Spirituality and Mental Wellbeing
In 2024, Connected Worlds offered a creative course on Spirituality and Mental
Wellbeing, in collaboration with Wemmy Ogunyankin and Ola Fagbohun.
The course, funded by The University of Sheffield’s Knowledge Exchange and
supervised by Prof. Brendan Stone, was a creative community-based project rather
than purely academic research. It was a creative and critical response to the
important role of faith and spirituality in providing a more holistic and realistic
outlook about mental health and equality.
A group of 14 people from different faiths and backgrounds attended the course.
They included individuals who identified as Buddhist, Quaker, Sikh, Muslim, Jewish,
Christian, atheist, as well as some with an interest in Paganism, and others with no
specific belief.
The terms ‘spirituality’ and ‘wellbeing’ were left open to interpretation, allowing
participants to define them based on their own understandings and experiences.
Why This Focus?
Over the years of working with people from diverse cultural backgrounds, a
recurrent discussion in our courses centred on the role of spirituality and faith in
understanding and managing mental health.
For many people, faith and spirituality are crucial as they are part of their identity
and offer a sense of purpose, meaning, hope, and community. However, such
experiences are often dismissed or pathologised within clinical mental health
framework.
The ‘spirituality gap’—the disconnect between mental health practices and people’s
spiritual experiences —has become more evident in recent years, with increasing
numbers of conferences and publications addressing this issue. (*1)
Despite the growing awareness, there seems to be significant challenges to
integrate ‘spiritual care’ into the current bio-psycho-social model. These include
inadequate educational preparation, lack of training to provide spiritual and cultural
competence, a shortage of human resources, and other barriers. (*2)
For the purpose of this course, we focused on non-clinical interventions, particularly
the widely used Mindfulness and the 5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing in mental health
care.
Over the five weeks, we engaged with each step as outlined on the NHS website
and explored their relevance through the diverse religious, spiritual, and cultural
perspectives within our group.
The participants agreed that while these initial models offer good advice and have
helped some, they have been framed as an individualistic and one-size-fits-all
prescription; in particular, the list of Dos and Don’ts seemed quite simplistic,
patronising, and disconnected from the complexity of people’s lived realities.
Wellbeing cannot be prescribed; like everything else, it is political and tied to
systemic barriers such as class, inequalities, poverty, discrimination, racism, etc.
Such structural obstacles play a significant role in affecting people’s experiences of
wellbeing, particularly for those from different racial and cultural backgrounds.
The emphasis on ‘psychological resilience’ or ‘being mindful of the present moment’
while facing these challenges can reinforce feelings of shame, isolation, and further
trauma.
The goal of this project was not to provide answers to these gaps and challenges,
but to share insights from a diverse group, emphasising that physical, mental, and
spiritual wellbeing are interconnected. It calls for holistic approaches with cultural
and religious competence, shifting towards radical collective care, social justice,
and systemic change.
The Wellbeing of Heart and Soul: Connections, Solidarity, and Belonging
‘We need somewhere to place that hurt and bring forth
whatever is rooted deeply in our hearts and souls.’
These words, from a poem written by a participant, highlight the need for creating
spaces of therapeutic solidarity where people can safely ‘place that hurt’ without the
fear of being judged or pathologised. The terms ‘heart and soul’ not only refer to our
deepest emotions but also to a higher realm of values, love, justice, and a sense of
wholeness—qualities often associated with spirituality.
One of the central themes that emerged as a core component of mental wellbeing
was ‘connection,’ which is also the first step in the 5 Ways to Wellbeing. However,
the group felt that the way this step is presented, alongside the others on the NHS
website, is limiting and oversimplified. The advice to connect mainly focuses on
everyday socialising ‘with other people’ with an emphasis on family, friends, and
colleagues.
The group argued this does not fully address the complexities of social isolation.
For some people, circumstances such as family problems, mental and physical
disabilities, or financial struggles make everyday connections difficult.
Even when socialising is possible, there should still be a sense of purpose,
meaning, and fulfilment. The question was, ‘How can connections that feel shallow
or unfulfilling improve mental wellbeing?’ Such connections can leave individuals
emotionally drained, isolated, and disconnected from their sense of belonging.
‘Transformative Connections’
For everyone, whether with religious belief or without, connection was seen as
expansive and going beyond conventional social interactions. One of the key
discussions focused on the necessity of a ‘transformative’ connection, one that
deepens through shared vulnerability, solidarity, equality, and collective healing.
A participant captured this idea through the analogy of ‘Interference’– a scientific
phenomenon where waves—like light, sound, or water—interact with each other,
either amplifying or disrupting one another.
