Mental Health Warrior

 I.         Mental Health Warrior

• What is a Mental Health Warrior?
  People that actively strive to manage their mental health, those who care for them, and the advocates who fight for them are mental health warriors. Since COVID-19, one in four Americans have experienced mental health distress according to Dr. Johannes Thrul.  It is estimated over 40 million adults have an anxiety disorder making it the most common disorder. The World Health Organization estimates over 300 million people worldwide suffer with an anxiety. These are stats for just one diagnosis and there are millions more who care and advocate for these individuals who suffer with a mental health condition. This means there are countless warriors out there who need to find a safe place to belong, a way to eliminate anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems, recharge for the fight, and find strength and encouragement with individuals they can call friends. HWH offers warriors that place with free weapons (tools) that are available now to help you in your daily battle to survive and soon we will be providing training on a unique and robust platform to help warriors thrive, learn how to use their weapons effectively and come to realize they are never alone...

• Accepting your or your loved ones mental health diagnosis takes walking through the grief process; it is a critical first step to healing.
  Getting a mental illness diagnosis can feel like a death sentence and unfortunately it is in a way. Your old self has died many times for both sufferer and caregiver. Like any death, in order to recover from the trauma you will have to walk through the grief process.  The stages of the grief process are usually categorized as denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.  It’s never a straight line through the process but it should be moving process not stagnant.  Someone once said if you are laughing more than crying you are progressing. (Although crying is heathy, necessary and an excellent healing mechanism) it should be decreasing.  The most important thing to consider is until you can accept the new you or your new loved one with a mental health diagnosis you can get stuck in pain and misery.  Once you accept your diagnosis or that your loved one has a mental health condition then and only then can healing begin and the process of thriving start.  To be perfectly open and honest nothing we offer can help you if you don’t first accept your or your loved one’s diagnosis. Acceptance is the key to unlocking a new future and thriving after a mental health diagnosis both for the sufferer and their loved ones who are caregivers.

• People who manage their mental illness many times have to  endure numerous medicine cocktails that are often referred to as Polypharmacy.
  Our brains are the most vital and delicate organ in the human body. Another aspect of the brain that is amazing but makes getting the right medicine extremely difficult is every one’s brain is different. In order to find the exact medication that works with someone’s body chemistry can take numerous attempts at different medicines and different mixtures of medicines.  “It’s mind-boggling, and you need an advanced mixology degree to prepare the perfect cocktail—which is only arrived at by months, sometimes years, of trial and error and constant, ongoing tweaking.”— Terri Cheney, Modern Madness: An Owner’s Manual.

• Getting an accurate diagnosis takes time.

In the U.S. on average, it takes approximately 11 years from first diagnosis to treatment. It can take another decade for that treatment to be able to stabilize allowing the individual to thrive. It can be a hard, painful, and enormously long journey for all involved.

II.      Faith

• What gives us the strength to get out of bed every morning despite all of the above hurdles and how the culture views us?

Faith. The Bible tells us God loves us and has a purpose for our life.  He also never leaves us and fights for us. As a child of God, we are never alone and God is always working things out for our good.

•  How does a Mental Health Warrior fight mental illness stigma and the multitude of other battles every day? 

By joining our Mental Health Warrior community and adopting our free Mental Health Warrior creed. (One of several of our tools for helping warriors thrive.)

• What is a creed? 

According to Google, a creed is “a set of beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions.

III.       Mental Health Warrior Creed 

Warriors throughout the U.S. military have creeds. A creed is an oath or saying that provides a value structure by which to live or work by.  As mental health warriors we also have a creed. The creed is designed to help us call these tenets to mind when we struggle.  Much of what we will post and eventually have training on in the platform will highlight one of these tenets.  This will help everyone get familiar with the tenets.  The goal would be to recall the tenets when you are in what the military calls, “the fog of war”.  The fog of war is a time when your whole world seems in chaos.  Everything seems to be in a state of confusion.  A next step seems impossible.  You become paralyzed; afraid and unable to move forward not knowing where to step next.  Hopefully the end result of recalling the tenets to your mind or at least the one that applies to your situation the most, will allow calmness, peace, and clarity to return enabling you to formulize a clear next step.  Hopelessness is not seeing a next step. We believe the creed will help you have hope and give you the ability to take a next step.

