Episodi
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Men are notoriously bad at understanding our emotionsâlet alone actually sharing about them with someone elseâand itâs to our detriment.
Here in Australia, itâs Movember; a month where the titular charity encourages guys to raise money for Menâs Mental Health by growing a moustache. And awareness like this is sorely needed â because men are three times more likely to die by suicide than women.
So how do we as men learn to open up and start talking about what weâre going through? AndâŠwhy should we? Does the Bible tell us to?
What better way to open up this conversation than to sit down and chat with Akos Balogh, a fellow Aussie bloke helping us figure some of this out. Weâll talk through some of the reasons why guys donât like sharing about our emotions, and dive into why itâs a really important thing for us to do not just as men, but as followers of Jesus, too.
So, hereâs our chat with Akos.
You may recognise Akos as our podcast guest from Episode 24 - We Are Not Our Feelings, where he shared on his own struggle with anxiety, and what heâs learned about difficult emotions. Heâs also written several pieces on our blog, including â10 Surprising Things Iâve Learned About Having Good Mental Healthâ and âAs a Christian Bloke, Hereâs What Iâve Learned About Dealing With Difficult Emotionsâ.
And, if you want to see more of how Akos engages with faith, mental health, and culture, you can check out his personal blog at akosbalogh.com.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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Contrary to what many of us have grown up believing, porn addiction is not a âguysâ issueâ. Itâs a human one.
Join us as we chat to Amanda Anaestad, cofounder of The Victory Collective, a ministry centred around community and resources for women struggling with a porn addiction.
Amanda was first exposed to pornography by accident in middle school, and it grew into an addiction that had a hold on her for many years. She shares with us how she only ever heard of porn being discussed as a problem for men, and how her feelings of shame and isolation stopped her from reaching out and getting help.
Because of her own experience, Amanda and her friend set out to build a community of women bravely speaking out and helping each other find healing.
Weâll hear from Amanda about her own journey and recovery, which included opening up to her now-husband about her secret struggle, as well as the importance of community and confession, and how God canâand does!âbring lasting healing to anyone who struggles with porn.
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The Victory Collectiveâs mission is to help women navigate their porn recovery journeys with grace by providing resources, personal insight, and a supportive community. Their goal is to provide women with a safe space to heal, grow, and find freedom in the grace of Jesus. You can find out more here.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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Episodi mancanti?
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As we began to branch out in topics here at Anxious Faith, we were surprised by the number of people who resonated with the episodes and blog posts weâve done around OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This often-misunderstood condition can be so hard to live with, and yet there are therapeutic approaches that can offer hope and relief for those living with OCD.
One of those approaches is called Exposure Response Prevention, or ERP, and we were intrigued to meet Justin Hughesâa licensed professional counsellor in Texasâwho talks about ERP not just as a therapy for OCD, but as an inherently spiritual practice, too. Interesting, right?
Exposure Response Prevention therapy is designed to help people with OCD learn to face the triggers to their obsessions without following through with the compulsion that comes with it. But this approach, as Justin shares, is actually a way that all of us can approach anything that is difficult in our life, faith, or relationships, even if we donât suffer from OCD ourselves.In todayâs episode, Justin will take us through what ERP looks like, and weâll spend some time unpacking how this practice can help us all grow our faith.
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Justin K. Hughes is a writer, speaker and licensed professional counsellor passionate about helping those impacted by OCD. He has a Masters from Dallas Theological Seminary and is the owner of Dallas Counseling, a private practice in Texas. Justin is passionate about advocating for those who feel controlled by fear and anxiety. To read his blog, check out his new course on overcoming OCD or get in touch, you can visit his website: https://www.justinkhughes.com/.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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Self-awareness is something that we all need; in order to be healthy, loving, thriving people, we need to understand a bit about ourselves and how we interact with other people, the world around us, and even God. And, for those of us who struggle with our mental health, learning how and why we function and react to things the way we do can be a key part of working towards healing.
But is there a point where leaning into self-awareness is actually justâŠselfish? Tinged with pride, and putting too much emphasis on ourselves?
Today weâre chatting with Steve Mitchell from the UK, who works as the Senior Vice President of the European branch of our organisation, Our Daily Bread Ministries. Steve is also an Executive Coach who has a passion for helping people have transformative conversations. His goal through coaching is to help people grow in self-awareness so that they can ultimately become healthier members of their communities â and the broader body of Christ.
Weâll hear what coaching is, how it works, and whether thereâs a point when spending too much time thinking and talking about ourselves is actually selfish⊠and unhelpful. Steve also gives us a practical example of a coaching session using a real scenario to help us all learn how we can have better conversations with people in our lives that lead to greater self-awareness and the ability to better understand, love, and care for each other.
