Refuge Recovery and Mental Health
What we are:
  • A safe and loving place for those seeking to find support amid mental health issue and dual diagnosis. 
  • Willing to support mental health through Christ-centered accountability and sponsorship.
  • A safe place to work through all of life’s struggles. 
  • Believing that  freedom in Christ is something that can be complete even without physical healing.
What we are NOT:
  • A place for judgment.
  • A replacement for counseling and therapy.
  • A place that gives up on HOPE!
Exploring Mental Health
Fifty percent of all adults will experience some form of mental health issue in their life according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mental Health Issue/Mental Illness is an ongoing condition that affects mood, behaviors, and thinking patterns which may cause suffering and/or may interfere with a person’s ability to  function with typical daily activities on a frequent basis.
Just like any other organ in our body, our brains are subject to malfunction from time to time. In the same way that a heart, lung, or kidney can malfunction, our brains can  malfunction. This can lead to feelings of devastation, anger, or loneliness, for example. Often the result is a feeling of isolation, loss of control, and hopelessness. Frequently, to ease these overwhelming emotions, people will use unhealthy coping skills. This can be through unhealthy relationships, at-risk behaviors, substance abuse, etc. Thankfully, through the loving grace of Jesus Christ we do not have to live under the assumption that we have no hope. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV) we see God telling us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This tells us that when we are feeling weak, God steps in to fill the gap for us if we  let Him.
Refuge Recovery is a tool to help us experience the freedom that comes when we allow God to stand in the gap for us. Utilizing the 12 Steps of Recovery and their biblical comparisons, we allow God to work in our lives. In Step 3, “We make a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God.” When we stop trying to get by under our own power and give that control over to God, we start living under His power. His “perfect power” offers healing and hope from life’s hurts, hang-ups, and habits.
God gives us the ability to come out of the darkness that weighs so heavily on us. We can feel what it is like to walk through life with hope for a better tomorrow. We can start building relationships with others that are healthy. We learn positive tools for coping with frustrations and then incorporate these tools into our lives.
Refuge Recovery cannot promise physical healing from your mental health issues, no more than it can promise healing for cancer.  Refuge Recovery is not a replacement for professional counseling, therapy, and medical treatment. We are here to support those efforts and encourage you as you use them. Living with mental health issues can be difficult. There is no denying that fact. But living with mental health issues does not have to be a lifelong sentence of misery. You do have hope for a better tomorrow. By living one day at a time, one moment at a time, you can find peace. You can live a life that is extraordinary.