Image credit: The Church of England/Amadej Tauses
On 18 October 2019, the Archbishop of Canterbury hosted ‘Faith and Mental Health: a Christian Response’ at Lambeth Palace. Seeking to tackle stigma and develop support within faith communities, the conference featured workshops on topics such as mental-health concerns in BAME communities; LGBTQ+ people and mental health; sexual abuse, trauma, and mental health; offenders’ mental health; and poverty, social exclusion, and mental health.
Our very own Chris Cook delivered the keynote address, arguing that ‘Jesus would see mental health as a priority within his mission’. He also contributed to the supporting material on the Church of England’s website, conducting two video interviews with Christians that have suffered from mental health problems. You can watch these here.
The conference saw the launch of a ten-day series of reflections on faith and mental health, which can be used at any point throughout the year. These articles were written by Chris Cook and are accompanied by ‘have a go’ habits from Ruth Rice. Day four features reflections on hearing voices and can be read on the Church of England website.