HOW DO THEY HELP? Religious faith is vitally important to people experiencing emotional and mental struggles. Although medication and professional counseling are helpful, Living Room addressed the spiritual aspects of member’s needs. The new Open Door groups for people of all faith traditions will do the same. I have practiced such spiritual mental health support […]

VOLUNTEER PREVIEWERS NEEDED FOR 11,500 WORD MANUSCRIPT marja@marjabergen.com SPIRITUAL MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT GROUPS As I put together this study guide to describe Living Room’s Open Door groups,  giving spiritual mental health support, I knew that I would be talking to readers from many different backgrounds—culturally and spiritually. They would include people working in the mental […]

GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE – Some of us may remember times when we felt like this little child, finding comfort in the loving arms of her mother. It was a place of safety and security—protection from what we saw to be a world of animosity. A world where love seemed to have been abandoned. It’s true […]

BUILDING CONFIDENCE I believe that many in the medical profession are aware that their patients have a spiritual side to their nature, but most don’t believe that it should be part of their work to address it. They may not personally be very spiritual people and don’t believe it has a place in the treatment […]

I VIRTUALLY ENTERED HIS WORLD “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 […]

Please stop for a moment and think what it would feel like: ·        to be looked down on, ·        not understood, ·        not believed to have credibility, ·        shunned, rejected, excluded, ·        made to feel ashamed, ·        to have your abilities underrated, ·        to have your opinions ignored, ·        not to be taken seriously. In human terms, what does […]

I know that in working out this Open Door concept that I’m talking to people of all different backgrounds—culturally and spiritually. And I wonder how this man Jesus with his unconditional love would fit in with your background? It would be wonderful if all of us could come to understand who he is and what […]

I’ve been talking a fair amount about my faith, something not everyone feels comfortable with. But I need to tell you that it’s because my life has in huge ways been affected by my belief in God and his Son Jesus. At the age of nineteen I spent nine months in a mental institution suffering […]

  My soul is quiet and waits for God alone. My hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and the One who saves me. He is my strong place. I will not be shaken. Trust in Him at all times, O people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a safe place […]

I’m concerned about the situation in the Church in Canada today. Although most think that the amount of stigma towards people with lived experience has been reduced I, as such a person, am feeling the stigma more than ever before. Christians are being equipped to support people with mental health challenges.  Yes, we are being […]