Hope for Troubled Minds

The Blessings of Gratitude

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust. Gratitude is a spiritual practice. It has a way of seeping into our souls - uplifting our spirits, refreshing our spirits, even invigorating our bodies. In my spiritual journey, I have been through seasons where I felt bitter and dark. At these times it is all the more essential to give thanks for the people, experiences, and things that bring us happiness and lighten our loads. What are you grateful for? I am thankful for many things. The one thing that stands out for me on this day is spiritual friendship. I have been blessed throughout my life to know people who are spiritually mature, who regularly pray for me, who I can count on to encourage me when I am laid low and put me in [...]

The Blessings of Gratitudetonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:20-04:00

The Harvest is Plentiful; the Laborers are Few (but growing daily)

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:36-38) Delight in Disorder Ministries is much more than just a hobby of Tony Roberts. We are an international ministry, with the mission of informing and inspiring those impacted by brain illnesses and other mental health conditions. We have a five-person board of ministry shepherds who volunteer their time, talent, and prayerful oversight to see that we stick to mission and carry out God's calling in an ever expansive field. If you would like to learn more about our ministry efforts, follow this link -- https://delightindisorder.org/supporting-didmin/. The first and best you can do is pray for us. When Jesus saw that his [...]

The Harvest is Plentiful; the Laborers are Few (but growing daily)tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:20-04:00

Generating Hope for Troubled Minds

In March of 2020, I stepped aside from my position as Faith and Mental Health Advocate to spend more time at home during the pandemic. God graciously guided me to serve in another way, as I became the founder and administrator for the Facebook community page Hope for Troubled Minds. Soon I was fielding prayer requests and publishing content to inform and inspire people impacted by brain illnesses, including their loved ones. Our aim was/is to generate hope and we have found a good way to do this is to encourage people to post from their heart and point in response to basis of faith that is non-sectarian but also so generic that it is watered down. I may be biased, heck, I am biased, but I'd say we've largely reached our goal thanks to a community, and leadership (Janet Coburn - moderator; Katie Dale - co-administrator) dedicated to the [...]

Generating Hope for Troubled Mindstonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:20-04:00

Pre-Order Hope for Troubled Minds Today Thru October 1

Whether you have a loved one who is diagnosed with a serious mental illness, or you want to learn more about the topic and those who provide care, this book is for you. It’s important to know about this subset of people who struggle in the shadows due to an invisible illness that can strike anyone. We need to talk about it openly and share our stories widely. ~ Kathy Day, Senior Family Liasion, Treatment Advocacy Center I am delighted to share that word from Janet Coburn that she is in the last stages of line item editing. Associate editor Katie Dale and I are preparing the dedication page and editor's note and Leanne Sype is ready to do the ebook and print formatting. We are right on schedule for a November release. Meanwhile, you don't have to wait to order your copy/copies of this vital and valuable book. You can [...]

Pre-Order Hope for Troubled Minds Today Thru October 1tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:21-04:00

Pre-order Hope for Troubled Minds now!

from “Ripples of Hope” by Leslie Carpenter. Leslie retired early from her physical therapy career to do SMI advocacy on a local, state and national basis. She is a public speaker, a lobbyist in the Iowa Legislature, serves on multiple advisory boards and the NAMI Iowa Board of Directors, teaches NAMI Provider and started Iowa’s first AOT program recently. I have been an advocate for those impacted by brain illness since I was diagnosed in 1995 with bipolar disorder. I’ve shared my own story in the devotional autobiography Delight in Disorder and spiritual memoir When Despair Meets Delight as well as in this blog and various other places. Many people have responded to my story with stories of their own and in early 2021, I decided to collect these in the form of tributes, written as letters, poems, and songs and publish them as Hope for Troubled Minds through Delight [...]

