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 their understanding. They learned a lot. It was a good thing. The ministry drew a large following.

But there was something important missing. Although it served the Church, the importance of faith and the role Jesus could have in the healing of Christians under their care, was not part of the discussion.

A few years earlier, in 2006, another ministry, Living Room, was founded which provided peer support groups for people with mood disorders. Here they received the kind of support their churches had not been able to give them. Members were able to share with others who, like themselves, were struggling with symptoms of illness and—even more than that—the pain of stigma.

Most importantly, their spiritual needs were met as they studied scripture and learned about God’s unconditional love for them. The gospels showed them how Jesus sought out individuals like themselves who had been rejected by the world they lived in. They learned how Jesus could be there for them as well. Much healing occurred at those meetings.

News about Living Room and what it offered spread and within a couple of years it had become a movement. Many other groups sprang up across Canada. But there were not enough resources to keep the ministry going. In 2014, the organization I mentioned at the beginning of this post had become well organized and came to the rescue, offering to merge with Living Room. The work was entrusted into their care.

But they did not have the spiritual passion that Living Room needed. In 2018 they removed the ministry from their mandate. I tried to change their minds, but they would not budge. Although there are still three small Living Room groups in existence, the further development of groups was abandoned. In effect, spiritual support for people with lived experience was no longer supported.

Several times I tried emailing the organization, to impress on them how the needs of people with mental illness were not being met—their spiritual needs especially. I received no responses. They will not talk to me. Even I, the person who had since 2006 been serving the spiritual needs of such people, was not listened to. Although supporters were being equipped to help, the people who were suffering were being forgotten. I became, as much as I could, a voice for those who were not being heard.

Things used to be much different. I had worked from the year 2000 onwards to raise mental health awareness in the church. I did this by writing and speaking extensively about how God had been there for me with my bipolar problems. People listened and I made a big impact. Those who heard me came to feel more compassion for people with problems like mine.

Today the stigma towards people with mental illness is worse than ever. The main problem being that we have lost our voices. We are not listened to anymore. Today, I have a hard time having my writings read or accepted by magazines. We have lost the compassion that we had at one time gained.

What changed? Why was I no longer being heard?

My story was lost, not recognized as something that should be remembered. It was not until I went through my journals, blogposts and emails a few months ago and pulled together the chronicled account of my work that my story finally came to light. For the first time since around 2015.

And so, we now have my book, ONE SUCH AS ME? that will show how people at one time eagerly listened to me, a person with lived experience. It shows how well I was heard. The book clearly documents the impact my efforts made to people’s understanding about mental illness. Those who heard me welcomed the point of view of someone living with it. But today, very few are willing to listen to such a point of view.

Why was the enormous amount of work I did promoting mental health awareness never acknowledged by the organization that now works to reduce stigma in the Church?

Although I had done so much of the initial work educating the public and supporting people with lived experience, any help I offered to try and help them understand the needs of people with lived experience, were ignored. Emails were not responded to. When I sent them a copy of my book, The Living Room Story, hoping that they might let people know about it, I received no response. When I offered to share with them devotionals that could encourage people who are struggling, I received no response.

The needs of the people for whom the organization had been established—those who suffered—were being ignored. Not listened to.

I was rejected, stigmatized in the way so many like me are stigmatized by the world, by an organization that claims it is reducing stigma. When we look at it from the perspective of one such as me, stigma is worse than ever today.

My book, ONE SUCH AS ME: Pioneering Spiritual Mental Health Support, shows a different world—the world before 2014. It’s a story—lost for far too long—of how God worked in the life of a person with a severe mental illness, complete with factually chronicled events, personal meditations and prayers. It builds understanding from the point of view of someone with experience. It’s a beautiful story about God and what the was able to do in the life of a person for whom the world holds out so little hope – a person who believes that all things are possible with God.

I ask those with mental illness, as well as those with good mental health: “If God can do this for one such as me, what can he do for you?”

marja