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Description
Have you ever wondered how to compassionately support someone experiencing schizophrenia? Chris Summerville joins hosts Johan Heinrichs and Wendi Park in a conversation discussing the fears and motivations of those in psychosis, the critical steps of seeking help, and the importance of destigmatizing mental illnesses.
Summerville shares insights on the isolation individuals with schizophrenia face, recommending church involvement, peer support, and community mental health workers as vital resources for self-recovery. The conversation also touches on historical and religious perceptions of mental illness, the biological basis of these conditions, and the significance of inclusive support and language. Summerville emphasizes the necessity of early symptom recognition, integrating mental health in pastoral prayers, and applauds today's understanding and effective treatments for schizophrenia. Additionally, Wendi and Johan promise exploration of borderline personality disorder in future discussions and remind listeners about CareImpact's initiatives.
Time Stamps
[04:23] Wishing for information on schizophrenia, hallucinations.
[09:00] "Schizophrenia: origins, language, and personal experiences."
[12:11] Brain has more cells than trees, neurotransmitters.
[16:04] Stigma around mental illness causes reluctance to seek help.
[18:48] Sensitivity to external stimuli, hearing voices, psychosis.
[20:04] Inquire, seek help for signs of psychosis.
[26:32] Destigmatize schizophrenia, offer support, provide mental healthcare.
[27:40] Encouragement to support and learn amid challenges.
[31:12] "Summer speedos starting next week!"
About Chris Summerville:
Chris, an advocate with a profound personal connection to mental health, has served as the Executive Director of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society since 1995 and as CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada for over 12 years. Holding an earned doctorate from Dallas Theological Seminary and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Brandon University, Chris is a Certified Psychosocial Rehabilitation Recovery Practitioner. He champions a holistic, person-centered approach to mental health, integrating bio-psycho-social-spiritual recovery principles. Appointed to the Mental Health Commission of Canada's Board of Directors in 2007, Chris has contributed to numerous national mental health initiatives. His dedication extends to various boards, including the Mood Disorders Society of Canada and the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health. Residing in Steinbach, Manitoba with his wife Carolyn, Chris passionately advocates for mental health as a social justice issue, emphasizing the importance of recovery philosophy, peer support, social inclusion, and addressing social determinants of health.
Guest Links
Schizophrenia Society of Canada: https://schizophrenia.ca/
Sanctuary Mental Health: https://sanctuarymentalhealth.org/
Mentioned YouTube Channel
Living Well with Schizophrenia: https://www.youtube.com/@LivingWellwithSchizophrenia/
Other Links
Reach out to us! https://journeywithcare.ca/podcast
Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
Listen To Journey With Prayer - A prayer journey corresponding to this episode: https://journeywithprayer.captivate.fm/listen
or get both podcasts on the same RSS feed! https://feeds.captivate.fm/n/careimpact-podcast
CareImpact: careimpact.ca
About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal
DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with children and families: careimpact.ca/donate
Editing and production by Johan Heinrichs: arkpodcasts.ca
Mentioned in this episode:
See the gift-giving catalogue!
https://careimpactchristmas.com
Transcripts
What does loving your neighbor actually look like? This is
Speaker:journey with care, where curious Canadians get inspired to love
Speaker:others well through real life stories and honest conversations.
Speaker:Welcome to another episode of Journey with Care. We're coming to the end of our
Speaker:series, differently wired in community, and today we have a
Speaker:special guest. He's going to be talking about schizophrenia. But before we
Speaker:get into that, let me remind you that we have our journey with prayer
Speaker:podcast, which is on a different feed. You can find it right now on our
Speaker:website, or you can find it on your favorite podcast player and listen to that.
Speaker:Take these conversations from the head to the heart into your daily walk
Speaker:and routine. Also, I wanted to acknowledge that we had a listener
Speaker:message. This was on our differently wired bipolar
Speaker:in community with Jaiden episode. Our listener goes to say, this was
Speaker:so educational. Would it be possible to get an episode on
Speaker:borderline personality disorder? I recently got diagnosed
Speaker:and I am trying to understand it. First of all, I want to say thank
Speaker:you so much for reaching out and we hear you. And getting
Speaker:a diagnosis for BPD can be a lot to take in.
