Tori Beck, the creator of the Christian Advocate, hangs out with us this week on the “Dear God, I’m Sad” Podcast! Tori is a writer, content creator, and advocate. She holds a bachelor's in psychology and a master's in counseling and currently works for social services in mental health. After struggling with anxiety and OCD in a religious context, she has become passionate about mental health advocacy in the Christian space. This passion is one of the factors that led to her creating The...

I have the honor of having the intelligent and kind Jenni Johnson join me this week on the “Dear God, I’m Sad” podcast. Jenni is a writer, content creator, and podcast host of “Cageless”. “Cageless” is a self-discovery podcast about experiential wisdom, culture, and personal hope. After stumbling into a platform of over 70k followers on TikTok, Jenni found herself wanting to create a specific space to share, explore, and research tools to educate and liberate us all.  In this episode, Jenni...

The first (kinda) solo episode of the season is here! In this episode, I start out in the intro giving you a small life update and then we move into listening to a sermon I recently preached on fear. In this sermon, I talk about how we get through moments in our lives when stability and certainty keep us from moving forward into the life that God has for us, how we fight through our fears, how we discern earthly fear from Holy Fear, and how we get to the Promised Good that God has for each of...

This week, I hung out with the writer and editor of Anxious Faith, Maddy Scholefield. Anxious Faith is a production of Our Daily Bread Ministries, a ministry that helps millions of people connect with God each day, and was born out of the need to address the growing mental health crisis in Australia. Maddy and I talk about her experiences with depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and life in the church. I chose to name this episode "Dear God, I want to Live" because Maddy’s story is all...

Sarah I. Fox joins me this week on the “Dear God, I’m Sad” podcast to talk about her experience living with Bipolar Disorder and hope. Sarah is an alumna of The King’s College with a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics with a Pre-Law minor. Sarah currently works as a Case Manager/Transformational Coach at St. Nicks Alliance. She is also the host of the Rough Edges Podcast where she shares educational tools about mental health, anecdotes from her healing journey, and the intersection...

Welcome back to “Dear God, I’m Sad”! To kick off season two, I sit down with Daniel Whitehead who serves as the CEO of Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries, a non-profit that exists to equip the Church to support mental health and well-being. He is a Regent College graduate and ordained minister with over ten years of full-time vocational church ministry experience in the UK. In this conversation we talk about the work done at Sanctuary, Daniel’s experiences as both a pastor and a CEO, and our...

Welcome to Season 2 of the "Dear God, I'm Sad" Podcast! Are you ready?  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deargod_imsad/ Merch: https://dear-god-im-sad.square.site/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_gabswilks_ Podcast: https://deargodimsad.buzzsprout.com Gabby’s Website: gabriellemwilkinson.com Email: [email protected] Not Always Okay (Coupon Code DGIS15): https://notalwaysokay.company/gabby-wilkinson We The Believers (Coupon Code DGIS20):...

Reid Bervik has a MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and is a writer, creator, and speaker. In this season finale, Gabby asks Reid about his experiences in deconstructing his faith from his white evangelical background and the trials, tribulations, and triumphs within his story. Listen to hear from a first-hand perspective on the impact deconstructing has on your mental health (the freedom found as well as the difficulty through), how to best come alongside those deconstructing (be a...

Michael McCord is the executive director of the Georgia United Methodist Commission on Higher Education and Collegiate Ministry (UM Commission), which oversees and underpins the higher education ministries of the North and South Georgia Annual Conferences of The United Methodist Church, providing support, funding, administration, and long-term vision casting for the campus ministries and United Methodist schools in the state of Georgia. Michael is also the founder and former director of the...

Gabby sits down with Dr. Marcia Webb to talk about her book Toward a Theology of Psychological Disorder. Dr. Webb is a clinical psychologist who completed both an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Fuller Graduate School of Psychology. She has conducted psychotherapy for approximately 20 years and is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at Seattle Pacific University. As a professor, she studies the integration of psychology and theology and...

This week, Gabby chats with Dr. Monica A. Coleman, the John and Patricia Cochran Scholar for Inclusive Excellence and Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware, author or editor of six books, ordained AME minister, and contributor to the field of womanist theology and other theological landscapes.  Gabby speaks to Dr. Coleman about her award-winning memoir Bipolar Faith: a Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith which depicts Dr. Coleman’s journey as a black woman...

Happy new year! To kick off 2023, Gabby's giving you a mini-episode consisting of a message she preached back in November 2019. In this message, Gabby speaks candidly about her struggle with her addiction to self-harm, the lies she believed about herself, her faith, and her God (the "3 Big Lies"), and the truths she found to combat the lies (the "3 Big Truths").  Gabby intentionally crafted and wrote this message so that it was applicable to everyone, giving her listeners time in the message...

