May is Mental Health Awareness Month, an important time in which we are especially called to consider the implications and critical nature of this matter in our culture. Many people who are institutionalized and imprisoned have some form of mental illness. In fact, a large percentage of people in general will experience some form of mental illness at one point or another in their life. Could rehabilitation, counseling, and healing communities perhaps be a better alternative for some of these individuals as opposed to segregation and isolation? We have evolved into a culture that is keen on keeping ill individuals locked up and away from the mass population instead of providing ways in which to promote healing and reconciliation with society. Certainly, I am not saying we should immediately release all inmates regardless of crime nor am I saying that we should close down all of the mental hospitals and institutions. They do provide a purpose for some and help certain individuals. However, we ought to consider if there might not be ways to connect with and provide hope and guidance to those locked up for one reason or another, instead. Perhaps it comes down to money in the grand scheme of things and how expensive it inevitably would be to begin programs to help those incarcerated or institutionalized… at least that is what we frequently hear. Are we not called, however, to help those in need, to refrain from judging others, and to spread God’s love?
There is a stigma about mental illness that encompasses a surprisingly large portion of today’s members of society. People are almost becoming culturally indoctrinated to
believe that anyone who has a mental illness, has been imprisoned or institutionalized,
or is otherwise afflicted is therefore less worthy of favor and is even less of a person. I have been blessed to work with various individuals that suffer from mental illness including some that self-isolate because of it. It breaks my heart to see how wary some
of them get when they mention that they have previously been institutionalized
or that they just got out. I imagine it takes immense courage not just to show up to group settings but to further open themselves up like that in public. Knowing that at least part of the reason they are scared to share this personal aspect of themselves is because they fear others’ judgment is unbearable. We must strive to think and act as God calls us to; we must “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness,
and patience (Colossians 3:12).”
Repeatedly throughout the Bible, we read of the miraculous healings that Jesus
performed. He never judged the lame, the sick, or the poor. Rather, he loved them and showered mercy down upon them; he healed them of all of their afflictions. The stigma that today rests on those who have mental illness reminds me, in particular, of the story of the man who suffered from leprosy. In Matthew 8:1-3, we see a man with leprosy
come to Jesus and ask to be made clean, to be rid of his condition. With no hesitation, Jesus heals him. That immense love that Jesus showed to one commonly disgraced and thought of as unclean because of his condition is what we are called to do. We are so prone to shun those who have mental illness or have been in prison because of the perceived disgrace of their situation, but are we not called to behave as the children
of God, to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, and to do good, and love mercy? I wholeheartedly
believe that if we, with pure intentions, walk alongside others in their recovery and walk with God regardless of their illness or perceived disgrace, then we would be doing as God has called us to do: “to love [our] neighbor as ourself.”
Meredith Bond, 2018
Comments