Silent Cries: How the church can help people with mental illness [ChristianityToday.com]

I'm going to stick my neck out and share that as a person of faith, I struggle using the word "church."  I think our churches can be fear-based, therefore if you struggle, it can be seen as you don't have a strong faith, you haven't prayed hard enough, or that it is a sin that you struggle to overcome an obstacle in your life. I trained a Christian High School on trauma-informed care and I shared how important it was for them to listen to their students and how important it was for their students to feel safe sharing their feelings. In too many churches, the unspoken word is that the family problems stay with the family and you don't share them in church....there is the fear of being judged. A couple of months after the training, I had a student transfer to Lincoln that was kicked out of the Christian High School because she had become pregnant. The school called an assembly, and shared with the rest of the students the reason why she was being asked to leave. The girl was very hurt, felt the shame and blame, and was very bitter about the way she was treated. Obviously my training and conversation was not effective or internalized by the administration, but I felt the pain of the young lady who was victim to such harsh punitive treatment.  

At Lincoln we had members of the faith-based community that supported our work and provided us with resources. One older gentleman came to Lincoln every month and brought me a check for $25.00 to support our kids. He was on a fixed income, but loved our kids so much that he wanted to support us the best that he could. He attended all of your graduations and wept through the ceremony.  So it would be unfair of me to define all churches as worshiping inside the walls, for this is an example of a man who worshiped outside the walls of his church as well. Jesus loves us unconditionally, our relationship with others should follow his example, that is where people meet a loving God and a loving church community. That's what I love about Dave's work, it is an example of what Jesus calls us to do.