After each tenet in the creed, we suggest an Action item to help you remember and practice the tenet. The action item will include using a spiritual discipline that when practiced will help rewire yor brain giving it a new neuropathway. The new pathway will allow you to establish a different and better behavior pattern allowing you to overcome the old habits causing havoc in your life.

How does all this all work?

God promises in his word to empower us to live like him.  The method that enables us to be able live like Christ most people call Spiritual Disciplines. Here at HWH we call them weapons because we use them to fight the battles we are in each day. The spiritual disciplines or weapons in our arsenal can be different for different jobs and different people but they almost always include the following: prayer, meditation, worship, study, rest or solitude, fasting, fellowship or celebration, service, confession, submission and generosity. These weapons that we use in our spiritual but very real war needs a power source to work. God through His Spirit, like electricity for power tools is the source for our weapons. God does all the heavy lifting, empowering, and encouraging, we just need to practice using the weapons. You see, just like when a basketball player shoots a thousand shots a day to hit that one, at the buzzer game winning shot, when we consistently use the weapons, we get better and better at knowing God, His will, and being able to make the plays (choices) in life that are healthy, good, and designed for us allowing us to live an abundant and full life. 

HWH Mental Health Warrior Creed 

1.   I am created in God's image.  "So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27. I find my identity in Christ versus how I or anyone else in the world views me.

Many times, we base our identity and worth on how we perceive (how we think) the most important people in our lives see us. If we believe they don't think much of us that is how we then see ourselves. Notice it does not say we base it on how we KNOW what they think about us. So, our identity and worth can be based on very bad information which can then cause us serious issues.

However, if you put God in his rightful place, he becomes the most important person in your life and then He proceeds to tell you what he thinks of you, you don't have to guess. This allows your identity and worth to be based on TRUTH.

What God thinks of you is literally spoken throughout the Bible. He loves you enough to die for you. You are engraved in his hand. He never leaves you or forsakes you. You are his beloved and adopted into his family. The creator of the universe cares enough about you that he says he is for you and nothing can separate you from His love. Your accolades continue on many pages.

In summary: You have unmeasurable worth! He fights for you because you are a child of the most high God! That my friends is an amazing identity.

Action item:

Put God into your life and you will know who you truly are. An amazing, loved beyond measure, person. Repeat this often!

2.   I am designed by God. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well," Psalm 139:13-14. God understands how delicate my body works and what it takes to maintain my mental health. He promises to help me and teaches me in his word how to be healthy.

A partnership in the bible is often referred to as a covenant. A covenant is a solemn binding agreement. Most partnerships usually have two parties and two sets of expectations and obligations. God promises to bind himself with an oath and to constrain himself with legal authority to always be with you and assist you in staying healthy. He’s for you! Now that’s “super cool” as one of our University of Cincinnati interns likes to say.

The “staying with you” part of God’s promise is easy to understand. He’s like super glue, he sticks. You can’t shake him. But how does he assist you? He empowers us to live like him. Really…. how’s that work? He gives us tools or weapons that some might call disciplines to use during our journey. The weapons in our arsenal can be different for different jobs and different people but they almost always include the following: prayer, worship, study, rest, fasting, fellowship, confession, celebration, service, and generosity. God through his Spirit also does the empowering; you see these weapons are like power tools so they need an energy source to be able to get them to work; that’s Him.

Finally, we get around to the section in the covenant that covers our part to play. It’s pretty simple. God does all the heavy lifting in the partnership all we have to do is use the weapons. You see just like when a basketball player shoots a thousand shots a day to hit that one, at the buzzer game winning shot, when we consistently use the weapons, we get better and better at knowing God and being able to make the plays (choices) in life that are healthy, good, and designed for us.

In summary: God promises to help us stay healthy. We have a part to play by using the weapons He provides.

Action Item: Click on the link below and read over the list of what God says about you and mental health. It might surprise you, it did us!

https://www.openbible.info/topics/mental_health

3.   I am God’s temple. "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16. As a Christ follower, I enjoy the companionship of Holy Spirit, he empowers me to overcome the world, and is always with me.

One of the biggest causes of suicide, depression, anxiety, and a host of other problems we all face is the fact we think we are alone. Many companies and activist around the world know the “you are not alone” catch phrase can be a lifesaving statement. Why? because many believe they are left to fight their daily battles with their own resources, skills, and strength, which almost always proves to be woefully inadequate to deal what comes into their lives. Hopelessness sets in which can lead to disaster. That’s why the Number 3 Creed is so special and powerful. As a Christ follower we are not alone, He is in us. It is an impossibility for us to ever be alone. God is closer than any mere human can be, he is literally with us always. He doesn’t sleep, take vacations, or is on another call while we wait on hold. He is near and available 24/7; 365. We just need to call on Him.

