Beyond the Stigma: Voices from St. Luke's 10th Mental Health Symposium

The second episode of 1 Soul Matters podcast highlights the powerful impact of St. Luke Community United Methodist Church's 10th Annual Mental Health Symposium through interviews conducted by Rev. Dr. Tamara Brown and Pastor Jamie Bruning. Guests from across the community share how the symposium influenced their personal, spiritual, and professional growth while reflecting on what "one soul matters" means to them.

• Pastor Richie Butler discusses the importance of clergy wellness and self-care, admitting he doesn't always get "poured into" while pouring out to others
• Community members share personal reflections on how the symposium helped them navigate challenges from caring for loved ones to maintaining their own mental health
• Desmond, an aspiring therapist, expresses surprise at learning about pastors' stress levels and confirms his desire to integrate faith with mental health in his future career
• Rev. Andrew Fizer emphasizes the importance of destigmatizing mental health conversations, especially within church settings
• Multiple perspectives on "one soul matters" emerge, from honoring each person as created in God's image to ensuring those who feel alone know they still matter
• The symposium creates connections between veterans' support groups, mental health resources, and church communities

We invite you to learn more about our mental health ministry or upcoming events at St. Luke by visiting our website or connecting with us on social media. Remember, you matter, your soul matters, and together we can build a community of care and healing.

Transcript

Introducing One Soul Matters Podcast

Jermine Alberty 0:00

Hello everybody, welcome to the second episode of One Soul Matters, a podcast produced by the St Luke Community United Methodist Church Mental Health Ministry. I'm your host, Reverend Jermine Alberty, and this episode is dedicated to the 10th Annual Mental Health Symposium. In this special edition, we'll highlight the powerful impact of this gathering through interviews conducted by Reverend Dr Tamara Brown and Pastor Jamie Bruning. Our guests were invited to reflect on four key questions: How did attending the conference influence your personal, spiritual, or professional growth? What was the most significant takeaway from the symposium that you believe will impact your future endeavors? Can you share an experience or connection made during the symposium that had a lasting effect on you? And finally, when you hear the phrase one soul matters, what comes to mind? Throughout this episode, you'll hear full interviews as well as snippets from voices across our community, including our own Pastor Richie Butler, Annette Miller, Elizabeth Johnson, Alexis Early, Ashley Smith, Rochelle Kelly, Desmond Nicholson, and Reverend Andrew Fiser. Our hope is that these stories will inspire, uplift, and remind us all that truly, one soul matters.

Dr. Tamara Brown 1:28

Well, Pastor Butler, thank you for being willing to be on our podcast.

Pastor Richie Butler 1:32

Well, it's my honor. I mean, you know, you guys are killing it, you're rocking it.

Dr. Tamara Brown 1:36

Well, that's what we do at St Luke. That's what we do. That includes our mental health and our mental well-being. Yes, yes, so I appreciate you attending the symposium. I just wonder how has attending the conference influenced you personally, spiritually or professionally in terms of your growth?

Pastor Richie Butler 1:51

Well, I'm surprised. Well, I wouldn't say surprised, I'm appreciative that we had a segment around wellness for clergy and for ministry, wellness for clergy and for ministry. And so Dr Larkin, leading that session, really it spoke to me because I mean she reinforced some things and reminded me around about my own wellness and self-care and thinking about you know what I'm doing. I mean from you know, praying daily to you know, not just reading scripture to prepare for a sermon. I mean from you know praying daily to you know, not just reading scripture to prepare for a sermon. I mean so you know some basic tools and sometimes we just need to be reminded.

Pastor Richie Butler 2:33

And that represented a significant reminder for me and it really is forcing me to sort of look at some things and make sure that as I pour out that I'm being poured back into and I have to be perfectly honest about I'm about to be transparent. I do that all the time, but I don't always do a good job of getting poured into. Like I don't go listen to other people's sermons regularly, I don't have somebody that ministers to me and if I'm going to be effective and stand this thing along, I can sprint and you know and be done in a matter of seconds, or if I'm going to, you know, you know, do this marathon that God has us on, you know, then I've got to be more intentional about self-care and taking care of my spirit, of my spiritual, mental and physical self.

