May Mental Health Awareness Month

Since 1949, the United States has observed May as Mental Health Awareness Month. For Saddleback, it’s a time to have deep conversations, go beyond the surface, dispel myths, and above all, provide hope.

Living with mental health is real and common, with one in five adults struggling with mental health at some point in their lives.

On May 17, Pastor Rick and Kay joined Saddleback’s Facebook LIVE to share the message that there’s hope for mental health. During the discussion, 83,623 people joined the online conversation—yet another way Daring Faith is helping interconnect our growing fellowship through new technologies.

Over the years, Pastor Rick and Kay—with the Saddleback community—have united together to journey alongside people living with mental illness and their families in a holistic way. That’s why the month of May was so important, to openly talk about all aspects of mental health.

During the online discussion, the couple shared what it’s been like for them personally, not only as parents of a child suffering from mental illness, but also as a couple dealing with their own depression and anxiety.

“I’ve lived with a low level of depression my whole life,” says Kay. “I knew I felt sad sometimes, but it was never related to a specific event. It lasted two-to-three days, and it scared me, because it felt like the color went out of my day. My world got very small.”

For anyone with depression, the feeling can be debilitating and at times, and even lethal. As Kay entered adulthood, she learned that those emotions would pass, despite never having been on prescription medication. Her low points were short lived and never fully interfered with her daily life. Throughout their 43 years of marriage, Pastor Rick watched his wife persevere through this general sense of sadness.

“It was never tied to conflict, choice, or relationship,” Pastor Rick recalls. “A lot of people struggle with this type of depression. Others struggle with anxiety and are just on edge, nervous, and fearful. Some people have a general sense of anger and feel irritable and wonder ‘What’s making me angry?’”

Mental illness occurs across a spectrum, and no matter the level of consequence, we all feel these human emotions of sadness, anger, and anxiety. These emotions are given to us by God, and even our heavenly Father gets jealous, frustrated, and angry at times. There is a place for those emotions. Yet the moment they interfere with our daily lives, is the moment it’s time to pay attention.

“Feelings are meant to be felt,” says Pastor Rick, “No feeling lasts forever. It’s when you stuff those emotions that they can be dangerous. Express them and confess them to God.”

While helping his wife battle depression, Pastor Rick too personally dealt with his own mental health issues. In 1981, he was hospitalized for depression, and went on to suffer from low-level fears and phobias. Despite their power, he never let them stop him from doing anything, including sharing God’s Word.

A turning point in his ministry was when Pastor Rick fainted on stage. That moment triggered 20-years of panic attacks and agony with very little relief.

“Even when I hit a dead end, I did not give up,” he says. “I went to the Lord and started praying but prayer is not enough. You have to get your chemistry in balance. You have to diagnose it, because the moment you name it, you gain control over it.”

During his long journey to health, Pastor Rick used various survival techniques to calm his mind, including slow breathing, talking to the Lord, renewing his mind, and controlling his thoughts by replacing negativity with positivity.

“There is no guilt or shame in not being able to control your chemistry, connections, circumstances, or consciousness,” adds Pastor Rick. “But you do have control over your choices.”

One of those choices is an openness to establishing a platform of chemical balance, says Kay. It also means standing up to your illness by not allowing it to become your identity.

“You identity comes in with whose I am,” she explains. “The struggle is often in the shame, which keeps so many people from getting help. When we put those labels on ourselves, it limits us from finding the joy in the fact that we are loved by God.”

The greatest takeaway from Kay and Rick’s Facebook LIVE event was the message that you are loved, you are not alone, there is help, and there is hope. Saddleback offers many practical steps for support, including monthly gatherings for people living with mental illness. Held the fourth Sunday of every month, the next event will be held on Sunday, May 27 from 1:00 to 3:00 at Saddleback Lake Forest in Tent 3.

Other resources include free downloads at kaywarren.com, the Journey Toward Hope book, and support groups like the Mental Health Grace Alliance, Fresh Hope, Celebrate Recovery, and NAMI. Saddleback also has over 8,000 small groups where people can find friendship, spanning from Santa Monica to San Diego.

“When you feel you can’t hear God, that’s when you need community,” says Pastor Rick. “We only grow and heal through relationships.”

 For more info, visit kaywarren.com/mentalhealth.