Speaker:It's fantastic that you're looking to learn more about it and get information.
Speaker:While we've already planned out the remaining episodes in the series, in fact, this is
Speaker:our last one in this specific series. We'll definitely
Speaker:keep BPD in mind for future projects. We hope this series has
Speaker:encouraged the church and community around you to be support, no matter
Speaker:how how differently wired you are. I personally actually
Speaker:have experience supporting someone with BPD and the
Speaker:best thing you could do, my quick advice is just to keep a large circle
Speaker:of supports around you. And hopefully we've helped equip the church
Speaker:to learn to do that a little bit better. So make sure you gather people
Speaker:around you and have that large support system. And thanks
Speaker:again for sending a message. And if anybody else has comments,
Speaker:if you have questions, suggestions, we love to hear from
Speaker:you. Just head over to our website, journeywithcare. Ca
Speaker:podcast. You can click on the episode posts or send us a
Speaker:message or voicemail. You can do it all from there. And we would love to
Speaker:hear from you and respond to whatever you have to say.
Speaker:All right, there we go, Wendy. So we're back in this final differently
Speaker:wired episode. You want to give our listeners a little bit of a
Speaker:catch up to where we are and then introduce our guest today?
Speaker:Yeah, no, I'd love to. Man, I wish we could keep going.
Speaker:And to the person that wrote in about BPD,
Speaker:hey, we hear you. We journey with people who have this
Speaker:diagnosis, so know that we will be praying for you,
Speaker:actually, and do circle yourself around
Speaker:with people and receive that support, because you are not
Speaker:alone. And hopefully in future episodes we can continue
Speaker:to support you. But this series, oh my goodness, we are coming
Speaker:to an end. We've been going through a lot of topics, so I encourage
Speaker:all our listeners to listen through the series. There have been so
Speaker:many rich conversations. We've been talking about autism and bipolar
Speaker:ADHD. We've had certified neuroscience coaches
Speaker:and a lot of people with lived experience differently
Speaker:wired in community. And so I just want to thank each of our guests for
Speaker:coming. And I'm so excited to introduce our current guests, who I
Speaker:have met a year and a half ago at a retreat center. And
Speaker:I'm excited to introduce Chris Somerville to our podcast
Speaker:as we talk about schizophrenia. Chris, welcome to the
Speaker:podcast. Well, thank you. And what a wonderful
Speaker:opportunity for me to be able to share to your
Speaker:listeners one of the most confusing,
Speaker:taboo mental illnesses in the
Speaker:darkness. Yes. I am so glad that we can
Speaker:have this conversation together. But Chris, as an
Speaker:introduction man, you have studied a lot.
Speaker:You have a doctorate in theology, you're a certified psychosocial
Speaker:rehabilitation recovery practitioner, and you also
Speaker:come to us as CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada. So
Speaker:you know a lot about this topic. Can you tell us a little bit
Speaker:more about schizophrenia? Let's demystify that. First and
Speaker:foremost, when we talk about schizophrenia, what are we even
Speaker:talking about? Let's start with that. Well, I
Speaker:wished I could have asked that question when I was around 14
Speaker:years old, living in Birmingham, Alabama, hence the accent.
Speaker:My brother Terry developed cannabis induced schizophrenia in
Speaker:Vietnam, and when he came home around
Speaker:1970, there was no one to turn
Speaker:to to ask the kind of questions that I get asked today,
Speaker:and I'm most pleased to answer. And this session
Speaker:today, you know, I really want it for those individuals
Speaker:who live with personal experience, a lived experience of schizophrenia and
Speaker:their caregivers and their family members and hope really can answer a lot of
Speaker:questions that I wish I had had answers to
Speaker:back end of days in the old south. So anyway, when
Speaker:we talk about schizophrenia, we're actually
Speaker:talking about one of the psychotic illnesses.
