This page features mental health resources produced by Anabaptist-related organizations and individuals. See also our pages on depression, living with bipolar, suicide, mental health education, setting boundaries, and mental health links.

Sharing the Journey as a Faithful Friend: Walking Alongside a Person with Mental Illness, By Margalea Warner 

As hurting human beings, we all need to give and receive friendship, prayer, and support. When the person we befriend has a serious mental illness, a unique element enters our friendship. As a person with schizophrenia, a chronic illness that I have wrestled with since young adulthood, I have been on both the giving and receiving end of faithful friendship. Such treasured companionship has eased my suffering and enriched my life. To read more...

Overcoming Stigma

One of the greatest barriers to inclusion in church and society is the stigma that comes with certain disabling conditions.  This is particularly the case for mental illness.  Ruth Detweiler has both written and collected resources dealing with this issue.  

See also the August 2005 edition of ADNotes.

My Journey with Depression
Ruth Detweiler shares about her own journey with depression and offers tips for overcoming stigma and building relationships with persons with mental illness.

Dandelions and Stigma
Ruth Detweiler shares some thoughts about the stigma of mental illness based on her observations of a field of dandelions.  Paper also includes definitions of "mental health" and "mental illness."

Shadow Voices: Finding Hope in Mental Illness, a documentary by Mennonite Media.  The video is an intimate, inside look at what it is like to live with a mental illness and how individuals and their families find their way through a tangle of  medical, governmental, societal and spiritual issues.

Ten persons with mental illness from all across the U.S. tell their stories, plus many experts and advocates in the field add helpful perspectives, including: former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter; former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher; Dr. William Anthony of Boston University, founder of the modern rehabilitation movement; and Dr. Joyce Burland, founder of the Family to Family program for National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The program focuses on people’s experiences with stigma, recovery and rehabilitation, parity in insurance programs, and how faith communities can do a better job responding to those with mental illness. The program was produced by Mennonite Media in cooperation with the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission and the Communications Commission of National Council of Churches.

For more information visit www.ShadowVoices.com

Copies of Shadow Voices are also available for sale or on loan from the .

  A Gift of Hope:
Standing with people who experience mental illness and their families

Do you wonder how you can be helpful to individuals and families affected by mental illness? This article suggests many ways to be supportive, Originally a pamphlet published by MMA (Mennonite Mutual Aid) in 1996. Updated in 2009 by ADNet for online publication.

The Light of Day: A Journey of Hope from a Dark World, by Ruth Ann Allison

Read about Ruth Ann's journey through mental illness  and the role that her faith and participation in a faith community play in her recovery. To order, .