General News
30 June, 2025
Call the Doctor - GP Felix Ritson
FREE TO READ: "This column discusses themes related to mental health that some may find confronting. Seek the support of a mental health professional if required, " Dr Ritson.
" I attended the Spiritual Care Association’s annual conference this week with this year’s theme being Mental Health.
It was interesting, inspiring and useful. In this fortnight's column, I thought I would share some of its take-home messages.
First, though, I must at least mention the elephant in the room: “spirituality.” This word has no fixed meaning; it is, by definition ineffable.
However, this is not the only reason the word is avoided and shunned by many. A great deal of harm has occurred by, and in the name of, people and institutions claiming to be “spiritual.” The word is confusing and triggering for many.
I find that people are often surprised to learn that spirituality is a genuine component of modern Western health care, supported by an extensive evidence base, specialists, educational programs, and academic organisations. My observation is that spirituality is incorporated into 6 distinct areas of health care: Psychiatry, Psychology, Social Work, Indigenous Health, Integrative Health and Spiritual Care.
What follows is a series of pithy summaries of perspectives shared during the Spiritual Care conference. I hope you’ll forgive me for not fully explaining them, and can appreciate why.
Mental health is not merely the absence of illness, but a sense of being at peace with oneself, at peace with others, at peace with the world, and at peace with your spirituality. It is feeling at home, or said otherwise, a feeling of “homefulness.”
“Beneath every behaviour there is a feeling, beneath every feeling there is a need.” - Ashleigh Warner. We often look to change our behaviour, without acknowledging and addressing what is fundamentally missing from our lives.
Sadly we often blame individuals for their mental illness, without realising that it is the demands of our modern world that are responsible. We are quick to blame technology for the anxiety of our youth, yet ignore their appreciation of climate change, economic downturn, and the threat of war and pandemics.
You can only care for others as much as you care for yourself, you can only love others as much as you love yourself. There is nothing more devastating than comparing yourself to others.
If you don’t know who you are, you can't relate to others. You cannot make authentic connections if you do not know your authentic self. When you lose touch with yourself, you open yourself to mental illness.
The restorative and healing nature of genuine presence requires that people feel they belong. To belong means that you will be missed, that your absence is felt and acknowledged when you are not there.
Humans are hardwired to connect and feel a sense of relational consciousness. Children are born with this, and adults who have lost it often suddenly rediscover it when faced with serious illness, tragedy or death.
Spirituality is the search for meaning, purpose, hope, value, love, and for some, something greater. It can be the answer to: why am I here, where am I going, where have I come from? It is what makes life worth living.