2.3 Kate Middleton: Worship and Mental Health

What does it look like to lead a church in the aftermath of lockdown where many people are dealing with cognitive fatigue, PTSD and prolonged high levels of stress caused by uncertainty and a loss of routine? In this episode, Sam and Grace talk to Kate Middleton, a psychologist, church leader and director of the Mind and Soul Foundation. Kate offers psychological backgrounds to the common experience that many of us are going through (did you know there is a ‘tip-of-the-tongue-syndrome’?) and provides simple tools of how to respond to these challenges.

Reflection Questions

1. How can you help people to come to a place of ‘release’ and ‘letting go’ at the beginning of a time of worship?

2. ’Stress is anything that requires stuff of your brain and your mind uses routine to keep your baseline stress level low.’ Which daily routines could help you decrease your stress levels?

3. ‘Sometimes what we’ve got to do is be self-aware enough to recognise that we feel overwhelmed and then do whatever we need to do to drop that physiological level of stress.’ What are some of the ‘warning signs’ that indicate that you are mentally struggling?