Gabby hangs out with author and minister Rev. David Finnegan-Hosey to talk about his book, Christ on the Psych Ward. Christ on the Psych Ward walks its readers through David's multiple hospitalizations, journey with Bipolar Disorder, and discovery of Christ and the Vulnerable God on the psych ward with him. In this conversation, Gabby and David discuss David's story, his theology around Divine presence (and felt absence) in unlikely places, and his moving forward living with both the...

In the 2nd part of Gabby and Dr. Jessica Coblentz's conversation on Depression, they dive into the parallels between the experience of Depression and the experience of the Hagaric wilderness, the significance of meaning-making and the lack thereof, and moving through life as a Christian depression sufferer. After the conversation, Gabby kicks off a new segment where she will be answering submitted questions and reacting to submitted stories from the "Dear God, I'm Sad" community! Today's...

In this first part of Gabby’s conversation with Dr. Jessica Coblentz, assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Theology at Saint Mary’s College and author of Dust in the Blood: a Theology of Life with Depression, Dr. Coblentz speaks about her experience with severe depression, the concept of depression as a “unhomelikeness” and wilderness, and popular Christian theological maps of depression.   Content Warning/Trigger Warning: Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Suicide  Dr....

In this mini, solo episode, Gabby reads a poem she wrote while in college that ended up winning an award called "Your Apologetic Wife" (Linked here). From this poem, she enters into a theological discussion regarding the realities of those who suffer from mental illness or mental health challenges and offers a trinitarian response to these realities. Listen to understand feeling like a burden and having an uncomfortable existence, the significance of believing in God the Creator, Jesus the...

Gabby hangs out this week with THE Dr. Josh Packard, the Executive Director of Springtide Research Institute and accomplished researcher and speaker on young people in America, specializing in their spirituality and their relationship with religious groups and faith leaders. With over 10 years of teaching experience, Josh has been a guest on numerous radio shows and podcasts and has been an invited speaker at many conferences, events, and workshops. He has been published widely in both...

Reverend Lindsay Geist, MDiv, MSW, LCSW, Director of Clergy Wellbeing, providing mental health resource support for North Georgia Conference clergy, joins Gabby on the "Dear God, I'm Sad" Podcast this week! Gabby and Rev. Lindsay talk about the startling statistics regarding clergy's mental health, how to best care for clergy, the power of presence, how the future of the church ties into clergy's wellbeing, and much more regarding Clergy, mental illness, and the Church. TW/CW: Depression...

In the second part of the Meet Your Host episode, Gabby talks through her journey to creating "Dear God, I'm Sad," answers the infamous "What's something you feel strongly about that other people are either indifferent about or feel opposite of the way you feel about it" question, and indulges in a rapid-fire question segment with her sister. In contrast to Part 1 where you learned about the depths and darkest points in Gabby's mental health and mental illness journey, in Part 2 you'll get to...

In the first part of this two-part episode, Gabby and her sister, Danielle, have a conversation about Gabby's past with her mental illness, her relationship with Christianity and the Church during the worst of her mental health, and the way her mental illnesses impacted her relationship with herself, her loved ones, and God. Listen as Gabby touches on things she hadn't thought about for years and hadn't told anyone before with blunt honesty and vulnerability. CW/TW: Depression, self-harm,...

This week, Gabby sits down with national speaker, founder of Curate Hope, Next Gen/youth pastor of 15 years, and co-author of Seen, Will Hutcherson. Over the past several years he has become increasingly passionate about finding practical ways to bring hope to kids and teens who are facing increasing amounts of anxiety, depression, and despair. This led to him starting Curate Hope, a non-profit that focuses on suicide prevention, mental health awareness, and partnering with educators and...

Gabby talks with her high school chaplain and friend, Reverend Katie O'Dunne, who is affectionately known to Gabby and many others as "Chaplain K." Rev. Katie O'Dunne is an Ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, interfaith chaplain, IOCDF lead advocate, doctorate student, founder of Faith and Mental Health Integrative services, and endurance athlete. Listen as Rev. Katie O'Dunne talks about her own experiences with OCD, the best way for clergy and ministry leaders to advocate for...

Gabby is joined this week by Christina Fletcher, youth ministry director and Next Gen Coordinator at Missouri United Methodist Church. Listen as Christina shares her experiences as a chemically imbalanced pastor, practices and habits she has implemented in her own youth ministry to create an open and honest space with her youth, why vulnerability with her youth and fellow pastors is essential, and much more! TW/CW: Anxiety, Depression, Eating disorder, PTSD, ADHD, Self-harm Find Christina...

Hey, I'm Gabby Wilkinson and welcome to "Dear God, I'm Sad." Instagram: @deargod_imsad TikTok: @deargod_imsad YouTube: "Dear God, I'm Sad" Channel Website: Gabriellemwilkinson.com