MENTAL HEALTH STORIES

Members of the Church of Scotland's National Youth Assembly (NYA) talk candidly about their mental health experiences, and how church impacts on them, in a new booklet released in May.

Mental Health and the Church arose from a discussion on mental health at last year’s NYA.

The 52 short stories range from joyful to upsetting. Some young people find church to have a positive impact on their mental health, but others feel it is a place where they cannot express their emotions, or where they feel pressure to conform or to present a public face that doesn’t match their internal feelings.

Some also talk about finding it hard to adjust to changes, such as the loss of a mentor figure or a locum minister they don't feel a connection with.

Suzi Farrant, the Church of Scotland’s Young People and Young Adults Development Worker, writes in the introduction: “It is (the young people’s) hope that through the sharing of their stories, the church may become a place where mental health is openly talked about and supported.”

You can read or download Mental Health and the Church at https://issuu.com/cofsyouth/docs/mental_health___the_church