The North Street SDA Church was the venue for the Kingston Public Hospital’s (KPH) Inaugural Church Service to celebrate the 243rd Anniversary of mental health service to Jamaica. The service was held on October 6, 2018 to mark the beginning of World Mental Health Week which this year had as its theme : ‘Young people and Mental Health in a changing world.’
President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica, Pastor Everett Brown, was the guest speaker and expressed delight at the opportunity of addressing the church on the matter of mental health on this special occasion.
In his message to the church, Pastor Brown quoted from a news article published in the Jamaica Observer of Wednesday May 24, 2017 where one health professional was quoted as saying “three to four out of every ten Jamaicans have some type of psychiatric or mental disorder.” In the same article, it was pointed out that from one study done in 2011 it was discovered that forty percent of the population suffer from a type of mental illness.
“Disorder and diseases of the brain impact our lives, families, church,
and communities, the country every day,” added Brown. “It is believed by some persons in the mental health profession that one in every five persons will be impacted by mental health challenges every year and we are told that within the next ten years, the mental health problems will either be doubled or tripled based on research.”
According to the top pastor of the SDA Church in Jamaica, conditions such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders will affect many in our homes, church, workplaces and community. In spite of the challenges that people will face with illness, Brown described God as “gracious, kind and merciful” and said it was not God’s intention for people to be inflicted with illnesses.
