WELCOME !

WELCOME! This is a new blog dedicated to mental & emotional health for ALL people, and especially from a Christian perspective. Sure, I know there are many psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, et al who would prefer to leave out Jesus Christ from the mental health "equation" but I believe the opposite. I believe that including Christ in mental health therapy is essential for every person. In fact, I majored in psychology at my Christian college (Calvin) back in the late 80's and also worked at a Christian psychiatric hospital for a while as a mental health worker. I even thought about becoming a psychologist or social worker but my journey led me on a path ultimately as an evangelist for Christ, albeit thanks to my ample education (BA/BA/M.Div) and experiences I am able to incorporate a lot of formal education & experience into my evangelic perspective & practice. I also have a blog dedicated to suicide prevention, which also falls under the category of mental health, and have experienced the loss of both friends & family, directly or indirectly, due to suicide. Hence, this blog is both personal and "professional" in nature as mental health issues affect everybody, either directly or indirectly. Whether or not you have a person in your nuclear or extended family affected by mental health issues, you definitely have somebody in your community affected by such, and around southern California we see it even more as a part of the homeless problem. What triggered me to start a blog dedicated to this matter was pastor Rick Warren of saddleback church who lost his son to suicide some time ago, and on March 28, 2014 (which is tomorrow as I write this) is hosting a mental health forum at the Lake Forest campus which I plan to attend. It gave me pause to reflect on mental health issues and my own experience working in the field of mental health (I've also worked as a social worker/chaplain intern in two hospitals in southern California and along with normal physical issues, mental & spiritual health also must be evaluated in the wholistic process). I don't have a lot of content to immediately offer here on this blog, but will be posting thoughts, links, etc on a periodic basis. Stay tuned for more information, encouragement, & inspiration, and meanwhile, stay healthy, mentally, physically,cognitively, emotionally, & spiritually! God bless you. Keep the faith !