Sunday, May 5, 2024 is Mental Health Awareness Sunday. It is an important day to highlight the on-going Mental Health Challenges facing our communities. Straight from the National Alliance on Mental Illnesses website:
Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year. Most people don’t realize that 1 in 4 people are directly impacted by a loved one with a mental illness and it mostly goes unnoticed and not discussed because of the negative stigma and fear of judgement.
Our church pews are no different. Many are hiding their mental health challenges because of stigma, particularly from the Church. The Church has not been good to mental health challenges in the past. We would tell people to pray harder or their faith must not be strong enough. However, what we know now is that mental health is not a choice one makes. It is much more complex.
When 2023 began I was a full-time Healthcare Chaplain at a local hospital system and pastoring a small, PC(USA) church. I was the “lone wolf” chaplain at the hospital since 2018, so I navigated the pandemic alone. Then there was the church. A lovely group of people who cared for me with all their ability, but 2023 something happened. I was overwhelmed with trying to care for 2,700 employees, patients, and their families. I felt wholly inadequate. Beginning in 2023, three straight Sundays I had a panic attack in the pulpit. Not only that, but I began to suffer from a crippling depression. Thankfully, through professional help, good support, and medication, I was able to overcome and continue to manage it well, but you do not know what can trigger it.
As religious and spiritual leaders, we must be aware of the mental wellbeing of, not only our community we serve, but ourselves. Everyday is important when it comes to mental wellbeing, and it is a process that does not end. As the musical artist Jason Isbell says, “It gets easier, but it never gets easy.” My friends, be the solution to the agony of mental health by bringing awareness to the issues we all face. If we truly want to show the world we are “a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world” let us begin by caring for one another and bearing our burdens together. Will you be the part of the solution?
