Supporting Our Neighbors: How to Make a Real Difference in Mental Health

By Robin Keating

As we have been talking about the various challenges that some of our neighbors face in the area of mental health, can you think of some ways you can come alongside and support them? Some of these ways may seem insignificant to you, but in actuality they are life-giving. Think of ways that you can connect and include your neighbors. Leverage activities that you already do. Connection and engagement is the goal, not adding more to your schedule.

As you find ways to reach out to support someone, you will also see improvement in your own mental health. Connecting with others in different ways, whether it be physically, emotionally, relationally or spiritually, is God’s design. Listed below are some suggestions on how you might support your neighbor’s mental health:

• Physical activity is a great way to reduce anxiety and depression. Go for a walk and ask your neighbor to join you.
• Include your neighbor in your yard work or help them with theirs.
• Actively listening to your neighbor is a way to increase a person’s emotional health. When listening, validate their feelings and remind them of their inherent God given value.
• Volunteering is a great way to regain a sense of purpose, as it helps a neighbor to see that they have skills to offer others. Invite your neighbor to volunteer with you in the community.
• “Do with”. Include your neighbor in your daily routine. From enjoying a family meal to running errands; think of activities that you both need to do and do them together.
• Let them in your circle. Include them in your celebrations, your bunco games and your children’s sports or music concerts.

Some neighbors are affected by their mental health because of spiritual poverty. They have a wrong view of God or self. Not knowing the depths of God’s love and forgiveness nor the inherent value that comes from being made in His image, can further exacerbate one’s mental health. Here are a few ways to support someone in their spiritual health.

• Pray for your neighbor aloud and in their presence. This can be a special moment of modeling what it looks like to pray as well as what it looks like to pray personally to an attentive God.
• Maybe over coffee, ask your neighbor who they believe God to be or what they believe God thinks about them. Show the scriptures to read and ask them what does that tell you about who God is? Or, what do you think God thinks about you after reading this verse? Let the truth of God’s word speak for itself. You don’t need to elaborate. Let them see straight from God’s word that being made in His image gives them inherent value and that there is not anything they could do to add to take away from that value.

It is important to use scripture to show your neighbor that we are not merely expressing our opinions or the opinions of others. Many have formed a view of God or themselves by making a god in their own image or the opinions of others. They have unknowingly believed lies through the deception of the world.

Through prayer and the scriptures a neighbor can start the path to finding hope in Christ. As they see His offer of reconciliation is for all His image bearers and exposed to the truth found in His word, they will be set free from a wrong view of God and themselves.