Mental Health in Our Family
Let’s be honest, life can get messy. When imperfect people come together there’s bound to be difficulty, stress, disagreements and unforeseen challenges. How we respond is very important. This particular discussion is built to encourage you in your family. You will find the root of why things can get so messy, what we can do to respond and if you scroll down you will find a host of resources for you and your family.
Unity is something that easily can be replaced with shame, and disconnection leading to feelings of rejection and abandonment. It doesn’t have to stay this way and there is help available.
The Root of the Mess
If you haven’t accepted the fact that life can be messy this may be a problem. When God made the entire world through creation it was all good except one thing. It was not good for man to be alone. In Genesis we see that God’s response to this problem was to give man a companion through Eve. Union is a beautiful thing.
Union with our Creator is ultimately our life source.
When we lose our dependence on our life source through our Creator God we can find ourselves engaging in an unhealthy dependence with other things or people. Trying to replace our union with God can lead to a mess bigger than we can clean ourselves. Relationships, work, food and drink, alone time and community are all designed to be good things, but in excess as our source of dependence can lead to many problems. Left unchecked we can find ourselves or those in our family feeling stuck, alone, addicted or questioning life.
How We Can Respond
Wherever we find ourselves, God is here. If we’re not mindful we can be deceived believing lies about God, ourselves and others. There are difficulties in family that no single article can properly address. However, here are a few places to consider getting started.
Pray. Talk with God. He sees, hears and knows. Listen to His voice and leading in your life. Be still and listen.
Read. God’s Words are alive through Scripture, His Words that are Truth everlasting. Need direction? Read the six chapters in the book of Galatians. Confused? Ask, read, pray.
Confess and ask for help. Talk with someone you know and trust. There will never be a perfect time to share. It’s costly and vulnerable and most importantly necessary. If you’re not already, consider sitting down with a Licensed Counselor and take the steps necessary to receive additional help for you and your family.
Join a group. Depending on what you and your family are facing consider joining a group like Griefshare for grief and loss, Regeneration or Celebrate Recovery for Addiction and recovery, Re-Engage for help with marriage or join one of the upcoming workshops on technology and parenting through Mitchell Road Presbyterian Church in our community.
Learn More. Information, Support and ways to be helped have never been more accessible and since it doesn’t hurt to inquire check out additional resources on programs like Heartsupport or To Write Love on Her Arms that help with creating a community for mental health, learn more about suicide prevention and how to engage friends or family contemplating suicide, or other issues related to family difficulties. For difficulties in families that may need to receive help for situations of abuse consider organizations like Safe Harbor or the Julie Valentine Center.
Josh Neuer is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Greenville, SC. Josh helps individuals, families, businesses and communities receive hope and healing that literally changes the world! Josh is passionate about empowering meaningful change in people including growing communities and team cultures. He is the founder of Joshua Neuer, LLC Counseling, a committed husband and father, and is absolutely crazy about relationships!