"Maria's Bells" A poem by Terry Snipes
What’s that sound?
Nothing but darkness all around.
Scary clangs and bangs,
Shall I scratch, pinch, or bite?
What’s that sound?
Nothing but darkness all around.
Sweet sound of singing,
It makes me smile
And want to dance.
I’ll just sit a while
And listen to the bell dance.
What’s that sound?
Nothing but darkness all around.
A voice I hear –
It screams nonsense.
It hurts my ear.
What’s that sound?
Nothing but darkness all around.
A tinkling sound comes near –
Someone walking, I hear.
A voice speaks my name, comes near.
What’s that sound?
Nothing but darkness all around.
I reach out my hand –
There is another, larger hand.
Gently speak, my friend –
I hear your tinkling sound,
With nothing but darkness all around.
Written in dedication to Maria, a blind and profoundly intellectually disabled teenager, one of my high school’s very special students.
Maria reacts to sudden noises and strange events by scratching, pinching, hollering, and biting. Maria also has an incredibly gentle response to gentle touch and care, sweet music, and tinkling bells. Yes, Maria bit the pumpkin.
"Lent" A poem by Terry Snipes
Lent –
Shall the dead live again?
What killed thee?
Was it fate or shame?
Or predator, who hath slain?
What matter, here is found -
Dead bones and ashes -
Lost soul, broken spirit –
Not yet placed in ground?
What nature, this predator?
Be there any hope –
Or will, or mystic charm –
To reverse the predator’s harm?
Under sun and sky,
A tiny glimmer of light
Struggles for freedom.
Shall the soul take flight?
Soul, ever searching –
Resisting the predator’s death.
What force, what power -
Can revive?
Glimmer of Light –
Shall the dead live again?
Many forms, death takes.
What form be ye?
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Light from Light.
The dead shall live again.
Called to Light.
Called by Grace.
"He is —" A poem by Terry Snipes
Who am I?
Laying here upon my bed,
I wipe away a tear,
Neither live nor dead.
I struggle, can you hear?
One hand, it is my left.
One mind, still I think.
One voice, hear my cry!
God, who am I?
God, why am I?
Here am I –
Laying upon my bed,
And still not dead.
“Help me!” I cry.
Only one hand is left,
To wipe away a tear.
One suffering mind.
One voice, I cry!
Who are you?
You come and go.
You tell me God suffers with me.
And just how do you know?
You call yourself my friend.
Here we are,
You, my friend –
And I, lying on my bed.
Where is God?
Will He see me here?
Can God not hear?
Mercy, Lord!
Will God care?
I pray –
Here he is, God,
Lying on his bed.
He’s not dead.
Lord, he’s my friend.
With just one hand,
Just one mind,
Just one voice,
All he has left.
He is my friend –
Powerless!
I am his friend –
Powerless!
Just one hand,
Just one mind,
Just one voice.
One gentle heart –
He is my friend.
He is Hirsch.
(This is an expression of an on-going conversation that Hirsch and I had during his struggle between life and death. Hirsch suffered a stroke on Feb. 22, 2011, and passed into heaven on May 22, 2011. He is a friend I miss.)
Church's "gentle worship" service aids those with special needs by Meredith Heagney
www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/10/24/gentle-worship-fulfills-special-needs.html
Church’s ‘gentle worship’ service aids those with special needs by Meredith Heagney
Matthew Emberg, who is 9 and autistic, knew the opening hymn well.
So did Dorothy Simmons, 83, who uses a walker and has trouble standing and sitting repeatedly during church.
After all, the hymn’s a familiar one.
Kumbaya, my Lord, kumbaya.
They joined about 35 others at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Marion yesterday for a “gentle worship” service, intended for people with special needs.
The service, which started in August, is offered the fourth Sunday every month.
The intent is to make worship comfortable and welcoming. Too often, those with disabilities feel out of place in a traditional service, said Molly King, an associate in ministry at the church.
Her son, Matthew, 12, has autism.
Disabled children and adults might move around a lot or make loud noises, disturbing others. Not everyone understands, said King, who also serves on the disability task force of the Northwestern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
King and others behind the “gentle worship” service seem to have thought of everything. For example, the service is kept to 30 minutes, to make it easier for those who have trouble sitting in one place for too long.
A sign-language interpreter stands on the altar. The hymns are familiar tunes such as Jesus Loves Me, and people are free to move about as they wish.
The program uses very large text and photos to show people when to sing, stand and pray. All that’s optional, of course.
The lights are kept dim and the music soft, to protect people with autism and Alzheimer’s disease from overstimulation, said Judy Lehner, another organizer. The organ is replaced by piano.
“There is absolutely no shushing allowed,” she said.
