{"id":693,"date":"2016-06-15T16:16:43","date_gmt":"2016-06-15T16:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/?p=693"},"modified":"2016-06-15T16:22:09","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T16:22:09","slug":"letter-in-the-church-times-may-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/?p=693","title":{"rendered":"Letter in the Church Times May 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F693&print=pdf\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/pdf.png\" alt=\"image_pdf\" title=\"View PDF\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F693&print=print\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><\/a><\/div><p>Sir, \u2014 It was disappointing to read\u00a0the twin articles on mental illness\u00a0from the Revd Vic Van Den Bergh\u00a0and Sarah Meyrick.<\/p>\n<p>The former spent most of his\u00a0article explaining how to get\u00a0someone sectioned, with a tiny\u00a0paragraph saying the best advice\u00a0was to treat people with care,\u00a0kindness, and understanding. The\u00a0second article concerned itself with\u00a0an unfortunate stabbing in a\u00a0random situation by a 30-year-old\u00a0with drug issues in which\u00a0fortunately no one died.<\/p>\n<p>For the past 24 years, I have been\u00a0working on and off in this field, trying to help people in spiritual\u00a0distress, and to help the Church to engage with compassion with such\u00a0people. These are those that Jesus\u00a0called, \u201cthe least of my brothers and\u00a0sisters. . . what you do for them you\u00a0do for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jean Vanier is wise when he tells\u00a0us that, \u201cif we come close rather than back off, if we meet rather than\u00a0retreat. When we come close we will\u00a0realise that our fears may be\u00a0unfounded.\u201d Absolutely, Jean: it is\u00a0my contention that \u201cmental illness\u201d\u00a0can also be understood as a trauma\u00a0induced tussle with the Lord which\u00a0can be better addressed by the\u00a0Church than current psychiatric\u00a0services. Indeed, outcomes are often\u00a0better for people who avoid contact\u00a0with psychiatric services entirely. The drugs don\u2019t always work. Love\u00a0always does.<\/p>\n<p>It is sad that fear of the stranger\u00a0persists in church circles. In medieval times, monasteries were\u00a0the default mental asylums. Oh that\u00a0the modern Church would take a\u00a0more enlightened view of how to\u00a0come alongside those with troubled\u00a0minds.<\/p>\n<p>JAMIE SUMMERS<br \/>\nWestside<br \/>\nWandsworth Common<br \/>\nLondon<br \/>\n(<a href=\"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/ChTm_2016_05_20_016.pdf\">PDF of published letter in the Church Times<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sir, \u2014 It was disappointing to read\u00a0the twin articles on mental illness\u00a0from the Revd Vic Van Den Bergh\u00a0and Sarah Meyrick. The former spent most of his\u00a0article explaining how to get\u00a0someone sectioned, with a tiny\u00a0paragraph saying the best advice\u00a0was to treat people with care,\u00a0kindness, and understanding. The\u00a0second article concerned itself with\u00a0an unfortunate stabbing in a\u00a0random situation &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/?p=693\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Letter in the Church Times May 2016<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/shirtyletters.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}