When Mental Illness strikes: Enough is Enough – Part 1

Congratulations to all our speakers, organisers and attendees of our recently concluded When Mental Illness Strikes – Enough is Enough conference.  We are very grateful to all who made this day special and a resounding success. 

When Mental Illness Strikes

When Mental Illness Strikes held on Saturday 11 October (as part of Mental Illness Awareness Week),  was a groundbreaking conference, the first of its kind nationally, where we looked at mental illness from a practical and medical perspective from a Christian foundation.

Included in the Mental Illness Strikes workshop, lets recap some highlights of the half day peer based seminar. 

 #1 Getting to Know yourself  

This practical workshop got delegates thinking about what they can do for themselves if they are challenged with mental illness.  Preventative medicine is always more effective than curative medicine.  The old age Prevention is better than cure certainly rings bells here. 

Chuck, used his own experience to get us meditating on some of the following: 

Have you idenitfied a trend in what brings about a crisis in mental illness? 

Can you tell when you are getting ill? 

 Do you know what the triggers are? 

 If so, how can you manage it or divert a crisis?

Are there plans in place if an emergency/crisis occurred?

#2 Grief Management

Bereavement is associated with loss, with being robbed of something of value or importance.  It is a very difficult time in people’s lives.  It can be very painful and difficult to manage.  People may experience a whole range of emotions such as anger, hurt, sadness, despair and even depression. 

The Bible tells us not to mourn without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), yet some Christians admittedly can find themselves in a downward, hopeless spiral. 

Imagine, however, when death is unexpected, sudden and is brought about by a daring gun murder. 

Imagine the victims are innocent, ordinary folks who were going about their business.

Imagine that the murder is so ghastly, the wounds so bloody, it was a ‘shoot till they are dead’ case!

Imagine that it is more than one person in one day in the family killed this way. 

Imagine the terror of the fear that the assailants threaten that other members could be next.

Think this is a movie, right? 

No! 

Our speaker Nadia, shared with us on precisely this true life horror ordeal. 

Receiving a phone call that her two brothers had been murdered in one was her worst nightmare.  Sharing the emotions of her pain and how she got through the pain of wanting to die, to becoming today the CEO of Gifted Community Services (GCS), an organization that reaches out to youths.  GCS, is community based organization that  helps turn youths away from gang culture, crime and life on the streets, to channelling their gifts and talents usefully. 

#3 Real Life – Testimonial on Bipolar Affective Disorder

Our speaker in this segment gave a heart rending and inspiring talk on bipolar affective disorder (Bipolar).  Bipolar is not the same as having mood swings as some may think. 

Did you know Winston Churchill, a successful highly revered UK prime minister, the famous Van Gogh, to name a few were all challenged with bipolar?   Did bipolar stop their creativity or their made them any less intelligent?  Are their names not written in our encyclopedias and museums today?

Our speaker has been diagnosed with biploar for the last ten years and her faith has played a major role in keeping her strong and positive, in defying mental illness.  Sharing the symptoms and learning to recognise the signs, we were able to journey into her world and understand more on the disease.  Her positivity has made her a limit breaker. 

A Science lecturer, a wife  and also a volunteer in the mental health sector, she is definitely living a productive life to its full.  Also, her crisis with bipolar are getting shorter, and recovery quicker too.  Our speaker certainly offered us a lifeline that when mental illness strikes, it is not the end of one’s life!

Next time, in When Mental Illness strikes:  Enough is Enough  – Part 2, we will look at:

• Crisis Management
• Abuse and Forgiveness
• How can leaders and caregivers recognize the signs of mental illness?

Yes, when mental illness strikes, you can say enough is enough.  Make sure you are at our next conferences in 2015! 

Lets hear from you about this or other mental illness conferences you have attended.  Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About The Author