The Rev. Mark Schuring keeps his sermons short and tries to avoid raising his voice to make a point.
Jennifer Emberg was with her husband and four children yesterday. Even though 9-year-old Matthew is her only child with a disability, all of them have trouble sitting still for an hour in church, she said.
“It’s very helpful for Matthew because we can do it together as a family,” she said of the shortened service.
Matthew’s autism is mild, and he sits fairly still, she said. At the same time, it’s nice to know that if her kids act out, “They’re not going to be glared at.”
Simmons, the 83-year-old, said she has no trouble in regular worship but came yesterday because “of being nosy.”
The service made her emotional, she said.
“Tears run,” Simmons said. “It’s just wonderful to see people who don’t have a chance to come to church.”
Summer 2010
The barbeques and lawn chairs were in the stores in February and March even though most of the country was digging out of the snow or pouring rain. Fourth of July supplies and decorations were up the day after Easter. Marketing keeps us looking to what is coming next instead of living in the present.
Summer is a time to reclaim the spiritual practice of mindfulness. Many people are embracing Eastern spirituality, learning various forms of focused prayer and meditation. I recall being in a group where we were asked to spend one full hour using our physical senses to see, touch, feel, smell and finally taste an apple. The spiritual discipline of mindfulness is in our Western tradition, but it has to be re-discovered and re-claimed in a society that values “doing” over simply “being.”
Summer can be a time to take a deep breath, simplify, prioritize, re-create and live in the present. I pray we can slow down this summer ... even when the barbeques go on sale to make room for fall fashion and back to school!
SAMHSA 10x10 Wellness Campaign
SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) is a division of the federal government that has a resource center to promote Acceptance, Dignity and Social Inclusion associated with mental health (ADS Center). They have a new 10x10 Wellness Campaign designed to promote health and well-being and prevent early mortality for people with mental health problems. Campaign-related information is available online at http://www.10x10.samhsa.gov.
The vision for this program is a future in which people with mental health problems pursue optimal health, happiness, recovery, and a full and satisfying life in the community via access to a range of effective services, supports, and resources. They identify six dimensions of wellness which includes spirituality.
The Six Dimensions of Wellness
1. Social — contributing to one’s environment and community
2. Physical — engaging in regular physical activity, learning about nutrition, and taking care of illnesses
3. Emotional — awareness of one’s feelings while maintaining satisfying relationships
4. Spiritual — search for meaning and purpose in human existence
5. Occupational — personal satisfaction and enrichment derived from one’s work
6. Intellectual — creativity and mentally stimulating activities of interest
Mental Health Matters TV Programs
In Alameda County, California, Rev. Barbara Meyers, a Unitarian Universalist community minister, produces a public-access TV program called Mental Health Matters – Alameda County. A new interview format show is produced each month with each show focusing on a different aspect of mental health. The work is supported by an agency with funding from Alameda County Behavioral Healthcare Services. The focus of the program is Hope.
The shows are shown on public access channels throughout Alameda County, California, and are also available on-line so they can be watched from anywhere. You can see any of the 28 episodes at http://www.mpuuc.org/mentalhealth/mentalTVshow.html.
Rev. Meyers is also the author of a curriculum called the Caring Congregation Program which seeks to educate congregations about mental health available at http://www.mpuuc.org/mentalhealth/caringcongcurr.html.
Connecting Mind, Body and Spirit
We know the important role that faith and spirituality can play in mental illness. Research backs up this connection: 476 studies reporting "statistically significant positive associations," according to a review of research published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry last year.
The article was written by Harold G. Koenig, MD, of Duke University, a leading scholar of the subject. He notes that people with bipolar and other mental illnesses find faith to be a powerful coping tool. More than that, a robust faith practice seems to protect against depression.
Why? For one thing, Koenig told bp, faith "gives people a hope that medicine and science can't give. It gives them hope that there's a plan-a good plan-and that good things can result in their life even if they're in a lot of pain." It's all in "Connecting mind, body & spirit," from our Summer 2006 issue. Read more from bp Magazine: http://www.bphope.com/Item.aspx?id=141
Resources for Returning Vets
Beyond the Yellow Ribbon: Ministering to Returning Combat Veterans addresses the challenge for soldiers and families of adjusting to life after war. It provides guidance for the faith community to reach out to those in uniform and help the next generation of veterans come all the way home from war and find their place again in civilian life, far from the fields of battle. Authors David A. Thompson and Darlene Wetterstrom offer straightforward, challenging practical help for returning soldiers and their families. Thompson is a retired military chaplain, a licensed professional counselor and a military family life consultant for the National Guard and Reserves in Minnesota. The book is available through Cokesbury.com; 1-800-672-1789
New Book: Our Stories: What Do You Know Now, That You Wish You Knew Then?
