After working as a licensed professional counselor for two years, Trish Schnabel’s biggest surprise is the excruciating loneliness she sees in her clients.
“It is absolutely heartbreaking,” said Schnabel, a board-certified behavior analyst who focused on helping individuals on the autism spectrum and their families for 20 years before becoming a counselor. “The biggest surprise is that I’m seeing isolation in people in their late 20s and into their 30s. I think it speaks a lot to COVID and how people were so isolated, trying to find enjoyment inside the four walls of their homes and many have not gotten over that hump. The Lord did not design us to live this way.”
For Schnabel, a parishioner of St. Timothy Church in Chantilly, the pastoral letter written by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, “The Divine Physician and a Christian Approach to Mental Health and Well-being,” was an answer to prayer. The bishop’s letter encourages those struggling with mental health challenges to seek counseling.
“It is something that I think many people need to hear,” said Schnabel. “Sometimes we need permission to seek outside help and the bishop gave that to us. I can have the fulfilling life that the Lord wants me to have by getting help for my struggles and challenges.”
In his pastoral letter, Bishop Burbidge acknowledges “ …all of us, in one way or another, experience crises that affect our mental health and well-being, threatening our capacity to experience the happiness and peace which God wishes for us.”
Schnabel hopes that many Catholics who may have been reluctant to seek out mental health therapy will be motivated to act after reading the pastoral. “Sometimes Catholics believe that seeking mental health counseling means that you lack faith,” she said. “I see it as quite the opposite. I see it as a radical act of faith so that we can fulfill God’s purpose for our life. And I believe that the bishop wants us to know that.”
The tendency many Americans have to define themselves by the things they struggle with is something that Bishop Burbidge and Schnabel agree is not helpful. “The first thing I really touch on in the first few therapy sessions is the language that the client is using,” she said. “The words that we use are shaping our reality. We may be strengthening our negative beliefs about ourselves through the language that we use. If I have a client that comes in saying, ‘I have the worst anxiety, ‘ or ‘My depression is terrible,’ then they are now defining themselves by that diagnosis. That can separate us from God’s power to help us find the grace and the resilience that we need to get through difficult times.”
Depression and anxiety are not “unchangeable realities,” wrote Bishop Burbidge. “Instead, we always should remember our true identity as a son or daughter of God, seeing ourselves as made in his image and likeness and having the privilege of bearing crosses that may mysteriously contribute to our sanctification and that of our wider world.”
Schnabel thinks that healing is closely related to developing a Catholic attitude of humility that allows one to be vulnerable. “I see it with a lot of moms nowadays. And being a mom myself, I have been there,” she said. “We tend to think that we can handle it all ourselves and that we don’t have the time to get the help that we need. That idea must be surrendered. It is important to acknowledge that, even though I have these weaknesses and there are things that I’m working on, I am still beloved and worthy in God’s eyes.”
Taking the first step is an act of courage, said Schnabel. “That’s beautiful, right? Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections.”
“Through Our Lord’s gift of free will, we have been empowered to choose healing, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally, as well. We must look at our imperfections and say, ‘I’m struggling with this, I need professional help for this. I can have the life that the Lord wants me to have by taking that courageous step and seeking out mental health counseling.’ ”