Speaker:The main feature of schizophrenia is
Speaker:psychosis. Psychosis is when you cannot
Speaker:determine what is real and is not real, your
Speaker:brain is not functioning in the way and responding
Speaker:to the cues of what reality is. And
Speaker:so the two features psychoses
Speaker:is hallucinations. Hallucinations is any of your
Speaker:five senses when they're not responding as they should,
Speaker:so you maybe hear voices that sound like real voices
Speaker:as if they're coming inside your head or outside of the head. You may feel
Speaker:tactile sensations on your skin, odors
Speaker:through your nose, seeing things that aren't there. The most
Speaker:common hallucination is hearing voices
Speaker:that are there, because those voices can be tormenting
Speaker:and paranoid type of voices.
Speaker:The second symptom of
Speaker:psychopsis is delusions, and that's fixed thoughts that have
Speaker:no basis in reality. Like the RCMP has both
Speaker:my house or I'm Kennedy Prime
Speaker:Minister Trudeau and I talked with him frequently, and he
Speaker:talks to me, so that can be very disturbing.
Speaker:And again, sometimes those delusions can be very
Speaker:paranoid as well. So when we
Speaker:go from psychosis, how do we get from psychosis to
Speaker:schizophrenia? A doctor has to rule out about 16
Speaker:illnesses that also have psychosis as their feature.
Speaker:For example, Parkinson's disease, brain tumor, thyroid
Speaker:problems, heart medication, accidents to your
Speaker:brain canal galaxy. Those are
Speaker:some. And so the final bipolar disorder with
Speaker:psychosis or postpartum psychosis are some forms of
Speaker:depression. So when all that is ruled out, then we're left
Speaker:with schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia.
Speaker:Schizoaffective is a combination of strong depression and
Speaker:psychosis. Schizophrenia is primary
Speaker:psychosis. Oh, that's very helpful. Thank you, Chris,
Speaker:for explaining that, because I think that word
Speaker:schizophrenia can be often flippantly used. Oh, that's so
Speaker:schizophrenic of me. Or just any
Speaker:delusions be considered schizophrenia. And let's face
Speaker:it, I'm not a medical doctor. I'm not a psychiatrist. There's
Speaker:so many other factors that people are looking at. So it's
Speaker:helpful for you to explain how that is being diagnosed
Speaker:and what that looks like historically. How has the
Speaker:church viewed schizophrenia? And has it often
Speaker:been misdiagnosed, so to speak, as something
Speaker:demonic or other than what
Speaker:the psychology would say it is? And is there some
Speaker:correlation there? How have you navigated this within
Speaker:your church experience and people's understanding within the church?
Speaker:Well, hold on to that question. There's one transitional
Speaker:piece I need to say, and that is you mentioned about schizophrenia
Speaker:and some issues. I never say
Speaker:schizophrenic, I don't say cancerous
Speaker:patient. And you're not wrong by saying that. But
Speaker:then you mentioned earlier, we introduced the
Speaker:program talking about multiple
Speaker:personalities, which are technically known as
Speaker:dissociation disorder. And many people think
Speaker:that schizophrenia is a split personality or
Speaker:dissociation disorder. It is not. Those are totally
Speaker:different. The word schizophrenia is from
Speaker:sugar words, which means split mind, and
Speaker:hence, people think split personality. In the
Speaker:rim area of the Pacific Ocean, countries like
Speaker:Japan and others have done away with their
Speaker:equivalent word of schizophrenia, which is also
Speaker:translated in their language as split personality.
Speaker:So it's a disintegration personality
Speaker:disorder because it involves all aspects
Speaker:of your personality. So words are
Speaker:very important and they're very powerful. And in terms I speak
Speaker:people, a person living with schizophrenia, a family
Speaker:member who has a son living with schizophrenia, I have
Speaker:personal, have experience with schizophrenia. Someone
Speaker:might say, the church is not faired
Speaker:any better than society, that
Speaker:we are human beings. In the church, we're fallible.
