Cathy Tuckett of Cotteridge Meeting reports on a recent Quaker Mental Health workshop and shares an invitation to join a book group.
On Saturday 27th June, a group of 14 Elders/Pastoral Friends (from 9 Central England local Meetings) attended a workshop on Quakers and Mental Health. We began with a discussion about what we mean by mental ill-health and how we recognise it, acknowledging that it is something we may all experience to a greater or lesser extent during our lives.
We continued in small groups to share general issues encountered in local meetings and then focused on Chapter 7 of the book Quaker Voices on Mental Health which deals with the dangers of binary thinking e.g. in relation to food. Healthy versus unhealthy is not a simple way to categorise food. “Sometimes the healthiest food is the ultra-processed meal we receive from the foodbank – it’s that or nothing”; “Eat plenty of vegetables isn’t always appropriate with gut problems” … and so on. We discussed other contexts in which binary thinking can be problematic (male/female, white/black, fit/unfit etc) and how easily we can sound judgemental. We may have a negative impact on the mental health of others without being aware.
We ended by reflecting on what we might do better and what support we might need. We concluded that taking the time to listen patiently is one of the best approaches; we can rarely fix problems, but we can improve our understanding and show we care. It was also suggested that Elders/Pastoral Friends are offered simple guidance and ‘first-aid’ training in dealing with issues arising from mental ill health in our Meetings.
Finally, we wondered if any Friends (not just Elders/Pastoral Friends) would be interested in forming a CEQ book group, either in person or online, to discuss each chapter in turn of the book Quaker Voices on Mental Health. Each Meeting has been given a hard copy of the book and it is also available as a free download. Please let Helen Waters know if you are interested, by emailing admin@ceqam.org.uk by the start of September.