Dr. Tamara Brown 3:30

I thought that was a powerful point as well and you're right a reminder. It's not that we don't know these things, but we can be so busy and selfless and serving others that we forget we need as well yeah, so that we're not running on empty. You know another aspect to what you mentioned. I wonder if you can comment further about sort of modeling that I hear that as a little bit of what's coming out Like you want to your care of self also is a model for others. Yeah Right, and how they engage in the same. Well, I mean.

Pastor Richie Butler 4:02

Jesus never asked people or called people to do what he wasn't already doing. And so I think, as a follower of Christ, you know, if I'm asking people, I need to be modeling that and it doesn't mean perfecting it, but seeking to model and try to put into practice. And you know, and help people, to remind people and help people that we are in this together. I'm not sitting from atop the mountain preaching down to y'all poor folk. You know I'm in there with you, yeah.

Dr. Tamara Brown 4:40

We're in this together. Yeah, that's a significant takeaway. First of all, we need to care for ourselves. We need to have people who are preaching to us pouring into us as well, so we're not pouring out a fuse. But then you're a pastor that's with Right, and I think your very presence here is indicating that as well. When you think of one soul matters, you hear that what, what comes to mind for you one soul matters.

Pastor Richie Butler 5:10

I think it is reflective of jesus's when, when the pharisees tried to charge jesus over what is the greatest commandment, he said to love god with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, with all of your soul, with all of your body. And so when I think of One Self Matters, it really is a holistic approach to what it means to be human, what it means to be in relationship with God and in relationship with each other. Without the spiritual, you know, we're nothing, and some of us think that you know, all we need is the spiritual. But that horizontal connection reminds us that we need each other Body, you know, mind and so one soul is just getting us together holistically.

Dr. Tamara Brown 6:05

Yeah, the whole person matters. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's powerful. Well, thank you for being on our podcast. I really appreciate you taking the time.

Pastor Richie Butler 6:12

Oh, it's my honor, my honor, thank you. Thank you guys for doing it.

Dr. Tamara Brown 6:15

Be blessed.

Pastor Richie Butler 6:16

All right.

Dr. Tamara Brown 6:19

Now. Thanks for being here today and for talking with us on the podcast. Thank you so much. I wonder if you could tell me how attending the conference influences your personal, spiritual or even professional growth.

Anette Miller 6:31

Well, it's influencing me in all three of those arenas. I would say inspiration the work that has been done here at St Luke's is so inspiring. There's so many people involved. Here at St Luke's is so inspiring. There's so many people involved. There is so much good work that has been done and continues to grow and continues to influence people and it encourages me in the work that I do as an advocate for mental health.

Pastor Jamie Bruning 6:56

Elizabeth, thank you for being with us today. Thank you for having me. I have a question for you. So how did attending the conference influence your personal, spiritual or professional growth? I?

Speaker 6 7:06

would just say for all three it was just a reminder to make sure that I'm mentally ready to not only help myself but also help others, because I think we forget about I think that was brought up as well about that self-care. We do we forget about that self-care, yes, yes. So I think that's definitely going to help.

Pastor Jamie Bruning 7:28

Well, alexis, thank you so much for being on our podcast today. How did attending the conference influence your personal, spiritual or professional growth?

Speaker 7 7:40

It has influenced me in a personal and spiritual growth. Spiritual way, personally, I am just trying to regain my momentum from caring for a close loved one after medical trauma. So I am just trying to continue to have maintain healthy ways spiritually personally and exercise and eat well so that I can maintain my mental health in a positive way.

Pastor Jamie Bruning 8:13

Absolutely.

Speaker 7 8:14

That's a lot of work, yes, yes. So I just and I've attended this conference before, and so when I saw that it was happening this year and this weekend, I canceled my plans and decided to attend. And also just the support here. The vibe is so supportive, it's so resourceful and just. I feel like when it comes to your mental health, sometimes you need that head on the arm to say, hey, you're going in the right direction, you're doing what you're supposed to do, and you need that encouragement. So, on a spiritual note, just to gain some more spiritual antidotes to help me, you know, with this coping, because right now it's a very joyous time in my family and I want to continue. I want to celebrate that, I want to be in that moment and I don't want that negativity to or bad habits to spoil that time. This is a very joyful time for myself. Yes, yes.

Pastor Jamie Bruning 9:18

Because sometimes we can let go of that and we can focus on other things. Yeah, and you want to stay in the moment?