Letâs dive in.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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When someone is struggling with their mental health, whether thatâs dealing with stress, anxiety, or a diagnosed mental health condition, itâs not just them who feel the effects of it â thereâs often a flow on effect to the people around them; their partner, children, family, friends, colleagues⊠The list goes on.
So whatâs it like to be struggling with your mental health, only to feel the added weightâand often, guiltâof knowing that what youâre dealing with is also impacting the people you love? How do you navigate those dynamics when there are seasons of your life when youâre more vulnerable and in-need than youâre comfortable with?
Today weâre chatting to Erin, a mum of two girls from Tennessee in the US, who has dealt with significant periods of anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation which led to multiple hospitalisations and in-patient therapy stays.
Weâll hear not only about Erinâs journey and the role of her faith amidst the challenges sheâs faced, but also what itâs been like to deal with the added guilt of seeing what her mental illness was doing to her husband and children.
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Erin Mount is a lover of God who writes about faith, suffering, and mental health. If sheâs not spending time with her family, watching Gilmore Girls or reading, sheâs probably napping. Read more from Erin on our blog in âWhen My Thoughts Lie to Meâ, and check out her Substack here.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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CW: Keolaâs story covers his struggles with self-harm and suicide ideation, so please be wise as you listen and mindful of who youâre listening with.
Today weâre hearing the story of Keola, a young guy from Las Vegas in the US who thought he was living the dream â scouted out of high school for Division 1 baseball college, and on his way to making it as an athlete. But moving to that college wasnât the highlight he was expecting it to be, and instead, it became a time of anxiety, fear, and dread.
As Keola fought against these newfound mental health challenges, they worsened; leaving him feeling lost and alone. He fought against thoughts of suicide, and turned to unhelpful ways of coping â including trying self-harm, which became addictive.
Though Keolaâs mental health struggles arenât all over now, his testimony is one of immense hope. Through his darkest periods, Keola has experienced Godâs grace and deliverance in incredible ways and, while his struggles have never entirely gone away, heâs able to proclaim the goodness of God in all circumstances.
In his own words, he shares with us: âIâve gotten a lot closer to God because of my suffering⊠because I know Heâs going to show up, and I know if I lean on Him, Heâs going to make a way.â
Keola shares his story today with the prayer that it might bring hope to anyone suffering through similar circumstances, and understanding to those who havenât experienced this.
When youâre done listening, you can read this piece written by Keola on our blog: To the Christian Who Self-Harms.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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âNothing is certain except death and taxes,â or so the saying goes. But thereâs something else that weâll all face in our lives, regardless of our background, finances, upbringing or culture: suffering.
Whether itâs suffering brought on by mental illness, physical illness, financial pressure, issues with relationships or family or any number of other things, at some point in our lives, things are going to be hard. Messy. Painful.
When we face suffering, itâs easy to wonder where God is. We can feel lonely, isolated ⊠even abandoned by Him. Why is this happening to me?, we ask. How can a good God let me suffer?
So what do we do, knowing weâll face suffering?
Today weâre chatting with Dr Katherine Thompson, who we heard from back in Episode 18 on the topic of Christ-Centred Mindfulness.
Katherine has written a new book called The Discipline of Suffering, and thatâs what weâre going to chat to her about today; the idea of suffering, and how to work our way through it as followers of Jesus.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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Video games can be a contentious topic. There are the people who love them, and those that donât â or simply canât understand the appeal. And then there are the stories we hear in the media about gaming addiction, social isolation, and a growing concern for the way gaming seems to lead to a whole range of mental health challenges.
So, what do we think? Does gaming affect our mental health?
Perhaps itâs not quite so black and white.
Today weâre chatting with Jacob, a life-long gamer, who shares how gaming has affected his mental health â both negatively and for the better. Jacob now runs a ministry seeking to reach one of the groups least represented in the churchâgamersâand build off their existing hobbies and interests, providing positive opportunities for social interaction and inviting gamers into spaces where they might also encounter Jesus.
Weâll hear Jacobâs journey and discuss the bigger picture of gaming, as well as what we might need to watch out for in this space as Christians. Weâll also be joined by a familiar voice, Maddy from our teamâwhoâs an outsider to the world of gamingâto give our conversation a range of different experiences.
