M i s s i o n P e a k U n i t a r i a n U n i v e r s a l i s t C o n g r e g a t i o n
"A Spiritual Community of Caring Hearts and Open Minds"
TV Program Focuses on Mental Health
UU World
Summer 2008, p. 53
Kathryn Lum was describing what it was like as a person with mental illness to first feel the positive affects of medication. "I remember for the first time lying in bed feeling like I had just been thrown up on the shore," she told the cameras. "I had been shipwrecked and the waves had been crashing over me and I had been struggling to keep afloat ... Then I found myself on the beach and resting. Feeling peace for the first time."
Lum, who has schizoaffective disorder, was a guest on a new public access cable TV program called "Mental Health Matters - Alameda County," which debuted last fall. The show is trying to counter the stigma and prejudice often attached to mental illness by talking with people who actually suffer from various conditions as well as with family and loved ones who live with them.
The monthly TV show is the brainchild of the Rev. Barbara Meyers, a UU community minister associated with Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Fremont, Calif., whose ministry focuses on mental health issues.
The series of 30-minute programs is broadcast on Comcast public access channels in Alameda County, Calif. The first show focused on the stigma frequently attached to mental illness. Succeeding programs have been devoted to suicide, schizophrenia, recovery, bipolar disorder, and African American mental health.
Each program features at least two guests who can bring different perspectives to an issue. "I look for guests who are not in crisis," Meyers said. "They may have been in the past but now they can be role models. When I talk to them before the show I tell them to think of somebody who might be in a situation like you were. I want viewers to know it's possible to get beyond this." Meyers hosts the show and conducts the interviews.
Viewers have been appreciative. "People thank me for bringing issues out into the open and for giving them resources they wouldn't have otherwise known about," Meyers said. Lum agreed. "I've gotten a lot of positive feedback," she said. "Many people have thanked me for sharing my story."
Meyers has also developed a curriculum called The Caring Congregation Handbook and Training Manual, which educates people about mental health issues.
