Author: Nic Mackay
Overview
The world’s longest-standing mental health ministry is rooted in the tale of a young Irish princess named Dymphna, who dedicated herself to Christ when she was still a teenager.
In the 7th century, Dymphna fled her unstable father, a feudal king, who wanted to marry her, and sought refuge in the small Belgian town of Geel. There, she served those on the margins, performing many prayerful healing miracles, until her father tracked her down and she was tragically martyred.
Canonized in the 13th century as the patron Saint of “those suffering with mental illness”, people began pilgrimages to Geel to pray for healing in the Church of Saint Dymphna. In response, local families opened their homes to these pilgrims, offering love and hospitality.
For seven centuries, this unconditional love and radical hospitality for people seeking God’s help with their mental health has never ceased. Today, the Geel approach to mental health care is fully integrated with the public health system. Pilgrims arrive and are placed with a family as a ‘boarder’. Some stay a matter of weeks. Many stay for years. The family is not told the person’s diagnosis; they simply know that the person needs love, care and community.
The example of Geel invites us to recognise the unique role of the Church in addressing mental health: to care for people, not cure them; to slow down in order to be present with the Spirit and with others; to let God be God and the professionals be the professionals, so we can focus on ‘walking alongside’ those in need – nothing more and nothing less.
This was the key recommendation of NAYBA’s recent research report, The Church & Mental Health in Australia. As the name suggests, NAYBA (pronounced “neighbour”) exists to help churches love their neighbours and transform neighbourhoods.
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