Mental Health theology
I want to start by saying, if anything I say is triggering to you. Please stop reading and seek help.
Mental health is a massive jerk. There isn't really many other ways to put it. Mental health ruins lives, families, and communities.
We have a problem in Australia. You see, too many people are dying from suicide every year. Heck too many people are dying each day due to suicide.
Where is God? What is the hope for the future? And why the heck aren't more people training and trying to understand mental health situations.
Now don't get me wrong, we have done a fair bit over the last few years to reduce the stigma of mental health, but we still have so far to go.
The past 4 years of my life have been a massive eye opening experience to me about the mental health of my peers, friends, and people I meet even in day to days interactions.
I have spent countless hours texting young people in crisis and ensurin they have someone safe to listen to them. I have spent too many hours reporting to professionals the harm I have seen people cause to themselves. I have sat in too many hospital rooms being present (and often unwanted because I called for help).
I have felt the guilt of losing people's trust for doing the right thing. I have questioned where God is in all their pain. I have talked to friends, families and colleagues what it means to best support someone living with a mental illness. I've cried myself to sleep too many nights wondering why it couldn't be easier. I've prayed so many prayers for strength and courage and patience and hope.
And what have I learnt in all that time.
I've learnt that it's still not enough. There is always more I could of done or should have said yet my best is all I can give. I learnt that mental health resources are stretched (particularly in the country) so you pitch in with whatever qualifications you have. I have learnt that God is still there even if you can't see Hos work all that easily. God is in the weird and small moments. I learnt that it's okay to cry and it's okay to share in others pain. I have learnt that there is strength and courage and patience and hope when we gather in community.
You see, I think God has given me this heart for youth mental health. I hear Gods soft gentle whisper to contact someone or to ask further what's going on. And every time it's mattered. God has intervened in their life through the support and community of myself and others around them.
Being a Christians and have mental health struggles can be really hard. Well meaning people telling you to put your trust in Jesus, or offering prayers of healing, people who question how can you not want to live when Jesus is meant to be your hope and strength.
Let me tell you, it's okay. You aren't any less of a Christian because your brain tells you that stuff sucks. You are still loved, cared for and chosen by God.
As I have tried to work out where God fits into the whole mental health thing and what it means to struggle mentally both for myself and as I've seen other struggle I've found two things to b thoughts and ideas that change how I view things.
Firstly. Lament. In the bible in book of Psalms and Job just to name a few there are plenty of verses where someone is cryingg out to God. 'God why have you forsaken me', 'God all I see is misery'. Lament isn't a bad thing. That's what I've learnt. Stop telling Christians they should consider it pure joy to suffer. Stop telling Christians to choose Joy. There is a place for Joy. But there is also a place for crying out in agony, in crying out in lament for the injustices in the world.
Secondly. Why is there suffering? Theodicy. This is one of the most important questions to figure an answer out too. It's tricky. It's not fair. And boy does suffering suck. But where does it all fit in the bible. What does that all mean for you. For me, I realised that I probably wasn't going to fully understand many of the injustices of this world, but I could work out how to handle suffering when I was faced with it. I learnt that when suffering I think there is two choices. You can choose to face the suffering with God or you can choose to face it without God. The suffering is probably still going to come.
So fight. Tell God you are angry. Ask God to reveal the ways He is at work in that situation to you. And be prepared to lament the whole way through the suffering. But don't give up.
Theology in the middle of suffering is hard. Don't give up, ride it out in community and look back to see Gods hand in the life of yourself and those around you.
Leaders. Pastors. Teachers. Everyone. Get some mental health training. Help remove the stigma and be willing to walk with others through some really rough stuff. Be in community. Ask for help. Be trained and aware. We all have a part to play in looking out for one another.
I'm so passionate about mental health awareness because it affects everyone. Be brace. Seek help. Stand up and have courage to ask others how they are going. Know how to follow through with your loved ones.
I'll never say sorry for providing the best support I can to someone, even if it means someone feels I have betrayed their trust. I hope you can come to forgive me with time.
It's an honour and a privilege to have been invited to walk alongside so many beautiful people in their gig and low moments. And I'm so thankful for those who have walked alongside me in my lives moments and for those who have taught me what it means to think theologically and critically about suffering, God and how it all fits.
