It was a total blessing to gather at St Johns yesterday morning to celebrate our one year anniversary of meeting together at Free To Be.

Through our small, informal meetings each week, amazing caring and supportive relationships with one another have developed. We laugh, cry, listen, comfort and encourage each other. God’s presence is felt through openness to this precious mix of prayer and fellowship.

We feel strongly that it is only through learning to be honest and open about the challenges of living with a mental health problem that stigma can be reduced and much needed support and comfort can be found.

This is of particular relevance where there is such an acknowledged level of need but very limited resources within the wider community to address the issues facing those with emotional difficulties. Church has a very important role to play here.

As a group, we would like to encourage anyone who is interested to know more to come (with a companion if this helps!) and experience first hand a special Free To Be kind of welcome. We aim to always be relaxed about format and any attempts to scrub up or worry about presentation. We really are Free To Be in that sense too!”

Susie Brine