Jacob started a non-profit called The Big LAN for gamers in Australia to come together, meet like-minded people, and form long-term friendships. The Big LAN is a Melbourne-based community and currently the largest LAN event in Australia. To check it out, click here.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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When we think of non-physical problems that affect people, weâre pretty immediately drawn to the common ones â anxiety, depression, and the realm of mental illness. But thereâs something just as insidious that can cause significant issues to our mental wellbeing, quality of life, and faith.
Itâs loneliness.There are some mind-boggling statistics around loneliness. One in four adults around the world report feeling lonely. Our ministry recently did a study of 18-35 year olds here in Australia, and 44% of the overall respondents reported struggling with loneliness and a lack of connection.
But why is loneliness a growing issue? What are its impacts? And, more importantly, what can we as individualsâand the broader churchâdo to combat loneliness?Today weâre diving into it with Kimberly Smith, a pastor, speaker, and author of a book on singleness in the church who is passionate about this topic.
To get in touch with Kimberly, read her blog, check out her book âWhat We Cannot Be Alone: Understanding Singleness in Godâs Familyâ or see where sheâll be speaking next, you can visit her website.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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You think of a CEO and you probably picture someone who has it all together. Theyâre out there speaking in front of audiences, resolving high-level disputes, and running companies.
But whatâs happening behind the scenes? Is it possible that even CEOs can wrestle with mental illness?
Dr Matt Lucas is the President and Global CEO of Our Daily Bread Ministries, whom Anxious Faith is a part of â yep, weâve got the big boss on today. From being thrust into leadership roles to tasting career success at an early age, Dr Matt looked like he had it all together. But inside, his reality was a little different. Despite the face he put on for work, he wrestled with high levels of stress, anxiety and depression, which grew harder and harder to hide.
In this episode, Dr Matt shares vulnerably about how his mental health struggles caught up with him and caused some significant issues. Weâll hear what led to that point, how he faced and worked through these struggles, and how theyâve impacted him as a leader today.
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Through this podcast and our other resources, our heart here at Anxious Faith is to spark conversation and tackle the taboos around mental health in our churches and faith communities. Will you help us do that?
Weâd be grateful if you would consider supporting us, whether through prayer, sharing our resources in your circles, or contributing towards our ministry costs.
Weâd also love to connect with you on socials, where you can join the community, check out our other resources and see behind the scenes content from our team.
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This episode, weâre chatting with Josh, a young Aussie guy who was first exposed to pornography at the age of eight. For years, Joshâs addiction to porn grew and had a hold on his life, affecting his mental health, sense of worth, relationships with others, and faith.
Over the years, Josh tried everything to break his addiction. He sought accountability from parents, friends and pastors, met with counsellors, restricted his phone and computer access, read books and paid for addiction courses⊠To no avail. Despite trying his hardest to beat the addiction, it persisted â for more than 15 years.
So what changed? How did Josh eventually find freedom from the grip of a porn addiction? Join us to find out.
Note: For the sake of time weâve had to cut out parts of Joshâs story to fit into this episode, so if you want to hear his full interview, you can check it out on our YouTube channel below.
Finally, weâll be taking a short podcast break while we work on more episodes, but weâll have new things coming out on our website and socials in the meantime, so make sure youâre following us on socials and subscribed to our mailing list to stay up to date!
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If youâre struggling with addiction yourselfâwhether thatâs to pornography or something elseâplease reach out to someone for help. That could be a friend, family member, your pastor, doctor or counsellor. If youâre not sure who you can talk to, please visit our helplines page for a list of organisations you can contact. Otherwise, a quick google search for addiction support in your area should help.
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries
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Self-harm is something weâve touched on a few times through different peopleâs stories, but today, itâs our main focus.
What leads someone to self-harm? Does it really feel âgoodâ at the time? And how does someone whoâs been addicted to self-harm stop?
In this episode, Gabby Wilkinson from Dear God Iâm Sad shares about her journey with depression, which led her to trying self-harm. Soon after, she found the urges to hurt herself were difficult to suppress, and the more she continued down that path, the fiercer the addiction to it became.
So what changed for Gabby? How was she able to stop, and what has she learned through it allâabout self-harm, her mental health, and ultimately, her faith? What would she say to someone whoâs currently wrestling with self-harm, or to the person supporting a loved one through the struggle?
Find out with us.
Content Warning: Weâre not discussing the act of self-harm in any detail, but you will be hearing Gabbyâs lived experience of wrestling with it. Please use your discretion and be wise about who may be around as you listen.
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If you found this episode helpful, you might like to check out Episode 12 - Was God There During My Depression, Self-Harm and Suicidal Thoughts? and Episode 16 - Surviving Being Suicidal.