Speaker 7 9:23

Yes, I've embraced the moment I want to.

Dr. Tamara Brown 9:28

Is there an experience or a connection that you've made during the symposium that's had a lasting effect on you?

Speaker 8 9:36

Well, yeah, well, the connection because it's here at the church, yeah, and I'm a member, and I will say, if I could just give you a little backstory of me, I joined when I was 14, all by myself, like my mother. No one in my family is a member here, and this church has really been there for me since 1999. And so that's the thing that I can take away. That's the effect that it has on me, because they're saying that we're not just here for you on Sunday, we're here for you consistently for your mental, spiritual and physical health.

Dr. Tamara Brown 10:13

Yeah, so just being here and being active with people, is sort of a reminder that this church it's not just for Sunday morning, it's for all times. Oh, that's great when you hear the phrase soul matters.

Pastor Jamie Bruning 10:33

What thoughts come to your mind? What do you think about that phrase?

Rochelle 10:37

I think about it in that you know each one, teach one. It's kind of like that we are, you know we're. We are brother's keeper, sister's keeper, and if you can, you know my life or my testimony can help someone else be better in their lives, or the light shines within them, on them to receive you know, their, their salvation or their life experience to be better. You know in life, then that's what it means to me yeah, I love it, love it.

Pastor Jamie Bruning 11:21

Thank you so much. Thank you for being with us and sharing your story.

Rochelle 11:25

Thank you.

Dr. Tamara Brown 11:28

Well, Desmond, thank you for being willing to be on the podcast. Thank you for the opportunity. Absolutely Well, tell me how did attending the conference influence your personal, spiritual or professional growth?

Desmon Nicholson 11:41

Personally, it made me think more about just how one person could go from feeling like they're not heard and when they, let's say, they go to a meeting with y'all or go to a meeting with somebody with another organization, they feel like, even if they are not ready to talk about it, they just sit there and they get everybody else's story. It could change their minds about not being seen in a way, because I've personally seen people and sometimes I'll feel like I'm not being, I'm not being heard in a way that I would like to be heard, and so sometimes you just keep it to yourself instead of telling somebody or finding another way to be able to express it yeah spiritually.

Desmon Nicholson 12:27

I feel. I feel like it makes you. It makes you really think about how other Christians or how a church can make you feel, and I never thought about pastors having a whole lot of stress about something like you. That's not something you would grow up hearing, especially me being a young person. It's not something that you would really just hear about pastors going through stress.

Desmon Nicholson 12:50

You don't really think too much about it because you, they're the pastor, they help you out, but it's like. It's like they need help too. At the same time, and on a professional growth I say me wanting to be a therapist later in my life this might, this might help me because, knowing this organization, I might be able to lead somebody to it or somebody from the organization might come to me and I'll be able to talk to them and, from the stuff that I've learned personally and then, with the things that I learned going into college and going into my career, will help me out Sounds like being here today really raise your awareness about some things that you didn't know about, some things that you didn't know about but also is consistent with your own professional and career goals.

Dr. Tamara Brown 13:34

Talking about mental health and maybe integrating faith with mental health. Yes, ma'am Is that a part of your goal too, of course, love God.

Desmon Nicholson 13:42

I'm going to put him in everything that I teach. Even if somebody doesn't really correlate with that, I'll still try to implement it in what I'm saying, not too much to where it's like forceful, but enough.

Dr. Tamara Brown 13:54

Yeah.

Desmon Nicholson 13:55

And a push to you know, get closer to God.

Dr. Tamara Brown 13:59

That's really wonderful, desmond, that you have this heart for other people. That leads you to want to go to school and learn how you can help in a professional manner. That's powerful. Thank you, that's very powerful. Well, let me ask you one other question. When you hear one soul matters, what comes to mind for you?

Desmon Nicholson 14:22

One person that's going through something that doesn't think they matter in this world that they matter too. I don't think just because you're going through a situation that you're the only one going through it in the world. There's multiple people going through it. It's just you think you've been through it alone so long that you think you're alone and don't have nobody else to connect with about it or talk to about it.

Dr. Tamara Brown 14:47

Yeah, yeah. So even if you're feeling like you're the only one, you still matter. Yes ma'am. But chances are you're not the only one. Yes, that's what you're saying.

