WelCom September 2022
The theme for this year’s Support Life Sunday on 9 October, is ‘You are not alone: Accompanying and caring for people living with mental illness’. The National Liturgy Office is providing resources for prayer and liturgy, and the Nathaniel Centre is producing resources including a social media campaign for the week leading into Support Life Sunday and through the following week.
The campaign will present some basic facts about mental illness in Aotearoa and will give a ‘voice’ to various people who have first-hand experience of mental illness. ‘Mental ill-health is quickly becoming the greatest cause of disability and our aim is to get Catholics reflecting on and talking about this important issue – which will affect most of us at some point in our lives – and hopefully to lessen the stigma and discrimination which still surrounds mental illness,’ says John Kleinsman, Nathaniel Centre Director.
The campaign will overlap with Mental Health Awareness Week which, this year, focuses on the importance of people reconnecting with the people and places that lift them up. ‘Our parishes and faith communities should be places that lift people up and we want to encourage people to reflect on the extent to which that is the case as well as ways of becoming more uplifting,’ says Dr Kleinsman.