When we make a call, as simple as God help me, He promises he will hear and deliver us out of all our troubles. He states we will become not just conquerors but more than conquerors. We will conquer beyond a normal victory. It won’t be a tight close nit battle; it will be a total annihilation of the giants that come against us. Now that makes us smile, hopefully it does you to, no matter what you are facing.

Summary: We are never alone, God promises he will never leave us and if we call on Him, we will be victorious.

Action Item: Use the tool of prayer and prayerfully meditate or think about the Creator of the universe, who is so big the whole world cannot contain him but He loves you enough to dwell inside of you and promises to never leave.

4.   I am God's masterpiece. "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10. God is building His kingdom through people just like me.

We usually write a little explanation under each creed. To help everyone understand how we believe they can be interpreted and used to help us thrive. However, with this creed we found a Ray Stedman, who was a pastor in California, sermon that gives us a better explanation then we could ever come up with on our own. We hope you enjoy this excerpt from Ray’s sermon on Ephesians 2-10.

“Notice how careful he is to put "works" in the right place. You don't obtain anything from God by working for it. You never deserve anything but judgment at his hand. If he gave us what we deserve, we would all end up in Hell. No. We receive his grace, his mercy, his love. But this results in good works. That is the point. It is designed to produce good works. It is a marvelous manifestation of God's ability.

The word translated "workmanship" is really the word poem. "We are his poem." Or, if you like, perhaps it would be better rendered "We are his masterpiece." God is working out in our lives a tremendous exhibition and demonstration of his wisdom, his power, his love, his life, his character, his peace, and his joy. He is teaching us, training us, bringing us along, applying the paint in exactly the right places, producing a marvelous masterpiece to be put on display. This is to result in good works: kindness, love, mercy, compassion, help to one another, meeting one another's needs. Paul says that God has prepared these works beforehand. All we need to do is step into them. Do you have any idea how many good works God has prepared for you? They are waiting for you to enter into, as you walk in faith and trust and dependence upon Christ. They are entered by faith, by trust in the God who has raised us with Christ and made us to sit together with him. The situations are there, ready and waiting for you to step into. This is what God has called you to. As you do so, you become a vivid display of the greatness and the glory of God. Let these thoughts rest in your heart and mind. Give thanks to God for what he has done in Jesus Christ, and for the fact that this opens to us fantastic possibilities which stretch from this moment on beyond death into the coming ages, age following upon age, incredible numbers of possibilities for the manifestation of the greatness of our God.”

We love Ray Stedman's sermons, and they all can be found here; https://www.raystedman.org/themati.../authentic-christianity

Summary: We are a masterpiece with endless possibilities of good works already planned ahead of time for us.

Action item: Spend some time resting today. As you are getting away from it all, celebrate the fact that God believes in you and trusts you enough to invite you to help bring his Kingdom, here now, with good works and He did so before you were even born.

5.   I believe God has a plan for my life. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future," Jeremiah 29:11. God has a specific calling and purpose for my life not in spite of my mental illness but using my mental health challenges to bless others.

When reading the Bible, many times we must read the verses around the verse we are interested in, to understand its full meaning and prevent us from taking the verse out of context.

The Israelites were in captivity in Babylon. The Lord had just told them they would remain there for 70 years, but after 70 years, if they would pray to Him, he would bring them out of captivity. The message God was delivering to His people and future generations i.e., us, was that His plan for them was for their ultimate welfare, not endless calamity. He gave their future generations hope beyond exile. (God did eventually bring them home.)

However, the 70 years he pronounced on them would leave the current generation in exile until they died. In another case, God also did not allow the generation during the Exodus from Egypt to enter the promised land. They wondered in the desert until each one who rebelled had died. God has a great plan for us, IF we follow His plan, but we can choose to go way off track and totally miss His blessing, as both these generations did.

Summary: God has a good plan for us; we get to choose if we want to follow it. The plan may not be all a bed of roses, but everything works out for our ultimate good and God’s glory.