Wisdom Legacy is partnering with NAMI affiliates and other behavioral health support groups across the nation to capture and share the most important lessons people have learned from their encounters with mental illness. They are using these stories to help people who are new to the journey, to let them know they aren’t alone, and give them hope. Using an online interview available exclusively at www.wisdomlegacy.org, partner organizations invite their members and others from their community to anonymously share what they have experienced and what they have learned from it. Those who have participated have been amazed by how fast, easy and cathartic the process is and by the incredible power of the results.
The first book in this series was recently completed by NAMI of San Diego and can be purchased on-line at: https://www.createspace.com/3432428. If you or your organization would like to bring this project to your community and write your own book, please contact Dave Burrill, CEO of Wisdom Legacy at dburrill@wisdomlegacy.org.
Healthcare Bill Passes
As a United Methodist minister, I appreciate that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi thanked The United Methodist Church for the support our denomination has given to health-care reform. Many faith groups were involved in working for this important legislation that will provide important protections for every person including banning health-insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
My son recently lost his health insurance because his small business employer was having cash flow problems. He applied for an individual plan with the same HMO. My son was denied and one of the two reasons listed was “mild depression.” He could only qualify for a “high risk” insurance with very high premiums ... which my husband and I would end up paying. I found out the hard way that the part of the health bill on pre-existing conditions does not kick in until 2014!
My son’s situation was resolved with a move to another employer. But this was a reminder of the over 31 million Americans who are currently uninsured and the low income working people who cannot afford the steep prices for health insurance now. Like most of you, I do not understand the complexities of this legislation and there is much work to be done. But it is an important step in reaching out to the “least of these” in our midst including those struggling with mental illness.
Accidental Economist: Why It Would Be Hard to Cut MEDICAID
http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/why-it-will-be-hard-and-painfulto-cut-medicaid/
Pathways to Promise Conference Downloads
Presentations from the national summit, Companions on the Road to Recovery from Mental Illness: Pathways for the 21st Century, held in October of 2009 in St. Louis, MO., are now available on-line as free downloads. The conference agenda is posted on www.pathways2promise.org with embedded links to some 20 of the presentations from the conference.
Mental Illness and Families of Faith: The Challenges and the Vision
I have written a four session resource/study guide for clergy and communities of faith in response to the many questions and requests for information that I receive from persons who want to include spirituality as an important part of the treatment and recovery process.
Surveys show that over forty percent of Americans seeking help with mental health issues turn first to ministers, priests and rabbis. This is twice as many as those who went first to a psychiatrist, psychologist or family physician. Unfortunately, the response of clergy and congregations falls significantly short of what parishioners expect of their faith leaders. Individuals struggling with mental illness are significantly less likely to receive the same level of pastoral care as persons in the hospital with physical illnesses, persons who are dying or those who have long-term illnesses. Mental illness has been called the “no casserole disease.”
This resource is designed to be used with clergy, members of congregations, family members and anyone desiring to learn more about mental illness and how to respond with compassion and care. It can be used as a small group study or leaders can adapt it to use in an extended class or seminar. Faith leaders can use this guide to quickly find information on a specific topic when the need arrives.
The four sections included in this resource/study guide include:
1. Understanding Mental Illness
2. The Unique Role of Faith Communities
3. Creating Caring Congregations
4. Help for Faith Leaders.
This is a FREE resource that can be downloaded on the Mental Health Ministries website as a PDF document. With thanks to the INGENIUM ABP group from Mexico, this resource will soon be available in Spanish! Click here to download this new resource.
Snippets from Susan
The Three-Legged Stool
Visualize a three-legged stool. We are all created with the opportunity to develop three sides of ourselves: our body, our mind and our spirit.
- Developing our physical side involves eating wholesome food, maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising regularly, avoiding tobacco and drugs, being safety conscious and taking care of any physical problems that arise.
- Developing our mental side involves reading and learning, taking classes, creating, organizing, thinking and laughing. Our mental side also makes choices that integrate the physical, mental and spiritual side of ourselves.
- Our spiritual side, without which the other two sides are meaningless, involves discovering and developing our values and goals in life. This side gives us perspectives and helps us develop the guiding principles by which we live.
“Good health” gives equal importance to developing all three sides or ourselves. Otherwise we become a wobbly one-legged or two-legged stool…and we may even topple over.
Let us keep this image in mind as we “re-create” this summer with family and friends. Plan time this summer.
When we are grounded in mind, body and spirit, we are able to use our life in service to others.
I pray for the time when individuals and families living with a loved one with a mental illness will be silent no more.
Rev. Susan Gregg-Schroeder
Coordinator of Mental Health Ministries
6707 Monte Verde Dr.
San Diego, CA 92119