Mental Health Training

Last month we were privileged in welcoming Deb Ivancovich, a local Christian counselor, as she shared her professional expertise in understanding Mental Health.

Christians are often taught that man is comprised of three parts: the body, the spirit, and the soul. Where the body comprises our physical nature and the spirit comprises the eternal, our soul is thought to consist of our emotions and thought life—our very personality. In fact, the Greek word psuche means “soul” and is where we get the term “psychology”.

Whether Greek or no, we have all seen or experienced some form of psychological turmoil at one time or another. Our time with Deb provided a great deal of insight, provoking a desire for even more discussion. As such we are already planning for a follow up session! In the meantime, here is the audio from the first.

We begin the session with a general overlook at attitudes towards mental health, shedding a light on how widespread the difficulties around mental health are, and how the church can respond to those in need.

Returning from intermission, we addressed the symptoms and treatments for a variety of specific disorders, including: generalized anxiety, major depressive , schizophrenia, borderline personality , and bipolar.

Celebration of Completion 2024

Celebration of Completion 2024
went off without a hitch!

Well, aside from the snow—but that didn’t keep us from celebrating the completion of the program for four of our men: Daikson, Randy, Jamey, and Michael all completed the full year-long Summit House Discipleship Program, and we were thrilled to recognize this momentous achievement!

This year’s Completions come from the houses sponsored by
Hope in Christ Church in Bellingham & Second Christian Reformed Church in Lynden

Jamey, Randy, and Daikson completed their program at the HIC House while Michael proudly represented the Second Church House

Addiction Training

Our Addiction Training Seminar on October 14, 2023 at
Second Christian Reformed Church in Lynden was a hit!

Thirty-five people came to learn in a very personal way with presentations from Alan Muia and Sarah Wevadou from New Earth Recovery Center in Mt. Vernon, WA. We also heard from a panel of people who had experienced addiction and whose family members had been caught in addiction. The presentation is available in audio form below.

Addiction is a complex condition with many factors. In this session, you will learn about the limbic system of the brain and how it contributes to this devastating affliction.

Behavior reflects belief, so what happens when we have false beliefs? This session explores how and what we believe about ourselves, and how that impacts our life.

FASTER stands for Forgetting Priorities, Anxious, Speeding Up, Ticked Off, Exhausted, Relapse. Learn about how this scaling tool can help predict and prevent relapse.

Relationships are key in recovery, but they can go bad. This last session considers the consequences of feeling an excessive, unhealthy responsibility for another person’s life.

Message for Men

If you are a man I have a message for you. In a culture that says you're not wanted, you're not needed, get out of the way, you don't matter, I want to read a quote to you from John Steinbeck—a short story he wrote called, “The Flight” from a series of short stories called, “The Long Valley.” This is a son asking his mother about his older brother. 

“Did Pepe come to be a man today?” Mama said wisely, “A boy gets to be a man when a man is needed. Remember this thing: I have known boys forty years old because there was no need for a man.” 

Let me say to you today you are needed. You are wanted. You are called by God. First, you are wanted by God. Second, you are needed by the church and by the larger culture around you. Please don't give up. If you're tempted to give up—just smoke marijuana, play video games, drink—just give up, don't do it. Please don't do it! Because you are needed! And let me say this, Jesus is calling you like he called his twelve disciples so long ago, when he said, “Come and follow me.” If you hear that call take it and do it. It's your destiny, it's what you were destined for before time began, and I hope you hear that call. If you're interested we have something called The Summit House. If you're stuck as a man and you don't know why, and you want to move forward, we by the grace of Christ can help you get unstuck; and he through his community can help you move forward in the ways that God has destined you to, I really believe that. I hope this encourages you today in your walk with Christ.

• Mitch Senti