Mental Illness Ministry Celebrates 1st Anniversary

A few weeks ago, The Mental Illness Ministry celebrated its first year anniversary with loud hurrahs and cake. A few people talked about the first days of “getting it together”, figuring out how to bring the message to the community that here is a place where the stigma associated with mental illness is not allowed. A place where people of experience and good will would be waiting, standing by, with welcoming hearts.

Its name went through changes from Mental Illness Awareness Ministry to Mental Illness Ministry. A Mission Statement and the good thinking of the people who met together to give voice to their ideas and concerns morphed, week after week, into a clear vision of the nature of MIM – Education, Resources, Support. In whatever form those goals took and in whatever week a speaker came to tell their stories and give answers to the troubling and insistent questions the families, friends and ‘consumers’ raised, the goals were being met. This is a work in progress.

The purpose of the Mental Illness Ministry (MIM) is three fold: To work collaboratively to diminish the stigma surrounding mental illness To shine a light into the shadows by providing education so the community may understand mental illness To provide resources to support Pursuers of Wellness (consumers) and their families and friends.

The federally named ‘consumers’ were among the people who formed the heart of the ministry: they raised their voices and proclaimed loudly – “No. We are not Consumers, We are human people who know better than anyone else what this ‘mental illness’ is like and we want a name that says what we are truly about.” They met and brainstormed and proclaimed themselves “Pursuers of Wellness.”

In the year of growing and learning, here are some of the other milestones:

• Vocal and enthusiastic support was heard from St. Joan staff
• A grant was obtained
• Facilitators were trained with and for families and Pursuers
• Support groups were started
• Individual stories were told
• A website was augmented
• Events were listed and publicized
• Speakers, the best in the area, spoke monthly
• Funds for a library were donated
• Researched lovingly, books were purchased, and some donated
• A first class Library became available in the Parish Center
• A Task Force formed
• Leaders emerged
• Liaison was developed with all the major mental health groups
• Scholarships became available to attend day long Conferences
• Articles appeared on the website and in the ArcAngle
• Education was provided in the areas of marketing, communications, outreach, building community, organizing volunteers, team building.

Through it all one person proclaimed, “This is my full time job” and with a dedication to excellence, researched, made contacts to ensure that the very finest information and speakers were available. She lived a mantra, “Let every voice be heard”. Mary Paradis, together with her co-chair, Mary White and Rosanne Rogers, SJA The Director of Ministries, energetically met every challenge and made every meeting an event with generous hospitality. Behind the scenes, mountains of paper work and reports were channeled to the organization that provided ongoing grant support.

There were disappointments. The word was spread through other churches about the training that was being offered, without charge, but there was little if any response. The timing was not right for them.

Based on statistics that 1 in every 4 people suffered some effect of mental illness in their lives, it seemed a parish of 10,000 members plus would have so many people clamoring for information and support that it would be hard to respond to all the needs. It hasn’t been that way. Over all, approximately 100 people have at one time or another attended a meeting. There is a faithful, hardworking, listening and learning cadre of about 30 members who attend regularly.

Ronnie Angelus says: "There are three things that make my life work: Talking to my daughter who opens vistas to me and makes me laugh; being in the circle of the Divas, my writing group, who shout "go girl" and give me standing ovations with their smiles and tears; sitting next to Mary and Claude Paradis during Sunday Mass at St. Joan of Arc, which is as close to pure goodness as I will know in this lifetime."

There is still a stigma. It is still hard to say the words “I have a mental illness” or “my son, daughter, friend has a mental illness.” Some of us still believe we are protecting the sufferer from the effects of stigma. People have lost jobs, have lost friends when their mental illness is known. Some people have actually said they are too embarrassed, too ashamed to come to a meeting because their illness would be known. There are also people who say they don’t feel any need to participate because they do not have a mental illness. There are so many distortions prevalent, so many misconceptions about mental illness still rampant in our society that any one person who is informed can make an impact in breaking the stigma. Mental illness is a chemical imbalance, a brain disorder that encompasses depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADD, panic attacks, phobias, anxiety to name a few. There are 29 categories of mental illnesses and each has a continuum. Even in contemporary literature, a genre like mysteries sometimes, gives credence to misinformation about mental illness. There is so much work to do, so many minds to touch.

The leadership knows that things take time. The members of the Mental Illness Ministry will be there, the second Monday of every month, month after month, ready with a warm greeting, a cup of coffee, tea or water and a chance for you to tell your story to people who listen without any judgment – only with acceptance, intelligence and compassion.