Action Item: Us the tool (or weapon as they are sometimes called) of “Fellowship” either here on the group or elsewhere to discuss what you or others may think about the interpretation we chose about Jeremiah 29-11. Some believe it is the most abused scripture in all the bible. Share your thoughts and ideas now as a comment. Help us build our Creed. Yes, you get to give input! And if any other ideas come to you about previous or later shared Creeds, PLEASE let us know. This is your creed and your group. Help us make it better. Comment with an email to [email protected]

If you want to go deeper, share your answers to these great questions: How can you discover God’s plan for you? How do you stay in his plan? Does He really have a plan specifically for you

6.   I strive every day to allow God to manage my physical, emotional, mental, psychological, and spiritual health. "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13. When I strive to manage every aspect of my life God is pleased when I rely on Him to do so through me. Let Go and Let God.

Paul, made the statement in Philippians (4-13) above to explain how he learned to be content whether he was in need or not. He learned contentment by trusting God to help him when he was struggling. No matter what Paul faced, he found God was always there to assist Him. That gave Paul peace, confidence, and a victor’s attitude in everything he faced.

Managing your life with a mental illness can be extremely difficult to impossible. As we discuss in our HWH training, which is being released with the platform, there are a myriad of things you manage to keep your life in balance; sleep, diet, exercise, medicine, and so many more it can be overwhelming. Forgetting one small item, in only one area of your routines, such as your medicine, can wreak havoc in your life for days.

But as Paul exclaims, we have help to do better, “we can do all things through Christ”. Christ makes the impossible and hard, possible. Paul didn’t have it easy and we won’t either. However, knowing that truth, allows us to be at peace and content which also reduces our anxiety, allowing us to live life to the fullest. Jesus promises He came to help us do that.

Summary: Managing life in your own strength can be difficult, especially with a mental health condition. But when we rely on God’s strength he promises to be there and He makes the impossible, possible.

Action Item: Use the spiritual weapon of “celebration” and take some time today to truly celebrate the fact we have a God who is for us and not against us.

7.   I don't have to be perfect to be loved. "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love." Romans 8:38. God loves transcends mental illness and everything we humans see as an imperfection.

This may be our most special creed. God loves you. He never stops loving you. He loves you just the way you are. There is no bar you have to jump across to earn it. His bar you can shuffle your feet across. Actually, it requires no effort on your part. It’s a free gift, no strings attached. He doesn’t love you more when you visit your lonely relative. He doesn’t love you less when you lose your temper with the kids. Your behavior, effort, or anything coming from you doesn’t affect his love for you. It is unconditional…. it’s called Agape love. Sacrificial love. 1Cortinthians 13 vs 1-8 kind of love. Read that chapter and you find out what real love is!

Not only do we have unconditional love where nothing depends on us, but we also receive what’s behind door number 2: We can never ever ever be separated from that love. We always have it. Not some of the time or part of the time, we have it ALL the time. Wow! Just meditate about being loved like that. Isn’t that what we all crave. Don’t we all search for that never ending, never quitting love even when we screw up. We all eventually do, you know (screw up). But with God it’s possible to be loved like that. All things are with Him, He says. Hallelujah!!

Summary: we are loved unconditionally, always. Time to smile!

Action item: Let’s use the spiritual discipline of worship, one of our tools, to praise God for his amazing one-of-a-kind love. How do you worship? Almost all of life can be worship. But you might listen to worship music and sing along. Or you might praise him in your prayer time. Lots of ways to worship. Oh wait, we can have a two for one special tonight. Use your creativity (one of the other attributes on our coin), to come up with a way to worship.

8.   I will do my best every day giving it all to God. "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22. I start and end my day by praying to God. At the end of the day, I thank Him for sustaining me and carrying what I couldn't.  

A burden can be so difficult it depresses our spirits. They can even seem to be more then we can bear. Some have said they have been in situations where they have cried out because it felt like they were being crushed. The pain seemed intolerable, searing, and beyond their limits.

The reason we sometimes feel that way is because we were never meant to nor created to bear them. God says we’re supposed to give our burdens to Him, our Abba (Daddy). He also expects us to leave them with him once we give them to Him, though many times we try to take them back. God’s plan is simply awesome. We give Him our issues; He gives us back peace and joy. If we don’t have peace and joy, we didn’t give them to Him. The extra bonus in His gracious plan is He promises everything will work out for His glory and our good.

Summary: We should learn to cast upon God by faith and prayer everything that comes into our lives, committing our ways and works to Him. He promises if we do that we will not be shaken, moved, or defeated.

