You Are Not Alone by Ken Duckworth MD

Author:Ken Duckworth, MD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zando

In chapter 17, attorney Ron Honberg discusses the Americans with Disability Act and how to ask for accommodations in the workplace.

Religious Communities

In previous chapters, we’ve heard some people share how religion and faith communities have made a positive difference in their recovery journey. That community can be strong and healing. There is a group called NAMI FaithNet, for example, which gathers people of all faiths to create support for people who are interested in the role of spirituality in recovering with a mental health condition. Other people spoke about experiences where organized religion had discouraged people from accepting their own challenges, or from seeking help for themselves or for family members in ways other than the practice of faith. Of course, there is a difference between a religion, per se, and the congregations, groups, faith leaders, or imperfect human beings who gather to share or observe it. It’s not the religion itself, but rather the particular religious community that may be more or less supportive.

Angela Brisbin, a forty-seven-year-old mother of three who lives in Missouri, is an administrator for an online clozapine support group and a full-time college student working to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Angela, who is also actively involved with NAMI of Greater Kansas City, has an adult son, Michael, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age nineteen. She recalled in our interview how she lost precious time in seeking an assessment or care for Michael because of a lack of mental health awareness and training in her church:

He had some major changes happen; rash behavior. He lost interest in school; he didn’t want to hang out with his friends. He was having prodromal (early stage) schizophrenia symptoms, so he would stay up late for hours. We thought initially that it had something to do with rebellion and teenage stuff. I did speak to the youth pastor about it. He did not understand mental illness either. He thought it was just rebellion and anger.

It would have helped if the pastors would have said, “He needs to see a doctor,” because I looked to them for guidance. I was bitter about it, after everything. We might not have wasted a whole year or two years. I believe that prayer is helpful, and God is in control here. But I believe that God created science, and I believe that we’re supposed to utilize the medication. It’s there for a reason. And I wish that we would have been directed by our pastors early, at some point, and not just been told to pray. I think they need the education. Because what they’re doing now is actually hurting people.

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