You may also be encouraged by these stories on our blog, To The Christian Who Self-Harms and My Healing From Depression Came Slowly.
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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We're exploring how different approaches to counselling and psychology line up with what weâre taught in the Bible. To do that, weâre chatting with Noni Potter, the Head of Undergraduate Counselling at Tabor, a Christian college in Australia.
Not only is Noni a lecturer in counselling, but sheâs also practised privately and has been involved in church ministry for many years. Sheâs passionate about combining her faith with evidence-based psychological methods which, she believes, echo Godâs truths.
Through our chat with Noni, weâll learn about some of the common approaches to therapy, such as CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), ACT (acceptance-commitment therapy), EFT (emotion-focused therapy), and SFBT (solution-focused brief therapy), and hear how many of these are ârediscoveriesâ of what God has already shown us through His Word.
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Noni has written a book called âLiving Your Best Life: Keys to Freedom and Wholenessâ, which integrates the restorative power of a relationship with God with evidence-based psychological tools. You can find her book here.
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Anxious Faith website
Follow us on Instagram
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Support Anxious Faith
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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A common thread through many of the stories we share is our guestsâ experiences of being told that their anxiety or other mental health struggles are a faith issue, not a mental one. Today weâre chatting with Lara dâEntremont, a young woman who grappled with being told that her anxiety disorder meant she was living in sin; refusing to trust in God.
Lara tells her story of struggling through unhelpful teachings about her anxiety, and of the damage it ended up causing to both her mental health and her faith. Ultimately, Lara shares how she discovered that Godâs truth does allow us to seek medical treatment for mental illness, and how it enabled her to blend her faith and mental health journeys together.
From the outset, we want to note that this episode talks about Biblical Counselling, because thatâs what Lara was studying at the time. But âbiblical counsellingâ is a bit of a catch-all term that can refer to a whole range of different approaches, and while Lara has personally experienced harmful teaching in the name of biblical counselling, those teachings arenât what most of us would consider biblical counselling to represent.
In a future episode, weâre going to be interviewing a biblical counsellor directly to hear more about what they practise, and how they approach using Godâs Word to counsel and encourage people who may be struggling. But for now, itâs important to remember that Laraâs story in this episode is just one personâs experience, and isnât demonstrative of biblical counselling as a whole.
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You can also check out more of Laraâs story in her two pieces on our blog, called âIâm Haunted by Intrusive Thoughtsâ and âWhen Unruly Thoughts Refuse to Be Taken Captiveâ.
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Anxious Faith website
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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Together weâve been exploring different diagnoses such as anxiety, depression, OCD and bipolar, and seeking to learn more and find encouragement for how those struggles donât have to keep us from God. But what about other conditions that might impact our faithâother struggles and diagnoses Christians can wrestle with, including forms of disability or other differences like neurodivergence?
And so, with today being the International Day of Autism Awareness, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to broaden our scope and speak to someone whoâs autistic and learn a little about how autism and other neurodivergent conditions can impact someoneâs engagement with church.
Maddy is our teamâs Writer & Editor, but you may also recognise her from earlier episodes of the podcast, where sheâs shared on her journey with depression and self-harm, and navigating anxiety in a relationship.
Maddy was diagnosed autistic several years ago, and has since been on a mission to explore how that diagnosis interplays with her faith, and the ways in which her brain can be an assetâbut also a barrierâwhen it comes to engaging in church.
In this episode, Maddy leads the conversation with Dr Katy Unwin, a Lecturer in Psychology at La Trobe University. Katy has a PhD in Autism, and has done a lot of research in this area â including a study sheâs recently conducted into how autistic peopleâs sensory differences impact their experiences of church.
Through their conversation, Maddy and Katy hope to help us all learn a bit more about autism, the impact it can have on peopleâs engagement in church, and how we can work towards becoming churches and communities that are more accommodating for everyone â whether theyâre autistic or not.
Maddy has also written two pieces about autism on the blog, titled âNavigating Church as an Autistic Personâ and â3 Ways the Church Can Love an Autistic Person Like Meâ.
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Dr Katy explains what Autism is (video)
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Anxious Faith website
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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Most of the people weâve interviewed on Anxious Faith so far are between the ages of 20 and 40. It seems a natural place to look for stories of mental health challenges; after all, weâre the age group that seem to be dealing with themâor at least, talking about themâmost.
But would it surprise you to know that some of the biggest sufferers of mental health challenges are people aged over 65? Conversations around rising mental health challenges usually focus on the statistics around working age adults, and leave out a huge percentage of our population. Older people, it turns out, can struggle with their mental health just as muchâif not moreâthan younger generations.