Action Item: Try to spend some time talking with God. Thank Him for his wonderful promises and then try another spiritual tool Confession. See if anything comes to mind about you not giving Him your burdens, trying to take them back, or not trusting Him to know what’s best. Try doing all three, and see if you don’t have peace. Let us know on here if you have any stories of how God did keep His promise.

9.    I will write and speak about my lived experience to help bust mental illness stigma and give others the courage to do the same.  “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me,” 2 Corinthians 12:9. God give me the courage to speak and write the truth based on my experience that you have allowed in my life.

When people share that they have cancer, heart attacks, broken bones, or any of the numerous physical ailments that this hurting world experiences, most people do not think about shunning them or looking down on them because they have a medical condition and need help. Sharing you have a mental illness; however, is completely different, as probably everyone on this group is shouting AMEN to that. You all might say, “I am never sharing what I or my loved one have experienced, and I am certainly not speaking out about it.” We all understand why! It’s hard, and it brings about large doses of fear. Many times, we think if we share it will have no impact for good; it will only cause more rejection, hurt, and pain.

However, the opposite is usually true. When we are courageous and speak up about our problems, it empowers others to do the same. What else is amazing is when we do share, our own stigma about mental illness loses its power to keep us chained. Once you overcome the large hurdle of fear and decide to speak, like Goliath fell with a large thud, so will fear’s grip on you. It’s not achieved without effort but each time you share it becomes easier and easier. Your lived experience (your story) can be a mighty powerhouse used to set many free. Now that is an awesome feeling and a very good and natural high.

Another great verse that compliments and adds synergy to this difficult tenet of the creed is 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 which basically says we can comfort those in trouble with the comfort we have received from God. Together they combine to give us what we need to share; strength and comfort. We then can share that same comfort with others. This concept of being empowered and then sharing is how we will generate what we talk about on our website when we describe the CARE Philospohy.  One person at a time, one day at time, the movement grows, and we become not one warrior or two but a vast army of mighty warriors.

Summary: When we boast about our weaknesses, we will be become strong and comforted. We can then share that comfort with others.

Action item: Today we can use two weapons,  service and generosity, to activate our creed. We can serve others by speaking out and sharing our story which helps them know they are not alone and provides them hope. Then we can use our generosity to give them comfort and encouragement when they try to do the same thing. So, tell your story and encourage others to do the same. 

10. I Choose Life "I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!" John 10:10. God wants me to enjoy a rich and fulfilling life; He actually boast He came to give it to me.

This is our last tenet in the creed, Number 10. Even though it’s the last tenet, it’s really where all the other tenets start. Its position is last, not because it is least important, but because all the others flow from it. Number 10 is the base of our creed. It is the foundation for all the other tenets. If we promise to follow this tenet it allows the other tenets to have power and a place in our lives. If we don’t choose life, the other tenets have no meaning or use. After promising to implement number 10 then the other tenets can be added to our lives to help us achieve an abundant, thriving, and amazing life. When we choose life, God promises He will come and give it to us abundantly, no matter how painful our situation is or how alone we feel. We can thrive regardless of our circumstances, even if it’s a mental health condition. God is with us, for us, and He never leaves us. He fights for us!

You may want to take note that in God’s promise there are no exceptions. He doesn’t say if they jump a certain hoop, or if they have a sound mind, or if they are pretty, smart, or anything else. There are NO exceptions. The only thing that is required to be covered by His promise is to come through the gate to receive it. Jesus declares in John 10 verse 9 that He is the gate and all who come through the gate will be saved. If we come through Him, this promise and all the ones throughout our creed are ours to keep and hold onto as an anchor when the gale force winds of a storm hammer us. You might think you have to hold onto the immovable anchor yourself. The truth is that He holds us in His arms when we don’t have the strength to hold on ourselves. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. That is the first part of the verse John 10:10 discussed above. If it seems like you have been on this side of things, it can change. Choose LIFE!

Summary: When we choose life it allows us an opportunity to have it abundantly. Going through the gate of Jesus activates our promised life to the full: Overflowing; fruitful; and bountiful.

Action item: We have covered the HWH MHW creed in detail and how each tenet helps us in our daily struggles. If you want to join His Will Homes and become a HWH official mental health warrior, go to the link below and sign up to receive a free copy of our creed.

IV.  Would you like to become a HWH Mental Health Warrior?

1.   Click to Begin.