A faith-based support group for people living with a mental health challenge and their loved ones. 

Please join us for weekly Fresh Hope meetings at CtK

Tuesday evenings. 6:30 pm.— 8:00 pm.
​Happens in the Youth Room, Christ The King Lutheran Church

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Fresh Hope is an international network of Christian support groups for those who have a mental health diagnosis and for their loved ones.

At the core of Fresh Hope is the belief that it is possible to live well in spite of having a mental health challenge because of the hope found in Christ; that no matter how one feels, it is possible to still have hope because of Christ.

​A Fresh Hope group is a peer-to-peer-led, safe, encouraging, and healing environment where real hope and real healing take place and the sure hope of Christ is foundational.

 Submitted by Hillary Doerries
             It is no secret by now that I tend to speak rather openly about my mental health challenges. When I made a commitment to confront these challenges over a decade ago, I simultaneously made the commitment to speak honestly about my clinical depression so others would know that they are not alone in their struggles.
            Sharing our stories with one another is a powerful thing.
            Anyone who has made the decision to seek help for a mental health challenge knows that those first few months are spent considering all the different treatment options—making appointments with therapists and psychiatrists, weighing the benefits and side effects of starting medications, figuring out how and what to tell friends and family, etc.—can be overwhelming.
            This was certainly how I was feeling when I happened to hear about a support group that met once a week at a local United Methodist Church in Bloomington. I was in graduate school at the time, and the last thing I wanted to do was add another obligation into my schedule, but I decided to try it out anyway. The group meeting was sponsored by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA). We met in the church’s basement complete with mis-matched comfy couches, light refreshments and boxes of Kleenexes carefully yet discreetly strewn about the room. My anxiety was through the roof—just what had I gotten myself into? I had little to no idea what to expect that evening. It was as if I was outside of my body watching my own two feet cross over the threshold. I quickly scurried over to an empty chair away from everyone else. As other group members arrived, they recognized that I was new and offered me a quiet “hello” or a subtle wave. Remarkably, I managed to utter a voiceless “hello” in return.
            As I took some deep breaths, I began to notice many of the people who walked into that room looked just like me or people I knew. They were students, faculty, moms and dads, professionals, tradespersons, well-to-do and not so well-to-do folks. They were restaurant owners, stay-at-home parents, community college students, concerned friends and just about everything in between. These folks were like me and like you. They smiled, they chatted with each other. They teared-up one minute and laughed the next. Yet here we all were, trying to grapple with our mental health challenge, or the experience of loving someone with a mental health challenge, with openness, authenticity, grace and dignity.
            What happened in that dingy basement over the next hour and a half would change my life. As people began to share, I distinctly remember feeling like I had ‘found my people.’ I had never been given permission to speak about these topics in such an open way without encountering judgment or feeling embarrassed. But this—this was different. This felt safe. I listened intently as individuals shared bits and pieces of their stories. People began to lift up and share their concerns with the group—everything from “I’m trying out a new therapist this week,” to “my meds aren’t really working for me anymore and I’m not sure what to do,” to “I’m worried about my best friend who was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder,” to “this has been an incredibly hard week for me. I’m not sure how much longer I can live like this.”
            As for me, I did not speak aloud at that first group meeting, but I remember how deeply moving it was for me to be able to hear the narratives of other people that night. I remember how my anxiety melted away as I listened to people wrestle with whatever was on their mind that evening. Their stories and experiences were raw and honest dripping with pain, confusion, and despair. But this is the beauty of a support group: when an individual brings her pain,confusion, and despair to the group; when an individual is empowered to share her innermost thoughts and struggles in a room filled with other people who understand and empathize with those thoughts and struggles. Somehow, a small space inside of us begins to soften and slowly open. Sometimes, we try to quickly cover-up that space so to hide our shame and vulnerability—but other times, we allow new and different things to enter that space: compassion, forgiveness, self-awareness, hard truths, mercy and grace. This is the stuff of healing.
            So again, I say: there is power in sharing our stories with one another.
            Why do I tell this story? Because a support group like the one I encountered all those years ago is coming to CtK in early 2020. This means that people within our congregation and the Michiana community who are struggling with mental health diagnoses will have an opportunity to ‘find their people,’ to hear and share their pain and experiences, and to find a supportive safe haven that offers hope and healing.
            This group is called Fresh Hope for Mental Health, and was started by Lutheran minister Pastor Brad Hoefs, in Nebraska. It’s a Christian, peer-to-peer support group that will meet once a week at CtK with the goal of empowering individuals managing mental health diagnoses and their families. It currently has chapters all over the country, and soon, South Bend will join this roster. As CtK continues to take steps to strengthen its formal mental health ministry, please watch for information in coming months. If you have questions please see any CMG team members: Pastors Caroline or Brad, Bill Montgomery, Tom Jordan, Jill Harms or myself or visit www.freshhope.us.