Michele Gyselinck
I am a 62-year-old woman. I was born in Montreal and grew up in a western suburb of the city. I became a confessing member of the local CRC, First Christian Reformed Church of Monreal on May 15, 1977, so this year will be the 43rd anniversary of that event. I have two B.A.s, one in LInguistics and the other in English Studies with a Major in Professional Writing in English. I developed schizophrenia around the age of 28.
Posted in: In April and May, Let’s Talk Child Abuse Prevention
In our church all the doors of the rooms have windows in them. Except the furnace room, but that door is locked and only those who have the key can go in there. So unless, the prospective abuser has the key to the furnace room, they have to be careful what they do with children when they know that anyone passing by can see what is going on.
Posted in: What Are Emotional Support Animals and Should My Church Accommodate Them?
Thank you for sending this material to me. Although I already knew about ESAs through a program on Animal Planet titled Collar of Duty, I am glad to know that some churches have already produced materials of their own to share with the rest of us.
Posted in: Domestic Abuse: Where Is the Church?
Yes, I think it would be a good thing. I grew up in an abusive environment. While my mom was a professional social worker and could have walked out on her marriage--in fact when my dad tried to apply what a friend of theirs said he was doing to his wife, my mom threatened to pack up and empty the house and take us with her if he did that again--she stayed, and the abuse became verbal. My dad would have screaming fits every time something displeased him and threaten to divorce and sell the house. She let him yell, and I suppose those threats rolled off her back as though they were water on a duck's back, but I would wonder what I had done to deserve having my world shaken like that periodically.
My sister said once that her first purchase when she had a summer job was a sound system that she would play as loud as she could not to hear him during his screaming fits. Children often are unseen casualties of domestic violence. Most organizations focus on the wife as the primary victim, and that's fine because she is one, but don't forget the kids.
Posted in: Domestic Abuse: Where Is the Church?
Could someone notify me if there are any new comments on this page? I used to get them but I don't anymore and I miss it.
Posted in: Domestic Abuse: Where Is the Church?
I check it regularly and usually only find stuff from mediums and other crap of the sort, of which i dispose with the alacrity you can imagine. At what address do you send them? The address I use normally is the gmail one. Staci should have it.
Posted in: Introverts in the Church
I agree. Besides the book Gifts Differing, I read other books that pointed out that the MBTI is really meant to be used as a sort of personality Zip Code (or postal code in Canada). It gives people an idea of where you're coming from but leaves plenty of room for individuality. Besides, even if two people have the same type, they won't necessarily have the same scores, so even there their personalities will manifest themselves in different ways. Wycliffe adopted the MBTI to help them with staff management and conflict resolution because if you know that the person you often clash with does things a certain way because of their type, you're less likely to take their behavior personally, and a multinational organization like Wycliffe NEEDS a system to resolve conflicts in a big way.
One thing I liked a lot about Gifts Differing was the amount of time and energy she--the author--spent on explaining the theory, a trait that showed she was an Introvert, because even though I read that book some years ago now, I still think I would know where to place the various types on the chart.
Posted in: Introverts in the Church
I'd like to add that according to the MBTI, personality types have both a way of perceiving information, either through Sensing or iNtuition, and a decision-making process, Thinking Judgment or Feeling Judgment. In half of the types, the dominant process is a information gathering one, and in the other half it's a decision-making one, because most balanced people usually decide how they're going to deal with what they learn.
Posted in: Introverts in the Church
Nice. But when I attended the month-long orientation to Wycliffe with the intent of joining the organization as a Bible translator I took the questionnaire to determine my personality type according to the M.B.T.I. (for Myers Briggs Type Indicator) that revealed I was an Introverted iNtuitive with Feeling judgment. My score on introversion was 17 on a scale going up to 100 or so. After the month-long session during which I was found to not be ready to join them--which was a good thing since anti-psychotics are not easy to find in the bush-- I did some personal research about the M.B.T.I. and my own personality type, and I came to discover that most Intorverts or Extraverts are seldom pure cases unless they're pathologically maladapted. So one usually has a dominant side which will be Introverted iNntuitive like me or Extraverted Sensing [because we all need one way to perceive information, either through our five senses hence Sensing ( to avoid words with strongly negative connotations) or through intuition. If you want to know more, the book Gifts Differing by Isabel Briggs Myers and her son Peter B.Myers is a good source. And I think it can also still be found or ordered from Consulting Psychologists Press.
Posted in: Blue Christmas and Blue Holiday Worship Services
A little late in the day for our Worship Committee. We've already done our Holiday planning. We would need this in mid-November already. But I'll forward this to the other committee members anyway.
Posted in: Indispensable
I can relate. I've had people do that to me too, and I don't have a speech problem. But I do have a disability, schizophrenia, and at one time, when I was taking a certain kind of anti-psychotics I guess I tended to look a bit wooden. It's amazing how easily people tend to assume that because one has a disability, one is also--necessarily--intellectually deficient as well. As if intellectual deficiency were an inevitable dimension of all disabilities.
Posted in: Resources for Suicide Prevention, Intervention and Postvention
Good article. I especially appreciated the fact that mental illness was mentioned as an important factor in suicide attempts, particularly when it is under-treated or untreated altogether. Having had suicidal thoughts myself when my illness was not diagnosed, let alone treated, I think it is very important that this issue be addressed by the church with compassion BOTH for those who are contemplating it and those who live with survivor guilt, "Why didn't I see the signs?" Neither would benefit from a condemning attitude.
Posted in: Judge Forced to Resign After Outrage Over Comments in Sexual Assault Case
Yes, blaming the victim is all too often the attitude adopted by many people. And I was VERY disappointed with King David that he did nothing in response to this rape. It was Absalom who did something, and he had his brother murdered, but what good did that do to his sister? I remember reading that she remained a desolate woman for the rest of her life. Imagine the sense of betrayal she must have experienced, not only of having been raped by a sibling but that her own father did nothing. Tragic.