Speaker:We're all under what the scripture calls the fall. We
Speaker:all have illnesses, we all get sick, we all have mental health problems at
Speaker:some time. And then there are those who have mental illnesses.
Speaker:But because of medievalism
Speaker:and back, you know, even before evil times in
Speaker:the middle ages, there was the notion they're
Speaker:prevalent. And you read it in the Bible. I mean, Jesus was even
Speaker:as in the scripture. I wish I remember this specific
Speaker:scripture. His brothers and sisters thought he was
Speaker:crazy as a living, so to speak. That's language we sometimes
Speaker:use today. It's because of
Speaker:talked with God, God talked with him and so forth. And
Speaker:I think Mary had a full understanding who Jesus was. His brothers
Speaker:and sisters probably did not have a full understanding in terms of
Speaker:maturation. And then the apostle Paul before
Speaker:the kingdom, and he said, you nearly made me mad with all of your
Speaker:cough. So there is reference then in each
Speaker:of those, but a lot of it is saying
Speaker:through the eyes of the demonic. So that's carried
Speaker:through. And so a lot of evangelical christians,
Speaker:conservative christians, still hold on to
Speaker:that. Mental illnesses are covenants
Speaker:of possession of Satan. Now, we have to be
Speaker:very careful with that. You need your theologians and your Bible
Speaker:scholars and pastors, and some of them do, a very lot of them do
Speaker:a very good job. I still believe, because I believe the Bible,
Speaker:and I take the Bible as normal reading
Speaker:normally, what it's saying. And so Jesus did cast out
Speaker:demons, and those demons can manifest themselves with
Speaker:illnesses. But I'm not a demonologist, so I,
Speaker:I can't say, well, okay, this stems from demonicness,
Speaker:stems from the biochemistry, but that's not what we're
Speaker:talking about. We're not talking about demonism today.
Speaker:Most mental illnesses are a manifestation
Speaker:of a person with a brain goal.
Speaker:Wrong. For some reason, the brain has
Speaker:more nerve cells than there
Speaker:are trees on the planet of this earth.
Speaker:Each nerve cell has a synapses. It has a gap between
Speaker:each nerve cell, and there are more synapses
Speaker:and are leaves on the trees and the whole world.
Speaker:And then for the communication to happen, for you to hear me talking
Speaker:today, for you to feel what you're feeling, to hear what you're
Speaker:hearing, there has to be neurotransmitters that
Speaker:creator created for the brain to operate
Speaker:operationally. And then there's a whole slew of them,
Speaker:many, many hundreds. And so if there's too
Speaker:much or too little, it can have an effect on
Speaker:that part of the brain. So sense of
Speaker:radiation is a mental illness that creates a lot of disorder in your
Speaker:life. That's why the social psychiatrist in the
Speaker:biopsychiatrist called the DSM five
Speaker:statistical manual, and it'll list a lot of symptoms
Speaker:of all the middle illness. And so
Speaker:they have to look at the cluster of symptoms and then determine what
Speaker:is the origin of that. But they don't use the word middle
Speaker:illness in that text. They use the phrase
Speaker:rather mental disorder. So the difference between a mental health problem
Speaker:or mental health challenges is that you're having a bad day of
Speaker:your emotions before sex, may be struggling.
Speaker:You might have some sort of an identity crisis. Who am I? And what's my
Speaker:life all about? You may have generalized anxiety
Speaker:and generalize depression.
Speaker:That's mental health. So we need resiliency. And a lot of people
Speaker:experienced mental health problems during this pandemic.
