Living Room

FAITH-BASED PEER SUPPORT GROUPS FOR MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS

Living Room is the spiritual mental health model designed to give support to groups of people with mental health conditions. All members of Living Room groups, including the facilitator, have experienced, or are experiencing similar mental health issues. It’s this commonality that pulls them together. Groups are not led by professionals and don’t offer clinical therapy.

Peer support groups are an important element in the needs of those living with mental health issues. Support by peers has been shown to be more effective than support from healthy individuals. Those who don’t have lived experience can’t hope to empathize in the way peers can empathize.

Participants gather on a regular basis to support each other by sharing their experiences of struggle and pain. Members receive social support, but they also share ideas on strategies that will help them cope with the struggles they are facing. Together, in the company of others who can relate, members find out they’re not alone.

But Living Room differs from other kinds of support groups in that our spiritual needs are also addressed. Those needs will be different for all. You may be Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, or follower of some other religion, wanting to bring messages of your faith to people in need. Research has found that a healthy faith life will help to positively affect mental health. And so, spiritual topics are introduced by the facilitator and explored as a group.

There is a way in which all participants are alike, no matter what they believe. In a world that rejects so many of them, the message that they are accepted and loved is one that they all need to hear.

The historic Jesus and the unconditional love he is known for is the foundation on which Living Room rests. To some he is the Son of God; to others he is a Prophet. To most he is regarded as a someone to be revered.

Jesus is the best example we have of love shown to all people, no matter who they are, where they are, or how they worship. This love has brought healing to many and it continues doing so today. He showed special love for rejected people—for those the world had turned its back on.

Through Living Room groups and the love of Jesus, participants can find peace and healing.

The devotionals included in this website are very important. They form the “meat” that provides the spiritual mental health support.

The interactive devotionals that are designed for group use make it easy for facilitators to plan topics they could bring to meetings. Questions throughout will prompt discussion on faith and mental health issues and lead to good reflection for all members there. Don’t miss them.

Devotionals for personal use could also be used by groups by reading them at meetings and using them as a basis for discussion.

Living Room must remain a free-standing initiative—not attached to any organization, including religious institutions.

LIVING ROOM HISTORY

The original Living Room faith-based mental health support group was founded by Marja Bergen in 2006 at a time when the Church was in the dark about mental health, many believing that mental illness was a spiritual problem. People with mental health challenges were being shamed out of their churches, left without spiritual support.

There were secular mental health peer support groups. But they were not places where faith and its effect on mental health could be addressed. Living Room gave Christians a place where they could safely talk about both—their mental health and their faith. With the help of devotionals their faith grew and they found a measure of healing from their mental and emotional struggles.

The group was founded on the unconditional love of Jesus and it was that sense of love that seemed to carry the healing power. Interactive devotionals prompted discussion that featured some of the problems our lives with mental health issues had.

The spiritual mental health support provided by Living Room was so successful that Marja realized it should be available to all who deal with mental health conditions, regardless of their faith tradition. The world is full of people with such challenges, all of whom could benefit from spiritual support. Gradually, with God’s step by step leading, the new open-door concept of Living Room was born.

Now people from all faith traditions will be able to benefit from groups offering spiritual mental health support. See Jesus is for All Faiths.

MHPSS AND LIVING ROOM

Groups offering Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) could benefit by including readings of Living Room devotionals at their meetings. This would be especially valuable for those whose participants want to include faith in their wellness plan. Research has shown that religious faith has a positive effect on mental well-being.

Living Room founder, Marja Bergen, started writing these devotionals in 2013 to help those who were not able to attend groups. Through the writings she shares God’s love in the way He has shown His love to her during her mental health struggles. Her messages have helped many find healing—building courage, strength, and hope. People with mental health challenges find they become stronger in their faith.

Well over two hundred of these spiritual writings are available on this website, ready to download at no charge. Please check them out.

Marja Bergen

author, mental health advocate, follower of Christ

Living Room

FAITH-BASED PEER SUPPORT GROUPS FOR MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS

LIVING ROOM HISTORY

MHPSS AND LIVING ROOM

Devotionals

Devotionals for Personal Use by Category

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