Sermon: Shabbat B’reishit 2018 (Lynette Sunderland)
Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 8 October 2018
One of my earliest memories as a child, was that of a young man named Michael turning up unannounced either at our doorstep or a few doors away where his mother, a friend of the family, lived. This young man, memorable by his very ginger hair would speak very loudly to himself as he marched along the street in a seemingly agitated way before banging loudly on either his mother’s or our front door, sometimes in the middle of the night. His appearance would in most cases be followed by raised voices negotiating the need for him to be gone, the attendance of a police car and then Michael would be escorted back to Shenley Hospital where he was resident. Once gone there was much discussion about how Michael should not be allowed to run away from the home and much speculation about why he had been admitted to Shenley Hospital in the first place. When eventually his mother, his only direct relative, passed away there was a last highly emotional incident when he came back to look for her. I always felt somewhat distressed by Michael’s visits – not because I was scared but because I imagined his loneliness and rejection and worried what might happen to him. I don’t know what became of Michael but I hope he found the peace and understanding that he deserved.
On Wednesday, the world will mark Mental Health day. On Monday, as part of the Reform Judaism Communities that Care initiative, members of Alyth and many other reform synagogues, will come together to discuss ways in which communities can become more mental health aware and mental health friendly. NHS England states that one in four adults and one in 10 children experience mental illness and many of us know and care for people who have some level of mental challenge.
The causes of these conditions have been greatly debated – two of them being social media and the fact that more people are lonely and isolated than ever before – both of which are proving detrimental to one’s mental wellbeing. In this week’s Jewish Chronicle, Rabbi Julia Neuberger writes about the epidemic that is loneliness and isolation. At a recent one day seminar organised by Reform Judaism’s Communities that Care project, it was identified very quickly that this is one of the key areas that can affect mental wellbeing. And at the Reform Judaism’s recent Chagigah conference, over four sessions we discussed ways in which we as synagogue communities could begin to lessen that isolation, assist those experiencing mental health challenges and improve the wellbeing of many of our members.
In fact Reform Judaism went as far as adopting as one of their main aims for the coming two years the NHS England five point wellbeing plan 1)to connect; 2)be active; 3)keep learning; 4)give to others; 5)be mindful. I will explain briefly what these five points mean for us practically. Connecting – making available welcoming, safe spaces and opportunities for people to meet and talk; Active – to participate in some form of exercise whether it be mellow yoga, walking or cycling; Learning – explore new skills or undertake some cerebral stimulation by undertaking classes; Giving – volunteering some time to the needs of others; and number 5 Mindful – being more aware of the present moment, including our thoughts and feelings, our body and the world around us.
Community members across Reform Judaism will continue to find ways under each of these headings to improve the work we do in assisting each other with our wellbeing.
It is proven that just a smile, an occasional hand held, a chatty phone call or an invite to a social event can go an enormous way to making us all feel less lonely, valued, more human and can help each other with our day to day mental wellbeing.
I also know that all this is easier said than done and depending on the person concerned the approach will be different and perhaps not so direct.
However, most of us will come face to face either with our own or someone else’s mental health challenge. Community awareness of the issues and understanding of how we can help, can play an important part of someone’s quality of life and recovery.
At Alyth there is a lot of this awareness already in place and we welcome wholeheartedly but with the appropriate sensitivity needed, everyone who wishes to attend any of our events or be involved, whether it be our singing, learning, volunteering, teenage hadracha sessions or mindfulness meditation.
Twelve members of Alyth undertook the JAMI Mental Health First Aid Training course – which helps people identify people’s mental health conditions and their needs within a community setting. If anyone is interested in taking part in the next course planned please speak to me.
Some of those who undertook the course will be part of our new monthly Cake Before Therapy sessions starting on 14th October – a drop in for people to come and talk to others facing mental health challenges.
Run by two young people with their own experience of mental illness it will be a safe place for anyone with a mental health issue to come, talk and meet.
We will continue to look at and learn about ways in which we can support people experiencing these challenges and there is always more we can do as individuals and as a community.
In this week’s Torah portion, Bereishit, we learn about the concept of partnership – how when God had created the earth, humans were then placed to work in partnership with God to look after the world and all that was in it. And in the piece that Ben read so wonderfully we hear about the moment that God breathes life into Adam. This image of God breathing life into Adam; with the knowledge that we are made in God’s image; and with the understanding that as individuals we are part of a bigger team tasked with looking after our world and all who are in it, conjures up for me the vision for all us to breathe life into ourselves and each other – sometimes the challenge is that we cannot, like most things, do this alone but need each other to help us breathe.
We can help each other just to breathe – not to cure – but just to breathe and help give each other a quality of life that enables us to feel that we are not alone in our mental health challenges.
There is hardly a day that goes by when most of us do not either hear about someone who is struggling with their mental health or begin to experience our own struggle and as we know there is a huge range of conditions, some temporary, some long term, from mild levels of anxiety and depression to more in depth diagnoses such as schizophrenia or Alzheimers. We may be different from each other but the constant that we share is the breath we need to live and survive.
In the days of Michael and before, a lot of these conditions and how they affected people were misunderstood, ignored and there was a huge amount of stigma surrounding mental health illness.
Today we are thankfully much more educated and aware but there is always more we can do. With the woeful lack of resources due to cutbacks out in the wider community, we can start here right in the heart of our communities to ensure that we can offer each other a level of care and support that we all need for our mental wellbeing.