Speaker:A mental illness or a mental disorder in
Speaker:Swan and is so pervasive, it creates a
Speaker:disorder in your life. It interferes with your learning,
Speaker:your loving, and it can create
Speaker:chaos in your life. It can bring tension between
Speaker:relationships, because people having very little knowledge
Speaker:about these symptoms and what they can do to
Speaker:assist this leaves them in consternation and
Speaker:creates conflict and disorder and all. Sometimes the law has
Speaker:to be involved because the person needs some
Speaker:help to take them to the emergency room. If they won't go on their
Speaker:own or they come under the Mental Health act,
Speaker:police are the ones who escort them to a
Speaker:hospital. Well, Chris, there is a wealth of information there
Speaker:you've just shared. I just really appreciate the way you were able to explain such
Speaker:complex things and bring it down to in language that I can
Speaker:understand. So, thank you. And I can imagine a person
Speaker:living with schizophrenia would find
Speaker:some frustration in a neurotypical world
Speaker:where they're experiencing disorder in a
Speaker:society that's expecting different results or
Speaker:different behavior. And I think sometimes we can look at the behavior
Speaker:and not necessarily understand at a neurological
Speaker:level. So I appreciate you explaining that. So when you
Speaker:say disorder, it's literally
Speaker:misfirings of the brain with the neurons and the synapses.
Speaker:Is that what we're talking about? Right. Things are not working as they should,
Speaker:just like a car engine. If it gets too much gas, it floods out.
Speaker:If it doesn't have enough gas, it stops running or putters around.
Speaker:The question I get a lot, and the thing is about, well, why don't people
Speaker:excel? The house? Schizophrenia. I've seen a picture of
Speaker:your family one day. If any of your children
Speaker:began to experience any of these symptoms, they would be
Speaker:horrified. They would be scared to death. I'm talking
Speaker:about as it progresses, because they don't want to be thought of
Speaker:a nutcase, they don't want to be thought as crazy,
Speaker:they don't want to be thought as a nut bar. They don't want to be
Speaker:thought of. Eventually, the greyhound bus killer that killed
Speaker:Tim McLean on the bus, you had schizophrenia, and I worked here with him for
Speaker:ten years. No one wants to wake
Speaker:up. I'm homeless psychiatrist, and
Speaker:I don't understand all this language, and they're
Speaker:giving me this medicine that creates a lot of side effects without
Speaker:drowsiness. I feel zombied out. And
Speaker:so there's a real hesitancy for we as human
Speaker:beings. Oh, I'm struggling with depression,
Speaker:oh, that anxiety, because they reach social media and what have you,
Speaker:and people who are threatening suicide and an individual who
Speaker:wanted dying and whatever. And so it had to be a really
Speaker:unusual family in which a child in the family
Speaker:felt comfortable enough to say, you know, mom, dad, I'm
Speaker:hearing these voices. Yeah, I have a question about that,
Speaker:Chris. How would I, and I appreciate the way you
Speaker:frame that. How would I, as a
Speaker:parenthood, or I as a church member,
Speaker:be a safe person to walk with somebody
Speaker:that's experiencing some of these symptoms? And
Speaker:how have you helped people
Speaker:destigmatize that so that they can get the support and the level of the
Speaker:support that they're needing, because there is hope. Sometimes it's the
Speaker:awareness of the diagnosis itself that actually could be a relief
Speaker:in finding a pathway forward, or
Speaker:some rehabilitation, some normalcy of being able to live with it.
Speaker:Can you help me understand how can I be that safe person or
Speaker:become a safe congregation for this diagnosis?
Speaker:Yes, these things begin very slowly,
Speaker:unless you're using something like cannabis and help you get bad
Speaker:truck, which was oftentimes psychosis, but it comes on
Speaker:slowly in the very first phase, not that you have to remember the word is
Speaker:the prodroval phase. And that's when you sort
Speaker:of looking back, it's when you look back, then you say, oh, well, that's what
Speaker:that was. And that happens to a lot of parents when they get education.
Speaker:They say, oh, that's how it did began with Lori. And now
Speaker:I see. So, for example, their sleep pattern
Speaker:changes, their attention span
Speaker:changes. They stay in their room more,
Speaker:that gradually become more reclusive to be
Speaker:around large crowds, creates anxiety.
