Mental Health Sunday, "Let's Talk!" - May 1, 2022
Psalm 88
Deborah Laforet
Let’s Talk!
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
I’m willing to bet that everyone here has experienced mental illness is some way, shape, or form, and some of you are currently experiencing it, whether it’s depression, anxiety, grief, PTSD, eating disorder or addiction, OCD, or one of the many other mental illnesses that affect us. Many of us have seen or are seeing therapists. Some of us have had to take or are taking medication. Some of us have been hospitalized. Some of us have had our mental illnesses become physical illnesses. Mental illness is common and affects all of us at some point in our lives, but you would never know it because we don’t talk about it.
Bell Canada has a campaign that has become very popular called, “Let’s Talk.” The most popular part of this campaign, is Bell’s Let’s Talk Day, which was January 26th this year. Bell’s Let’s Talk Day is an annual one-day advertising campaign where money is donated to mental health initiatives based on the number of social media and communication "interactions" that include the hashtag, #BellLetsTalk. This year, Bell Let's Talk Day set a new record with 164,298,820 messages of support.
Tomorrow begins Mental Health Week. Did you know we had a week that focused on Mental Health? It happens annually and this year is the 71st year. The Canadian Mental Health Association introduced Mental Health Week across Canada in 1951. This is also an initiative to increase the awareness and decrease the stigma around mental illnesses. There has been a ton of research done on mental health over the years, with a ton of groundbreaking discoveries about mental illnesses, the brain, mental health therapies (beyond pharmaceutical ones), and yet, most people remain unaware of its causes, and the stigma around mental illness, the shame and blame that comes with it, still remains constant.
Like Rob said, until we can comfortably talk about mental illnesses as we do physical illnesses, like cancer, kidney disease, or broken bones, and treat them just as seriously, the stigma will remain. People will hesitate to ask for help. People will not know how to help when asked. Research dollars will be limited. Affordability of alternate therapies will be out of reach. And mostly, people will continue to feel shame around something they can’t control. We need to raise awareness and we need to talk about our mental health.
The psalm Rachel read for us today is a psalm of lament, it’s an expression from someone who is struggling, someone who is feeling abandoned and betrayed. “I am alone, down among the dead, like a body lying in its grave - I’m like someone you no longer remember, someone cut off from your care.” (vs 5) We don’t often read these psalms in church, and in fact, we sometimes avoid them. We don’t want worship to feel uncomfortable, and these are uncomfortable thoughts that are being shared. “You have turned my friends against me and made me repulsive to them; I am in prison and there is no escape; and my eyes ache from crying.” (vs 8)
And it’s not just worship. Social media is another good example. People show their best selves on social media. They share celebrations. They share wisdom. They even share righteous anger. It’s very rare that we see the whole person on social media. People don’t want to take selfies when they are sad and crying. They don’t talk about the personal demons they are fighting; they don’t proclaim their failings or mistakes they have made. This would risk being vulnerable and many people don’t have the space, those safe and brave spaces, where they can express that vulnerability.
So, we tend to avoid being vulnerable, and talking about our mental health makes us vulnerable. Our mental health is wrapped up in our how we experience ourselves. It’s like opening up our hearts and souls and hoping no one tramples on them. Leaving space for these conversations to happen needs to be intentional. Creating a place that feels safe can help people feel brave about sharing themselves more authentically.
Having a Sunday where we focus on mental health helps. Throughout the year, we can grapple with some of our biblical stories that centre around mental illness, (believe it or not, one could find quite a few.) and read and sign together some of biblical lament poetry. Naming injustices that isolate and marginalize people is also a way we can create a space of honesty and humility. Making one-on-one connections with people with the intent to truly listen to how they are doing. The more we connect with one another, the easier it becomes to feel it is safe to be vulnerable, which is one of the reasons this pandemic has been so hard on all of us.
Finding those places where we can lament and grieve, finding those places were we can be authentic and be accepted, finding those places where we can be safe and brave to open our hearts and souls and be vulnerable is so important, especially when we are struggling with our mental health. We all need reminders that we are not alone, that we have a community to support us, that the universe has created us as a unique expression of itself, that we have value, and that we are loved.
In our Christian faith, the cross connects us to the suffering that exists in this world, and the resurrection reminds us that suffering and death is not the end and that it will not triumph. This is the good news. This is the hope so many need to carry them through to the next day.
May we continue to talk about mental health. May we continue to create safe and brave spaces where people can be authentic and true to themselves without worry of judgment or abandonment. May we continue to preach the good news, providing hope when all seems lost. May God be our Protector, may Christ be out teacher, and may the Spirit fill us with courage. May it be so. Amen.