So today weâre talking with Ben, an Aged-Care Chaplain here in Australia, who meets with people in care homes every day and sees the shockingly high number of those who are dealing with a mental health condition. Most of us would know someone in the later stage of their life, whether thatâs a parent, grandparent, or even one of those nice old people from church.
Through todayâs chat with Ben, we want to learn more of what mental ill-health looks like for the older members of our society, and what weâas individuals, and the broader churchâcan be doing to better love, care, and support them.
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Anxious Faith website
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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Weâve shared lots of stories of people who have dealt with anxiety, and for many of them, the reality is they may always deal with anxiety. But what if you went and sought help, brought it all to God, went to regular therapy sessions and even tried medication,only for anxiety to come back, and come back stronger?
What would it be like to do all the right things, to think you had beaten anxiety, only for the anxiety to return later on?
This episode weâre chatting with Tiffany, a teacher and writer in California in the US who lived this experience. She shares what itâs like to have the anxiety come back even after doing everything right, but also the difference she experienced when she chose to allow her church community into what she struggled with, and the difference that made in her faith.
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Tiffany has also written several pieces for us on the blog, including âClinical Anxiety Isnât What the Church Thinks It Isâ and âHow to Be Helpful When a Loved One Tells You Theyâre Anxiousâ.
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Anxious Faith website
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Support Anxious Faith
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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Many of our guests have shared that theyâve experienced some form of anxiety since childhood. But thatâs not always the case; for some people, anxiety or any other mental illness might not show up until later in life, seemingly out of nowhere. That was the case for Akos.
It wasnât until his 30âs that Akos faced anxiety for the first time, in the form of a panic attack while seated on a small aircraft. That seemingly isolated incident led to a second panic attack, and a third, until his anxiety worsened.
Despite having a strong faith and a good understanding of mental healthâAkos was working in ministry and married to a psychologist, after allâhe wrestled with recurring anxious thoughts and couldnât seem to control his feelings. And that led to a shift in his understanding, as he learned that he was not his anxious feelings â they were separate from him, much like how we can be confronted with sinful temptations that are not a part of our identity.
By seeing his anxiety as something outside of who he is as a person, Akos has been able to come to terms with the uncontrollable thoughts he sometimes has and yet choose how to respond to them.
Today, he shares with us how he sees the Bibleâs âheroes of the faithâ also being confronted with trials and suffering outside of their control, but choosing to remain faithful to God and trust in His promises.
Akos has written several pieces on our blog, including 10 Surprising Things Iâve Learned About Having Good Mental Health and As a Christian Bloke, Hereâs What Iâve Learned About Dealing With Difficult Emotions.
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If you want to see more of how Akos engages with faith, mental health, and culture, you can check out his personal blog here.
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Anxious Faith website
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Support Anxious Faith
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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To kick off this year, weâre chatting with Amelie, a university student in Sydney. Amelieâs mental health journey started during high school, with what she thought was anxiety and experiencing a lot of existential dread. Initially she thought that the anxiety was all based around school pressure and performance, but it wasnât long after she graduated that she realised the feelings hadnât gone away, which led to a diagnosis of OCD - or obsessive compulsive disorder.
Amazingly though, it was the beginning of her anxiety and mental health journey that actually led Amelie to finding God in high school, and she has a great story of how the growth of her faith has enabled her, along with a lot of hard work and medication, to be in a much better place where her OCD is now manageable, and to know that God is good, God is just, and God is holy even amidst the struggles of OCD.
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Amelie has also shared part of her story in a blog post for us, called With Trauma Came OCD, but Then Came Jesus.
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Anxious Faith website
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Support Anxious Faith
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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Join James, Maddy and Ethan in our final episode of the year to take a look back on where Anxious Faith began and where weâre heading. From small beginnings in January 2023 to almost 25,000 podcast downloads and a growing online community, weâre so grateful for where God has brought us this year.
Tune in for a quick recap of all 21 episodes, as well as the teamâs reflections on some key things weâve learned through our work this year that have helped us each in our own mental health journeys. We also take a look at some highlights from the blog this year, and chat about our vision for Anxious Faith in 2024.
Lastly, we want to say thank you to each of you for listening, sharing your stories with us, and helping us pioneer this ministry. Weâre excited for whatâs ahead, but in the meantime, we hope youâll join us on this reflection of the year thatâs been!
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Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries. If youâre struggling with trauma or addiction yourself, please talk to someone to seek help. That might be a friend, family member, pastor, or your doctor. If youâre in Australia or New Zealand, thereâs a list of helplines you can call here.
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