Speaker:Fluorescent lights can bother them a great deal. He's probably want
Speaker:to change these lights, and then they may
Speaker:elevate them to a time. So there's that sensitivity
Speaker:developing to external stimuli, and then they'll come
Speaker:to the bigger the point of, I hear voices,
Speaker:you know, there's voices talking to the moment. Now, depending
Speaker:on what the person was doing 24 hours earlier, you know, the mother said,
Speaker:well, maybe ask for much alcohol to drink or, oh, it'll
Speaker:go away, and I'll. Well, the good question would be, well,
Speaker:what are they saying? And there are many people around who are only
Speaker:your voices, so try to normalize it as much, you know, especially what are
Speaker:the voices saying? Some of the questions are these, how
Speaker:many voices do you recognize in the voices?
Speaker:So sometimes the voices mimic. Someone may acknowledge,
Speaker:especially if they've been abused. People who have experienced
Speaker:abuse and trauma, sexual abuse and PTSD,
Speaker:will have manifestation on psychosis, so that
Speaker:trauma has to be dealt with. There are no medications for
Speaker:trauma, so that's where the psychotherapies come in. And then if
Speaker:they have those delusions,
Speaker:I know my iPhone is bugged, and. And
Speaker:they start getting rid of something. So you just need to inquire
Speaker:what's motivating that, what is the fear, and try to remain
Speaker:as complex and don't create a diagnosis, don't give a
Speaker:diagnosis to them. And what you need to do
Speaker:is you go to your family doctor, because
Speaker:they're the ones who are to arrange you to get a
Speaker:psychiatrist. And unfortunately, you have to wait months.
Speaker:Now, if it got worse, the person is saying, I know they're
Speaker:trying to kill me, and I'm going to have to do something about
Speaker:them. So if they talk words
Speaker:of homicide or suicide, you need to take
Speaker:them to the emergency room as soon as
Speaker:possible. Not that they're going to do it immediately, but it's beginning
Speaker:to bring disorder into their life and they actually believe
Speaker:it. That's the thing about psychosis, is
Speaker:that you have these thoughts and thinking that are
Speaker:not true in reality. Then a doctor would do the
Speaker:evaluation and put them on a beginning
Speaker:medication to hope that they bring down
Speaker:those symptoms. But I would try not to use
Speaker:language that's offensive to them. You
Speaker:might be right. But you don't want to scare them away from getting
Speaker:help and encourage them. That hope is
Speaker:thoughtful. So it takes about once a person develops the
Speaker:prodromal systems and they totally crash
Speaker:the water. Wherever the diagnosis is going to go, that's about
Speaker:three to four years. And the truth
Speaker:of the matter, that there's people there is
Speaker:cold. So that's the heart of the schizophrenia
Speaker:recovery movement. When people ask me, Chris, what do you do? I work in the
Speaker:schizophrenia recovery movement because I want that recovery tied to
Speaker:schizophrenia. Well, tell me more. Even though it is hard as
Speaker:hell as an illness, you'll be scared to death. Most people don't understand
Speaker:it. And you do lose a lot of your friends, you do
Speaker:lose a lot of family member relationships, like, I don't want you to
Speaker:bring your son. Let's get stranger about birthday parties.
Speaker:They're scared. You tend not to date much or not at
Speaker:all. Most people who continue to live only schizophrenia
Speaker:don't marry, although that is changing today with the better medications,
Speaker:they generally don't finish education. But you know what?
Speaker:If you finish high school and have some education before
Speaker:you develop schizophrenia, you do better. You do better.
Speaker:And so there are. We can talk about that later. There are various
Speaker:means of what promotes self recovery. All I can
Speaker:say for an absolute fact that people with
Speaker:schizophrenia are some of the most lonely people in the world. They're very
Speaker:isolated. The church can come in to fill that gap. So
Speaker:using something like the sanctuary material that's
Speaker:produced in Canada, that you've had them on your program to
Speaker:befriend them, understand symptoms, who are
Speaker:indifferent, the ways that you adjust your communication,
Speaker:maybe you talk too fast and you slow down so they can swap information.
