What is Companionship? Companionship is a ministry of presence, a relationship responding to isolation and suffering and supportive of healing and recovery. Companionship welcomes the stranger, building a circle of care with individuals who are facing emotional and mental health challenges. Companionship is rooted in our natural capacities as human beings to be sensitive, compassionate and concerned. Courses coming up […]
Read More...EXCERPTED FROM JUSTICE FOR ALL – CHAPTER 9, NELSON MANDELA How many of us have wounds that need healing? The great people featured in Justice for All have shown us how injustices can be overcome—in our own lives and, on a grander scale, in the world. They have much to teach us. Nelson Mandela gives […]
Read More...LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF THOSE WHO LIVE WITH IT Trying to reduce stigma by having educators teach us about mental illness, only serves to show people how we’re different. It’s only by hearing from people who live with it—only by hearing how they’re hurt by stigma and discrimination—that compassion can grow and understanding reached. […]
Read More...THE EFFECTS OF STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION In 1999, I published a book encouraging those who, like me, had mental health issues. In an effort to encourage them, I wrote, “It’s not the end of the world.” I worked hard, trying to make the world a better place for them—in 2006, founding support groups, where they […]
Read More...FREE SHIPPING AVAILABLE I want to thank all of you who came to the Justice for All book launch. You helped make it a great party. I really enjoyed the discussion after–with all 25 of us in a big circle. Gathered in the way I find best conducive to conversation. That was really special to me, and […]
Read More...PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE November 2018, revised I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 I’ve been reviewing an old blog which was active from 2006 to 2014. 2006 was the year Living Room started. Today http://marjabergen.blogspot.com/ can still be viewed, so many years after the fact. It’s amazing […]
Read More...DON’T FORGET THE PARTY The Launch of Justice for All Saturday, September 10, 2 – 4pm Please rsvp by Sept. 5 – 604-291-6254 New Life Community Church 8765 Government St. (see map and note street closure) “Why was the book really written?” Trans Mountain Pipeline Update: Government Street, east of the church, between Horne Street and the edge […]
Read More...THE CHURCH, MENTAL ILLNESS, AND US Jesus came to love and to heal those who are sick. And that should be the Church’s role. Teaching about mental illness is good, but it does nothing to remove stigma or discrimination. It does the opposite. It only serves to point out how our disabilities make us different […]
Read More...DISABILITY AS A GIFT As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. […]
Read More...MENTAL HEALTH AND PEER SUPPORT [Some men] said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days […]
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