Sisters in Mental Illness: Shaley Hoogendoorn Talks to Jessica Birak of Mint & Birch

[ Trigger Warning: Mention of abuse, as well as an eating disorder.] This month, Shaley Hoogendoorn talks to Jessica Birak, founder of the jewelry company Mint & Birch, who is also a vulnerable and honest advocate for mental health. They talk about topics related to anxiety, depression, postpartum, hypochondria, eating disorders and healing from childhood […]

Am I Good Enough?

by Belinda Bauman | Twitter: @belindajbauman  | Instagram: @belidajbauman The following is an except from Belinda Bauman’s new book Brave Souls available now from Intervarsity Press and all of your favourite book sellers. Used with permission. What if empathy could save us? Make no mistake, I knew climbing Kilimanjaro would not be easy. For this reason, […]

Thankful For All the Wrong Things

I birthed my first babe a week ago. My unwashed hair is scraped into a lazy bun, my eyes sunken from lack of sleep. I’ve been wearing the same pajamas for days. Shuffling to and from the bathroom is a major event now, and I’m embarrassed by how difficult those few pathetic steps are. It […]

Sisters in Mental Illness: Mental Health and Church

“I used to think everybody was OK except for people with mental illness. However we’re all struggling, whether it is visible or not. That’s why the church needs to be instrumental [in this conversation] and be the messiest place you can find.” Last month Shaley talked to Lalainia Lindbjerg Strelau about her battle with anorexia […]

The Privilege and Pain of This White Female Body

By Shelbi Gesch As a girl who grew up evangelical, I learned to function in the world in my white, female body. I was taught that the soul was eternal and the body was just temporary, like a candy bar wrapper, something to be eventually discarded. It was the inside that counted; the flaws and […]