Speaker:And don't just talk about the schizophrenia, talk about their
Speaker:hopes and their dreams and what they would like
Speaker:life to be for them to inspire hope
Speaker:and then plan some get togethers. Now, that's
Speaker:rather intensive relationship already there, but there are people who are
Speaker:especially gifted in the church. We feel that you can do it
Speaker:back. There's recovery of celebration, celebrate
Speaker:recovery. That's what. Celebrate recovery. Well, maybe you could choose some
Speaker:time to line that. And it's known by the church
Speaker:folks that it's for people who have mental health and
Speaker:mental illnesses and you praying for each other
Speaker:and you share material and you share life experiences.
Speaker:A big movement in North America and around the world is peer support
Speaker:movement. Now, peer support's been way around. When my wife had breast
Speaker:cancer, she had a peer support worker. And
Speaker:here, where I get my prosthetic hook repaired, I was
Speaker:lost, man. Alligator. I'm in Louisiana, and I wasn't able to
Speaker:save the hand. Well, that's not a true
Speaker:story to begin with. If you believe you probably are suffering
Speaker:from collisions, it's not a truth. It makes for a good story,
Speaker:though. You do have a prosthetic hand. So were you born
Speaker:that way? No, I was born that way. So I'm the prosthetic.
Speaker:It's part of my recovery, learning how to use it. I've mastered it.
Speaker:And I used to go in as a peer support worker when I was
Speaker:a teenager and teach people who were recent amputees or who had born
Speaker:with the absence of a right hand, helping them to see how functional the
Speaker:prosthetic hook in the hand could be. So peer support worker
Speaker:is the one who spend where you are. They are on the road of
Speaker:recovery. And the goal is that the person
Speaker:who's the patient now will be motivating to say,
Speaker:well, how are you able to do that? How are you doing what you're doing
Speaker:now? The issues around medication and so forth.
Speaker:So the church could even offer that, especially in a christian
Speaker:context. I think it needs to be more than once a year, but just
Speaker:periodically, someone can give a testimony about
Speaker:phosphorous through their bicolor, through their schizophrenia.
Speaker:You have to be careful with the media. Working with the media. It's not trying
Speaker:to sensationalize the story. Oh, tell us all about those
Speaker:hallucinations and those goodies. I want to hear they can make reference
Speaker:to it, but it's really talking about the disorder in their
Speaker:life and then how they.
Speaker:So there are community mental health workers, there's psychiatrists,
Speaker:general physicians, psychologists, saw
Speaker:therapy, unresolved trauma issues, and
Speaker:then be in a friend. Just be in a friend, you know, takes up
Speaker:to lunch some time. You don't have to spend all your time with the
Speaker:individual. Also a limited income, very
Speaker:limited income. But I know a University of
Speaker:Toronto engineer professor who has
Speaker:schizophrenia. And so people with schizophrenia are
Speaker:amongst us and in. They're not all crazy
Speaker:acting. It's stabilized. The symptoms
Speaker:are stabilized. They found ways for the brain to
Speaker:worse for them. And I think it's more common than people often
Speaker:realize. We might have a certain Persona that we think
Speaker:of, maybe through media or Hollywood,
Speaker:of what we think of when we talk about schizophrenia. But
Speaker:you've shared a lot here, and I really appreciate the way you have given
Speaker:us so many not understanding, but also helpful tools
Speaker:on how to walk alongside for those who do not experience
Speaker:schizophrenic episodes or symptoms,
Speaker:but how to walk alongside and be a place of safety,
Speaker:but also those experiencing mental illnesses and those living
Speaker:with schizophrenia. How they can find support
Speaker:such wealth of information. And I think one of the things that I see in
Speaker:common is that we need to become aware, we need to
Speaker:destigmatize. There's ways to do that. I know from my personal
Speaker:experience. I've on several occasions, I have helped community
Speaker:members and in crisis and
Speaker:taken them to an ER that is specifically
Speaker:designed for mental health and mental illnesses when
Speaker:they were going through some significant psychosis.
Speaker:And in those moments, it just blew me away.
