Living Room support remembered

In the early part of this century, there was often little understanding about mental health in many Churches. People suffering from depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorders were sometimes made to feel ashamed – considered to be lacking spiritually. Many believers ended up leaving, not getting the support they needed.

In 2006, the first Living Room peer support group for people with mood disorders was founded at Brentwood Park Alliance Church in Burnaby, BC. It provided an approach of peer support that proved to be very successful, helping many with lived experience find healing. This faith-based ministry, sponsored by churches, quickly started to become a movement.

The Living Room groups gave them a place where they were reminded that in God’s eyes they were worthy and deserving of his love, no matter what their condition. Both their mental health challenges and their spiritual needs were addressed together. 

Attendees received a form of spiritual support that brought healing to their mental health challenges, as well as the stigma they brought. It offered relief to those for whom relief seemed far away. 

What was it that helped these individuals learn to cope, even to thrive?

It was Jesus. It was all about Jesus.

Jesus was the foundation. They were reminded about the Jesus of the Bible’s gospel stories. In what they saw him do and heard him say. They learned how he helped the sick, the poor, and those who were rejected. And they learned that he was, through his Spirit, able to heal them too. Just by believing. By putting their faith in him. 

The support the peers gave each other, especially those who were called to facilitate, followed Christ’s example of unconditional love for the hurting individuals in our midst – many of whom had felt rejected. 

Ideally the leaders of the group themselves knew emotional pain, and vulnerably shared how Jesus came to them in their pain when they didn’t know where to find relief. When facilitators like this are moved to be there for others, they share the love of Christ in the way Christ shared his love with them. Each time, they absorb that divine, all-encompassing love again, not allowing it to settle, but reaching out to others and letting them feel it too. This is what the most ideal Living Room group offered.

The most important healing comes when supporters take the time to listen to the pain of another, letting them know they are heard.  In a group of people where all know what it is to suffer the pain of mental health challenges, they have a lot to offer each other. The best supporters are wounded healers. They try to follow Christ’s example. He was a wounded healer too.

A good Living Room group is part of the kingdom of heaven. It’s a place where Christ’s Way is the rule. It’s a place where the heart of God spreads its love to all who come through the door: the rejected, the lonely, the rich and the poor. This is where the lost are found. Lives are changed. 

The proof is there for all to see. It’s through the unconditional love of Christ that healing can begin. 

But even without being part of a group, spiritual mental health care can be shared between individuals. If you have a friend with whom you share similar problems, you would be in an excellent position to help each other find relief from your struggles. 

Open your hearts to each other. Remember the Jesus who cared for you when you were hurting and needed him. Adopt his humble Spirit, the one you still carry inside you. The very best thing you can do is to spend time with each other, caring like Jesus cares for you. There’s nothing better.

At this point, only three Living Room groups remain in BC. But efforts are under way to revive the movement that had started between 2006 and 2014. The book, One Such As Me? tells the Living Room story and offers guidance and inspiration to those who would like to see it pick up where it left off. Something like AA might be considered, a movement serving all who have a need for mental health support – no matter where, no matter what the faith tradition, with the unconditional love of Jesus as its foundation. I believe that’s possible. After all, God loves every one of us.

One Such As Me? pioneering spiritual mental health support. in this 320-page book, Marja Bergen tells how she followed God’s call, raising mental health awareness among Christians from the years 2000 and 2014. It shows how she started Living Room, the faith-based peer ministry for people with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. The book offers a thorough account of the impact her extensive speaking and writings made in Canada and beyond. The reader will be taken behind the scenes, into a heart that knows God’s love and wants to share that love with others. She shows how much God can do through a person who trusts him, despite great challenges. Marja has given spiritual mental health support for 18 years, through Living Room and her many writings.