Mental Illness Awareness Week

As we complete Mental Illness Awareness Week (October 7-13), and prepare for the Sacred Threads Event on October 17th w/ Dr. Nancy Kehoe on "The Journey to Wholeness" we wanted to share this prayer:

Loving Creator, we come to you on this National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness

Recovery and Understanding because we know that you are a God of love and

compassion.

We come as people of all creeds and all nations seeking your presence, comfort and guidance. We come as individuals living with mental illness, family members, friends, co-workers and mental health professionals.

 We come this day because we believe that you, Divine One, love each one of us just as we are. You walk with us on our individual journeys through life. You see the ignorance and injustice that divide and separate persons living with mental illness and you weep with us.

Give us courage to face our challenges and open us today to the many ways you are

already working in our midst. Help us to identify mental illness as the disease it is, that

we might have courage and wisdom in the face of ignorance and stigma. Inspire us as we

seek to overcome fear, acquire knowledge and advocate for compassionate and

enlightened treatment and services.

Lead us as we open our hearts and homes, our communities and job opportunities, our

houses of worship and communities of faith. Enable us to find ways to include persons

living with mental illness in our everyday lives. Be with doctors, therapists, researchers,

social workers and all those in the helping professions as they seek to overcome

ignorance and injustice with care and compassion.

Sometimes, Divine Spirit, we feel discouraged and hopeless in the face of so many

challenges. Help us to see ourselves as you see us—persons of value and worth, persons

of creativity and potential.

May we come to understand the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit in bringing about health and wholeness. And may we go forward into our communities with a renewed sense of vision, hope and possibility for the future .Amen.

--Reverend Susan Gregg-Schroeder