A Quick Response to John Stossel's report on the Mental Health Crises

3/19/2019

This is a quick response to the video, “Mental Health Crises with John Stossel”

I am in favor of Mental Health Hospitals or Inpatient Programs that are designed for persons with legitimate mental health diagnosis that keep them from working in the public workplace. The model would be more of an assisted living, inpatient care, for mentally challenged individuals.

I have trouble with the former concept of asylums where tales of abuse and experiments had taken place. The initial questions that come to mind are: (1) Who is responsible for the mentally ill? (2) Who pays the bill?

I think the main responsibility falls on the family of the mentally ill person. However, not all families are responsible in the care for those not like them. For instance, the brother or sister who was born different from their siblings. Sometimes the healthy do not know how to care for the challenged. Another possibility relates to money, how can the family afford the care of their loved one?

In today's culture, one may find it hard to find those who truly care for their family members and we may find those "different" family members in the streets, homeless (sometimes, the only surviving one in the family). So, who cares for them? Is the government responsible? Can it be that there is a calling for the church to step up and be the good Samaritan? I think there is a case for the story of the good Samaritan to be applied to the church as a whole, in taking care of the disenfranchised. I also think of what Jesus said, that people will know that you are my disciple if you have love for one another.

The follow-on question is, why does the church exist? Yes, to spread the gospel, to encourage, to strengthen each other in our faith—to disciple. What a better way to spread the good news of Jesus by caring for those who are disenfranchised, to disciple the disenfranchised. Can you imagine what the world would look like if every denomination had one faith-based care facility for the mentally challenged!

Who pays the bill? I think that there can is a case for non-profit inpatient care competing for grants to care for the disenfranchised. Yes, even faith-based.

I was thinking about the "church" as a whole. In some ways, we have failed the world by not being the good Samaritan to the disenfranchised. In other ways, we have done well to take care of the children and we have created orphanages. We have done well by creating a safe retirement home for the retirees. However, I am speaking as a whole. I think there are cases where some churches or even the Catholic Church, for example Mother Theresa, who has done tremendous work in taking care of the disenfranchised. Overall, we have failed because we are more concerned about what we think is the "right" way to do "church." We think of church as being “in community,” among each other, rather than reaching out to the community--especially the disenfranchised. It burdens my heart to know that the majority of the homeless are mentally ill, and as a whole, the church is not there for the homeless.

1 Comment

Joyce Manier

3/22/2019 04:38:34 pm

This is definitely an area that needs a caring soul as yourself, the answers aren't easy, clear cut ones. I'm probably not qualified to comment on this as I'm not a leader in the church. However I've often been overwhelmed with the thoughts of what will come of even our autistic society when parents can no longer care for them. I agree as Christians the church as a whole should have a ministry for this. It would be a glorious thing to see every community sharing and caring for all of it's people.

Author

Dan is in a second career, that of Counselor, but he is a pastor at heart. He desires to present the Word of God in its context and then challenge the reader in its application to our lives. It is the Word of God that brings revival to our souls. The psalmist writes, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.

Dan and Maribel Kinjorski

Dan and Maribel are Bible Teachers. They love to expound on the Word of God. Maribel has been involved in Church since an early age. A graduate of the University of San German, Puerto Rico, in Business Administration and Economy. Dan is a graduate of East Coast Bible College (now shuttered) and the Pentecostal Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity (1999) , Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (2019), and now working on a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology: Counseling Education and Supervision.
Maribel Pastored Lilly of the Valley, Church of God, a Hispanic Community in Medford, Oregon. Dan Pastored, at the same time, Family Life Church, Medford, Oregon. They both were each other's assistant in their perspective communities. Dan and Maribel were able to bring together an English speaking, Spanish speaking, and a Deaf (non-hearing) community as "one" in community.
While serving in the military, Dan spent his last 13 years as an Army Chaplain, previously enlisted for seven years as a Communication Specialist. As an Army Chaplain, Dan often pastored Chapel Services ranging from the Gospel Service, General Protestant Service, to an Assembly of God Samoan Chapel Service at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Meanwhile, Maribel supported her husband and often found herself assisting in the Family Readiness Groups when Dan deployed to Iraq or the Middle East (Kuwait) and also working with the Protestant Women of the Chapel. Dan and Maribel are proud parents of David (and Megan) with Olive (2nd grand); Michelle (and Street Wise Hercules) with Lilly (1st grand) and soon to be MJ, (3rd grand).