Speakers: Revd Dr Steve Midgely and Helen Thorne
Cost: £40 in person, £30 for students (includes lunch for in person), £25 online – In person booking have now closed. Online bookings are still open until Friday 3rd November.
Join us for this one day course to consider how the church can engage with mental health.
With reports of a ‘Mental Health crisis’ frequently in the news, how should the church respond? Can the church get involved in ways that are both safe and wise? This day conference will consider both theory and practice – providing a model for understanding mental illness as well as plenty of worked examples to grapple with the practicalities. With plenty of time for questions, this is a day for any church leaders who want to help their church become more compassionate and more skilled in the support of those who struggle with their mental health.
A day course in collaboration with Westminster College.
Timetable:
| 9.30 am | Welcome and Opening worship |
| 9.50 am | Mental Health: Contemporary challenges seen from a Christian vantage point (Steve Midgley) |
| 11.05 am | Coffee |
| 11.45 am | Mental Health: Contemporary challenges and a church based response (Helen Thorne) |
| 13.00 pm | Lunch |
| 14.00 pm | Mental Health: Three worked examples – anxiety, depression and addiction |
| 15.15 pm | Concluding Plenary Session for Q & A |
| 16.00 pm | Closing worship |
| 16.15 pm | End |
Abstracts:
Mental Health: contemporary challenges seen from a Christian vantage point
As we survey the current ‘mental health crisis’, this session will first consider how our world defines ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’. Then, using a theological model of human experience, will explore how a Christian perspective can help shape the support we offer to those who struggle in this way.
Mental Health: contemporary challenges and a church-based response
God cares for those who are struggling – he enables his people to care for one another too – and, whilst the local church will never be the place where every aspect of mental health support is offered, it is designed to be a place where we walk alongside each other, offering hope and help to those in need. In this session we will look at how to offer that help wisely and well, centred on Christ, and using the gifts he has given.
Mental Health: three worked examples
To help move from theological theory to pastoral practice, this session will use lived examples of personal struggle – in areas such as anxiety, depression and psychosis – to ground us in the specifics of church life. There will be time for small group discussion and plenary review.
