions journal published Mental Disorders, the Result of Sin? That article is still online. If you’re interested, you can find it at http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/stigma-and-discrimination-vol2/mental-disorders-the-result-of-sin

In 2006, shortly after Living Room began, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) published Church Support: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The article is no longer online, but I describe what I said in the post I re-published on Tuesday, December 4th at http://marjabergen.com/archives/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly

marja