The core theme is the urgent need for Christian communities to destigmatize mental health and disability, embrace individuals with these challenges, and integrate professional mental health support into their theological understanding and practices.
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we need to recognize that
first and foremost disability is not
unchristian mental disability or
physical disability is not unchristian
it's not evidence that god
does not love us disability is not a sin
and it's not a consequence of sin we
need to find ways
to welcome people with mental health
issues into our churches people with
physical disabilities as well obviously
into our churches
not only so that we can serve people
with those issues but also so that we
can be served by them they have very
specific and particular perspectives on
the world that are valuable to us as
christians that we can attend to listen
to and that can help us to grow in our
relationship with god so i think we
should be very welcoming in our
communities as much as possible and you
know you make such a good point as i was
doing research you know someone pointed
out mental health is something all of us
have we have we have mental capacity and
we have to maintain our health when it
comes to you know how we think how we
process and so obviously there are
illnesses and there's depression and
anxiety and obviously those are things
that we need to focus on i'm going to
stay with you colin
is there pressure for christians to
always be happy that maybe we're not
having a conversation just about mental
health and mental well-being
i think that that is true i think that
there are
uh certain versions of theology that
lend themselves to that way of thinking
that if uh if everything isn't perfect
in my life that somehow i've done
something wrong
or i'm i'm letting god down and so these
are the things that are happening to me
that's a an unfortunate form of theology
that sort of leaks into our churches
sometimes um sometimes we also over
spiritualize mental health many of these
things that we're talking about are are
physical issues often in our brains uh
they aren't necessarily a responsive
uh to faithfulness or unfaithfulness
they're things that are happening to us
um and so i think that some of the path
one of the paths forward i hope for us
as churches is to take very seriously
the advice of mental health
professionals to talk to people who have
actual education training capacity and
these issues to help maybe correct some
of these um these faulty presuppositions
uh that that have maybe leaked into our
theology over the years yeah
children's hospitals in canada have seen
a 100
increase in mental health related
emissions julia do you think there's
still a stigma around mental health in
the church
yeah yeah i just want to applaud what
colin said i think it is so true there's
a group i follow on facebook and they
posted a t-shirt that said it's okay to
have jesus and a therapist too
which is meant to be cute but at the
same time send such an important message
to the church because i know when i was
growing up as a teenager finding my way
in the church those messages that colin
talked about were so prevalent and i
think that has done a lot of harm
i think we've also come a really long
way though so we're now at the place
where we can talk more openly about
these things and our you know our
churches should be places um
um
where we can be safe where they are
authentic vulnerable spaces we can be
real about our struggles where people
look out for us support us encourage us
to talk and seek professional help when
that's needed these things are such uh
important elements of this early warning
and detection system
um when something might be amiss in our
lives so i think it's just so important
everything that colin just said is so
important and we are starting to see
that i think but we have a ways to go
yet yeah julia's sticking with you while
the church can support someone
struggling with mental health sometimes
professional help as we've talked about
is needed are the resources available
for people seeking help and i say this
because we just had a really fascinating
conversation with daniel whitehead from
sanctuary uh which is a ministry for
churches when it comes to mental health
and he said i hope 10 years from now
that we're not saying that was a fad
that we're no longer talking about
mental health that we've moved forward
so do you feel that there are the right
resources and i'm talking again to the
church that we're we're really accessing
the right resources to make sure that
this is a constant conversation
oh boy
um i think the work has started yeah i'm
i'm not sure that i think it's just a
fact that the population generally often
struggles to get timely
um access to supports when it comes to
mental health
and so i think that's also true in the
church and we're also if we're starting
behind in terms of being able to really
talk about it openly um
um
in that way in the church we probably
have those hurdles to overcome also but i
i
you know i hope that
it is an ongoing focus
for us in the church and as a society
i i feel like i always come back to this
topic maggie but it is so important
right now um every year canadians come
together in this really deliberate way
to say to those who are struggling with
their mental health hey you matter you
are loved you're valued you're seen and
our families our communities are better
off with you in them so if you are
struggling please reach out there is
hope and there is help
help and that is such an important and
life-giving message but
what we saw last bill let's talk day was
at the very same time this was happening
there was a conversation going on in the
government about
um that in a few years time we would
expand access to medical assistance and
dying to people who are struggling for
mental illness alone and that sends a
really different message so instead of
there is help and hope and we want to
need you in our lives and communities it
offers an off-ramp so
i think in light of that and in light of
what we have seen with the pandemic just
sort of surfacing or exacerbating mental
health issues in so many people we have
to be so alive to this conversation
right now
such a great point
so many nuances when it comes to mental
health and you're right i mean may play
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