Mental Health is something that is becoming more and more common in student work and the way we speak about it means a lot. Language sets culture and impacts the students we work with.
Rachael Newham, Director of ThinkTwice has written helpful tips in knowing how to talk about Mental Health. ThinkTwice is a national organisation which seeks to raise awareness of mental health issues, providing training and consultancy to churches and christian charities.
Sometimes mental health can feel like a ‘no-go’ area when we’re pastoring someone, we might be embarrassed to ask, or feel ill-equipped to deal with the answers. Despite this, it’s vital that we can get talking! With 1 in 4 struggling with a mental illness each year how can we raise the subject in a way that is going to direct people to help. Beginning the conversation breaks the stigma and encourages a culture of openness.
Tips for talking about mental health
- Watch your language - Often the way we talk about mental health can unintentionally stigmatise it. Words like ‘nutters’ ‘mental’ or ‘psycho’ aren’t helpful and can perpetuate stereotypes.
- Use your Bible - emotions are on nearly every page of the Bible, they are God-given and no emotion is bad, don’t shy away from picking up the emotions in a passage when you’re studying it. Consider passages such as 1 Kings 19 when you preach to point to the compassion God has when people are struggling with their emotions and burnout.
- Listen to the stories of people who have lived with mental illness to expand your understanding.
- Pray - try and engage the wider church in praying for mental health issues more widely so that people know they are in a place in which they can bring their mental illness before God.
- Get informed - you don’t need to become a mental health expert in order to pastor, but having a good working knowledge of the most common mental health conditions will help you spot the signs.
- Know your links - consider linking up with charities, mentoring projects and get to know the best ways to access support in your area.
- Practice what you preach, bear in mind the language you use and be particularly mindful to avoid condemning language when talking about suicide; use completed suicide rather than committed suicide or incomplete suicide instead of failed suicide attempt.
- Use creative prayer to look at the prayers of lament and model what it can look like.
- Attend some mental health training, or read a book or two to help enhance your understanding of mental health issues.
- Spend some time looking at local projects (perhaps over the course of a summer) who can support the people you’re working with. Take advantage of attending mental health seminars when you’re at christian festivals.
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