Desmon Nicholson 14:57

Yes, ma'am.

Dr. Tamara Brown 14:58

Yeah, awesome. Well, desmond, thank you for talking with us today and again for being a part of the podcast.

Desmon Nicholson 15:03

You're welcome. Thank you for the opportunity again.

Rev. Fizer on Destigmatizing Mental Health

Dr. Tamara Brown 15:06

Absolutely. It's great to have you come and talk on the podcast. So good to be with you. That's good to have you here. Well, I'm interested in what is the most significant uh takeaway from our symposium that you think is going to impact your future endeavors you know, I think the way in which we can just have the conversation that destigmatizes talking about mental wellness, mental health.

Rev. Andrew Fiser 15:34

It is the like, the groundwork, the framework that we have to have. The first thing we have to do is have the conversation, and the fact that we can have it in the church makes a difference, not only for those that are gathered here, but for everyone that's involved in church to start destigmatizing the conversation about it, and that's just the foundation of everything we can do.

Dr. Tamara Brown 15:59

Yeah, I agree, if we can't talk about it, then we certainly can't face it or deal with it or help people. Right, it starts with being okay to talk about it. Well, what's one experience or connection that you've made during the symposium that's going to have a lasting effect on you?

Rev. Andrew Fiser 16:14

You know, I had a great conversation with the Veterans Peer Group Administrator earlier in the exhibition hall and he was talking about the variety of ways that people can get connected to their work. So I am not only an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and under full-time appointment, so I've got my civilian job, but I'm about to embark on being a Navy Reserve chaplain and so veterans care has always been a part of something close to my heart and close to my calling, and so I'm just eager to find out more about the peer-to-peer groups that they help and ways in which our churches can help host and provide space for those. And there's even a need for clergy to kind of be on call somewhat informally to go to jails and courthouses and to be in spaces where you know there are veterans and their families and dependents that are in tough situations and they need some folks to help come alongside and be listening guides in those spaces.

Dr. Tamara Brown 17:24

So being here at this symposium, it's not just a part of your work, but this is a part of a personal calling for you.

Speaker 6 17:30

Absolutely.

Dr. Tamara Brown 17:32

Wonderful, glad to have you here.

Rev. Andrew Fiser 17:34

It's so good to be here.

Dr. Tamara Brown 17:35

So when you think or hear, one soul matters what comes to mind for you.

Rev. Andrew Fiser 17:42

I think of how we are called to cherish every individual we encounter, who is created in the very image of God and is sacred and of worth, and how mental wellness and mental illness often creates a space in our mind where we think that someone doesn't matter, or even the way we approach them makes them feel as though they don't matter. And so when I hear one soul matters, I think about how am I helping educate myself, how am I helping ground myself spiritually so that, even if somebody is in a mental wellness crisis and not in a good space, how can I honor them and regard them as created in the very image of God and see God in them? And that might mean connecting them with resources, it might mean connecting with them like one-on-one in conversation, and it might just mean my approach to them internal.

Dr. Tamara Brown 18:51

That's powerful, thank you. Thank you for sharing and thank you for being willing to be a part of the podcast.

Rev. Andrew Fiser 18:56

Well, thanks for hosting us.

Closing Reflections and Invitation

Dr. Tamara Brown 18:57

All right, thank you, you're welcome.

Jermine Alberty 19:02

Thank you for joining us for the second episode of One Soul Matter produced by the St Luke Community United Methodist Church Mental Health Ministry. We are deeply grateful to our guests, pastor Richie Butler, annette Miller, elizabeth Johnson, alexis Early, ashley Smith, rochelle Kelly, desmond Nicholson and Reverend Andrew Fizer for sharing their hearts and reflections on the 10th Annual Mental Health Symposium, and a special thanks to Reverend Dr Tamara Brown and Pastor Jamie Browning for guiding these meaningful conversations. As you reflect on what you've heard today, we invite you to carry this truth forward Every life, every story, every soul truly matters. May the insights and connections from this symposium continue to rip it through our community, strengthening us in spirit, compassion and hope. If you'd like to learn more about our mental health ministry or upcoming events at St Luke, please visit our website or connect with us on social media. Until next time, remember you matter, your soul matters, and together we can build a community of care and healing.