We tend to see mental illness as something that happens out there, to stigmatized strangers on the fringe of our churches, when in fact mental illness affects our families, friends, loved ones, congregants, and many of us personally. In short, mental illness is experienced by everyone in church communities – by “us” and our loved ones, not just by “them.” This was the recurren ...More
“All congregations are touched in some way by mental illness,” said Linda Alley, coordinator for this year’s School for Leadership Training (SLT) at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. “Our goal is to help church leaders and congregations ...More
Courtesy Daily News Record, April 2, 2012 Julie Hersh stood in front of hundreds of people Saturday morning and explained how she tried to commit suicide three times while suffering through a long bout of clinical depression. The vast majority of the crowd was made up of local college students. Some came up to Hersh after her speech to relate similar struggles experienced ...More
Born Out Of Tragedy, EMU Program Provides Mentors To Ease Transition To College Life By Kate Elizabeth Queram, Daily News-Record When he sat down to write his son Austin’s obituary last fall, Bibb Frazier was faced with a choice. He could be purposely vague about how the 22-year-old died, or he could say, straightforwardly, that it was suicide, caus ...More