Pre-order Hope for Troubled Minds now!tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:21-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: To My Love

From the author: A couple of months after my husband and I started dating, I began noticing that something was not right. As someone with lived experience with a mental health condition, I notice symptoms of PTSD which provoke him to anger. I searched for help through NAMI (National Alliance On Mental Illness) and started educating myself through a caregiver class called NAMI Homefront for family members of people with military trauma. There, I was able to gather information on how to deal with his condition. After a year of courting, we got married. I thought loving him would be enough to empower him to change his behavior and seek help. How wrong was I! We were able to maintain five bittersweet marriage years, but the illness took a toll on our relationship, and after seeing no change and lack of responsibility regarding his illness, I decided to file for [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: To My Lovetonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:21-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: An anthology of letters between those with brain illnesses and our loved ones.

Photo of a young Linda Rippee and Catherine Rippee-Hanson with their baby brother Mark. Mark developed a brain illness and died of undertreatment and the chronic effects of homelessness. I am dedicating this project to the Rippees, a testimony that even life-long devoted love isn't yet enough to conquer serious brain illness in this life. Yet. But his legacy lives on and promotes positive change that gives Hope for Troubled Minds. Tony Roberts, author of When Despair Meets Delight: Cultivating Hope for Those Battling Mental Illness ; podcaster of Revealing Voices ; and administrator of the Facebook community group Hope for Troubled Minds is shepherding a project through his blog at delightindisorder.org we hope will culminate in a book with color photos entitled Hope for Troubled Minds: An anthology of letters between those with brain illnesses and our loved ones. Submit your letter written to your loved one (first [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: An anthology of letters between those with brain illnesses and our loved ones.tonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:21-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: One Mom’s Journey from Chaos to Hope

Randye Kaye is the author of Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey From the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope (Rowman & Littlefield, 2011), and Happier Made Simple: Choose Your Words. Change Your Life (Front Porch Press, 2022). She's also an actor, voice talent, radio broadcaster, audiobook narrator, teacher and speaker. She co-hosts several podcasts, including Schizophrenia: 3 Moms in the Trenches. She lives with her husband in Connecticut, and her children and grandkids live close by. Her dining room and living room are full of toys. Dear Ben, Life has not turned out to be what any of us imagined, hoped for you, when you were a little boy. You: so bright, so sweet, so enthusiastic, so loving. So many friends, so many talents. The future, so promising. And then came schizophrenia. The great thief. Oh, the symptoms presented in many forms before we - or at least I [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: One Mom’s Journey from Chaos to Hopetonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:21-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds – Dreams Deferred by Mary DiNardi

Mary was born and raised in Boston. She moved to Florida in 2008, where she worked in the hospitality industry and as a Victim Advocate. In May of 2022, she and her husband retired, with lots of travel plans! She now volunteers as a Victim Advocate for a local Police Department. For the past several years, she has worked on obtaining Mental Health resources for her community and in raising awareness for the Suicide crisis. Mary wants you to know her son is more than his diagnoses. Justin is extremely bright, funny, and strong. She is blessed to be his mom. Dear Justin.. I recently found the journal I kept while I was pregnant with you. I cried reading it. I never would have imagined how hard your life, our lives, would be. Our journey is not the one I wrote about in that journal. The hopes and dreams [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds – Dreams Deferred by Mary DiNarditonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:21-04:00

Hope for Troubled Minds: My son Jacob by Angie Collier

Angie Collier is a teacher and NAMI volunteer. She quit her full time job in order to be more available to her son. She currently works as a reading specialist online. Dear Jacob, I loved you from the start. Your bright red hair, chubby cheeks and the last of my 3 children. Your brother and sister adored you - holding you, telling you stories, reading to you. You loved lining your Hot Wheels from your bedroom to the living room. You quickly learned to read and you have an incredible vocabulary. At 8 you started hearing voices. We took you to a doctor who put you on medicine, but your depression plunged. In Middle School, you started drugs to self-medicate and later alcohol. At 15 you were diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder. The voices, paranoia, seeing things and violence has been too much to endure, but my love for you [...]

Hope for Troubled Minds: My son Jacob by Angie Colliertonyroberts2024-08-26T13:03:21-04:00