Mental health is a massive jerk. There isn't really many other ways to put it. Mental health ruins lives, families, and communities.
We have a problem in Australia. You see, too many people are dying from suicide every year. Heck too many people are dying each day due to suicide.
Where is God? What is the hope for the future? And why the heck aren't more people training and trying to understand mental health situations.
Now don't get me wrong, we have done a fair bit over the last few years to reduce the stigma of mental health, but we still have so far to go.
The past 4 years of my life have been a massive eye opening experience to me about the mental health of my peers, friends, and people I meet even in day to days interactions.
I have spent countless hours texting young people in crisis and ensurin they have someone safe to listen to them. I have spent too many hours reporting to professionals the harm I have seen people cause to themselves. I have sat in too many hospital rooms being present (and often unwanted because I called for help).
I have felt the guilt of losing people's trust for doing the right thing. I have questioned where God is in all their pain. I have talked to friends, families and colleagues what it means to best support someone living with a mental illness. I've cried myself to sleep too many nights wondering why it couldn't be easier. I've prayed so many prayers for strength and courage and patience and hope.
And what have I learnt in all that time.
I've learnt that it's still not enough. There is always more I could of done or should have said yet my best is all I can give. I learnt that mental health resources are stretched (particularly in the country) so you pitch in with whatever qualifications you have. I have learnt that God is still there even if you can't see Hos work all that easily. God is in the weird and small moments. I learnt that it's okay to cry and it's okay to share in others pain. I have learnt that there is strength and courage and patience and hope when we gather in community.
You see, I think God has given me this heart for youth mental health. I hear Gods soft gentle whisper to contact someone or to ask further what's going on. And every time it's mattered. God has intervened in their life through the support and community of myself and others around them.
Being a Christians and have mental health struggles can be really hard. Well meaning people telling you to put your trust in Jesus, or offering prayers of healing, people who question how can you not want to live when Jesus is meant to be your hope and strength.
Let me tell you, it's okay. You aren't any less of a Christian because your brain tells you that stuff sucks. You are still loved, cared for and chosen by God.
As I have tried to work out where God fits into the whole mental health thing and what it means to struggle mentally both for myself and as I've seen other struggle I've found two things to b thoughts and ideas that change how I view things.
Firstly. Lament. In the bible in book of Psalms and Job just to name a few there are plenty of verses where someone is cryingg out to God. 'God why have you forsaken me', 'God all I see is misery'. Lament isn't a bad thing. That's what I've learnt. Stop telling Christians they should consider it pure joy to suffer. Stop telling Christians to choose Joy. There is a place for Joy. But there is also a place for crying out in agony, in crying out in lament for the injustices in the world.
Secondly. Why is there suffering? Theodicy. This is one of the most important questions to figure an answer out too. It's tricky. It's not fair. And boy does suffering suck. But where does it all fit in the bible. What does that all mean for you. For me, I realised that I probably wasn't going to fully understand many of the injustices of this world, but I could work out how to handle suffering when I was faced with it. I learnt that when suffering I think there is two choices. You can choose to face the suffering with God or you can choose to face it without God. The suffering is probably still going to come.
So fight. Tell God you are angry. Ask God to reveal the ways He is at work in that situation to you. And be prepared to lament the whole way through the suffering. But don't give up.
Theology in the middle of suffering is hard. Don't give up, ride it out in community and look back to see Gods hand in the life of yourself and those around you.
Leaders. Pastors. Teachers. Everyone. Get some mental health training. Help remove the stigma and be willing to walk with others through some really rough stuff. Be in community. Ask for help. Be trained and aware. We all have a part to play in looking out for one another.
I'm so passionate about mental health awareness because it affects everyone. Be brace. Seek help. Stand up and have courage to ask others how they are going. Know how to follow through with your loved ones.
I'll never say sorry for providing the best support I can to someone, even if it means someone feels I have betrayed their trust. I hope you can come to forgive me with time.
It's an honour and a privilege to have been invited to walk alongside so many beautiful people in their gig and low moments. And I'm so thankful for those who have walked alongside me in my lives moments and for those who have taught me what it means to think theologically and critically about suffering, God and how it all fits.
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