Speaker:And I would say just as an encouragement to our listeners to
Speaker:we don't have to be the psychiatrist, we need to be with. We
Speaker:need to sit with and be with people
Speaker:going through hardship, and they're not people to be feared,
Speaker:they're people to be with and to learn. And not
Speaker:as me, the rescuer, but to say, how can I support
Speaker:you asking the doctors and people in
Speaker:knowledge, how can we be better supported? And you made reference
Speaker:to sanctuary, mental health, and we've often made reference to
Speaker:them and we'll put the link in again in our show notes. But there is
Speaker:a good resource there for churches, small groups
Speaker:to learn together how to be places of safety, how
Speaker:to understand mental illnesses, mental health.
Speaker:And what does that look like to be places of
Speaker:inclusivity for people going through a lot of
Speaker:differences. I just want to encourage people to
Speaker:check out that resource. Well, and there's another excellent one
Speaker:for Canadians. It's a YouTube channel. It's
Speaker:entitled living well with schizophrenia. And the
Speaker:young lady's name is Lauren, L a V r I
Speaker:N. She's out in BC, she's a social worker
Speaker:and she's in her thirties. I think she has
Speaker:beautiful YouTube videos and
Speaker:a couple of hundreds in terms of fantastic topics
Speaker:for people to learn about this. Okay,
Speaker:we'll put that in the show notes as well. Well, Chris, there's so many
Speaker:things that we could talk about yet, and we've learned so much
Speaker:already, but it is the end of our episode. Is there any
Speaker:concluding thoughts that you would like to end our episode with?
Speaker:So I wouldn't wish that pastors would in their pastoral prayer,
Speaker:but those who still do that would periodically begin, say,
Speaker:and Lord, we don't forget today those who may be among
Speaker:us and outside of us who are struggling with middle
Speaker:anguish, light and depression or schizophrenia. And we ask
Speaker:for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Holy Spirit to minister to
Speaker:him. That's all he got aside. We do it with the physical,
Speaker:every pastoral prayer. But anyway, here's one
Speaker:of my sayings. If you're going to have schizophrenia, this is the best day to
Speaker:have it. How can I say that? Because we know more than ever
Speaker:before and what helps. And then my
Speaker:parting words can be, well, y'all go in peace, not to
Speaker:pieces. I love that.
Speaker:Thank you so much, Chris, for joining us on the podcast today,
Speaker:listeners. Again, you could check the show notes for all those links for the sanctuary
Speaker:mental health course and the resources that Chris recommended. You can
Speaker:also go to our website, Journeywithcare ca
Speaker:podcast to find out more. You can comment and
Speaker:share it. Reach me through in the Schizophrenia Society of
Speaker:Canada. I live in Steinbeck, Manitoba.
Speaker:Excellent. So we will also add Chris's information if you'd like to contact him
Speaker:and ask him any questions. It sounds like he's willing to help out
Speaker:there as well. So thank you so much, Chris, for coming on with us today.
Speaker:Thank you so listeners, for the coming weeks we are actually taking a
Speaker:four week little bit of a break. It's going to be shorter
Speaker:episodes. We got some stories to share with you as you enjoy
Speaker:your summer. Use that time to catch up on some of these longer
Speaker:episodes and enjoy the short stories at the same time. We are calling it
Speaker:the summer speedos. Just a
Speaker:little bit of a play on words there. So enjoy.
Speaker:Enjoy these four weeks. Yeah, we'll see you back very
Speaker:soon. Thank you for joining another
Speaker:conversation on Journey with care, where we inspire
Speaker:curious Canadians on their path of faith and living life with
Speaker:purpose in community. Journey with Care is an initiative of Care
Speaker:Impact, a canadian charity dedicated to connecting and equipping the
Speaker:whole church to journey well in community. You can visit their website
Speaker:at careimpact, CA or visit journeywithcare CA to get
Speaker:more information on weekly episodes, journey with prayer, and details
Speaker:about our upcoming events and meetups. You can also leave us a
Speaker:message, share your thoughts, and connect with like minded
Speaker:individuals who are on their own journeys of faith and purpose.
Speaker:Thank you for sharing this podcast and helping these stories reach the
Speaker:community. Together we can explore explore ways to journey in a good way
Speaker:and always remember to stay curious.
