Ireland’s first ever Mental Health & Wellbeing Summit took place in Aviva on 14th October. We had a stand on the day, alongside other organisations promoting health and wellbeing from different perspectives, mostly medical and psychological. We were the only organisation coming from a Church background with a spirituality based approach. The room we were in was spacious and well lit, very pleasant and appropriate for the day. We had time both to talk to people who came to our stand, as well as to walk around and learn from others about their work and expertise. 

The day had a variety of talks and workshops, and we were able to attend some. A workshop that stands out for me was about building resilience. It was delivered by Dr. Olivia Hurley who took lessons from elite athletes in sport and showed how they can be applied to every day situations. While we may think that athletes don’t struggle, they in fact often do, as do the rest of us. Resilience is useful no matter who we are.

Dr. Hurley explains that resilience is “the ability to persevere and overcome setbacks”. We will all face difficulties in life from time to time, and knowing how to deal with them will help us not to become too overwhelmed. Having the right tools will help us to cope. One lesson we can learn from athletes is to aim for excellence and not perfection, in other words to have the courage to be imperfect. With a lot of unwritten pressure about seeking perfection, this is a great insight.

It was emphasised many times during the day to seek out support, professional and among friends or family. Olivia Hurley suggested to approach our decisions as ‘active choices’, and not sacrifices, and to view setbacks as opportunities for growth. We probably view athletes as those who make a lot of sacrifices, but Hurley said they see it as making an active choice to achieve their aspirations. This attitude is much more healthy and produces better results. 

We heard about some struggles that people are facing regarding mental health, and learned of ways to become mentally fit and well. We also learned that self-harm is wide-spread among young adults, which we did not know. What we noticed on the day is that language and how we talk about mental health are also important. The terms used by the speakers were about being ‘mentally fit’ and ‘mentally healthy’ instead of ‘strong’, because more positive language in this area helps in maintaining mental health. It also does not create unreasonable demands on people.

This ties in well with what we do in the ministry of healing. We often speak how listening is healing in itself. Yet, in our work we add another dimension, which is God. Parishes around the country that offer prayer ministry respond to this need for people seeking support. In our presence and through our attitude we can mirror to each other that we are accepted and loved, by each other, and by God. Our initiative the Power of Presence seemed particularly relevant to what we heard on the day. We offer it as a workshop or a talk around the country for any age group, starting with teenagers. In our everyday lives, and beneath the turmoil that life sometimes brings, there is a reality of God, welcoming, loving, healing and supporting us, encouraging us to grow. In the Power of Presence we show simple ways how to tune in to God’s presence with us, in order to draw healing, support, and comfort from it. The language of ‘excellence’ resonates well with spirituality and perhaps becoming mentally fit is what we would call growing more into our true selves. 

Iva Beranek
Dr Iva Beranek is the Ministry Facilitator for the CMH: Ireland

Oh God of mercy and compassion, 
give us grace to live life with an open heart;
to notice people as we walk around town.
Awake us to the wonder of life
hidden in those without home
who live on the streets
and often feel so alone.

Help us Jesus to be more like you,
who spoke with those in need
and asked them 
‘what can I do for you?’ 

Give us the eyes to see
that in the poor You hide
“What you do to the least of these
you do it to Me”, you said. 

When we see people seeking
a coin of love
a coin in which their
humanity is affirmed
may we not withhold
small coins
of encounter
that will plant hope,
give food for a hungry heart. 

May the power of your love
heal our society 
so that everyone can
live with dignity,
not deprived of essentials 
for life.  

Yet in the hour
that for those living on the street
is particularly dark
we pray for Your guidance and light.

Iva Beranek
Dr Iva Beranek is the Ministry Facilitator for the CMH: Ireland

I was reading recently about light and shade. Light is always seen as positive and good, shade or shadows are metaphorically given a negative meaning – thought of as darkness, cold, fear and suffering. We speak, for example, of living in someone’s shadow, of life being overshadowed by some tragedy or disaster, or of facing the shadow of death. But the reality is that shade and shadows are caused not by absence of light but by its very presence. The two go hand in hand.

And our lives too are a mixture of light and darkness. You cannot have one without the other. So it is quite reasonable at a time of darkness to pray for more light – to ask for a miracle to occur. Many times indeed over the years, I have stood visiting parishioners in hospital wards and prayed that their pain and suffering would be removed – that light would come and they would be set free. Many times too, I have reasoned and pleaded with people to see from another perspective, to step out of the shade, at a time when they are entrenched in a cycle of gloom and despair.

Occasionally, in observing human situations, things do improve and we give thanks for that, but equally often, no miracle seems forthcoming and people are left to carry their often intolerable burdens – just as the woman in Luke 13 had done for 18 years. How we wish to hear those words of Christ; ‘you are set free from your ailment’ (Luke 13:12).

We heard in Isaiah, the words ‘You shall call and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help and He will say ‘Here I am’ (Isaiah 58:9). And it is those words ‘Here I am’ that are the supreme consolation to those suffering in our world. It is his light that shines in the darkness of despair and suffering. It cannot always be that we are ‘set free from our ailment’, but it is always true that Christ, the light of the world, walks alongside us: ‘Here I am.’

There in the hospital ward, the hospice, the consultation room. 
There in the divorce court, the empty house, the disappointed dream.
There in the confusion of not knowing which way to turn next.

Isaiah says – ‘The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parched places.’ And he went on, using the water analogy – ‘You shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.’ In other words, Christ walks with us; He fuels our resources and never leaves us – even in the blackest holes of our oppression and depression – ‘Here I am.’

Bishop Patrick Rooke.
Taken from a sermon during CMH:I Annual Thanksgiving Service in April 2016