The key insight was that these magical, essential moments wouldn’t have
happened without the heart breaking open, without the willingness to be ‘disturbed’
by others’ suffering, and in turn, disturb the systems that perpetuate that suffering.
The flow of the stories shared around this theme led to a group poem which
beautifully highlights the interplay of meaningful intertwining and necessary
interruptions.
As the waves roll in we are reflections,
We are of the same water, you and I,
Ripples create ‘interference’–
a negative word for a most magical and necessary phenomenon,
And your dress is wet with salt,
And as my tears mend
They become part of you, part of the ocean.
Seek longing for beautiful connections
that makes you whole,
And if you see me fall
Could you hold me in your heart for a while?
Look longer, look deeper,
may your love be radical.
There was also a shared openness to spiritual connections with ‘non-human
realms,’ such as nature, animals, the universe, God, divine love and beauty, and
the unseen.
The essential point was that the feeling of belonging to something greater than
oneself helps to create a spiritual ‘home’ that does not rely solely on human
relationships.
The participants spoke about how such spiritual connections and ‘homes’ had
helped them in their darkest moments, with some being even life-saving. For
example, one of them shared that,
‘Dealing with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder for 14 days out of every 28
day cycle, especially as I approached menopause, pushed me to the brink
of wanting to kill myself on many occasions. If it weren’t for my spiritual
beliefs, I would have acted on my feelings and thoughts.’
In moments when people aren’t around, or even when they are but it’s still not
enough, these connections can be a real lifeline. It’s something that should not be
overlooked or medicalised in mental health settings.
Paradise in My Pocket
Although we never aimed to provide definitions of spirituality, in such a diverse
group, it manifested in different forms, rituals, and mystical experiences, each
reflecting unique personal and cultural understandings of meaning and purpose.
We used cross-cultural storytelling activities through poetry, music, and
photography to capture those cultural and spiritual literacies, expand imagination,
and share our own steps to wellbeing.
The music and photography workshops gave us a space to access and express
‘heart and soul’ experiences that could not be put into words and could not remain
unsaid. The group felt that music served as a spiritual companion, a gateway to
understanding and connecting deeply with ourselves, other souls, and the unknown
realms.
Paradise in My Pocket, is a beautiful poetry anthology, based on the individual and
group poems written during the workshops. It presents the participants’ stories, and
also the collective journey together.
This title, chosen by the group, grounds the lofty idea of ‘paradise’ in the small,
simple things and moments of everyday life, offering a deeper and more nuanced
and liberating perspective.
Spiritual experiences are parts of life. They can be imperfect, ambiguous, and
fragmented, yet also magical, loving, and beautiful. The ‘bits of paradise’ we carry
in our ‘pockets’ may be ‘lost, only to be found when least looking’. Perhaps we also
need to learn ‘mindlessness’, allowing ourselves to simply be and accept we cannot
control everything.
If Paradise Was In My Pocket
It would be messy
and bitty and fluffs
of tissue paper.
It would be thrown out by mistake,
hunted for in the dark,
lost only to be found when least looking.
I would hope that paradise would understand
that I was busy and that one day
I would have time to listen.
But if paradise was in my pocket,
it would be a map, well-faded and creased
with the route to your heart.
It would be place of safety—always warm, always comfortable,
never completely alone,
I would feel its warm glow radiating through me,
I would take it and share it
with all those people who needed
a little bit of paradise in their lives.
The anthology contains powerful poems that challenge simplistic and individualistic
wellbeing cliché. This short poem, for instance, takes the concept of self-love and
adds a wonderful unexpected twist at the end,
Self-love is spiritual
Self-love is liberating
Self-love is a hole in my sock.’
The image of the ‘hole in my sock’ perfectly reflects the metaphor of ‘interference’. It
disrupts our easy expectations and forces us to confront a fracture. Self-love isn’t
always easy and straightforward.
The poem reveals the reality of a self that is wounded by daily challenges and
vulnerabilities—the parts of ourselves we often hide to avoid judgement and
discrimination in an ableist society.
Part of the beauty of these experiences is the diversity they bring, coming from
different places and paths of life– from Sheffield’s Wicker to Liverpool’s football
stadium, the Rock of Gibraltar, Syria, Karachi, Italy, Canada’s St. Lawrence River,
Mari El, Tehran, New York, Delhi, Rawalpindi, the Joshua Tree Desert, Dutch
beaches, a church in Wales, a hospital ward, a dark bedroom, a prison cell…
The following group poem beautifully captures the varied spiritual connections and
lifeline moments across different traditions and cultures. The repetition of it honours
the ambiguity, mystery, and richness of these experiences without the need to
explain what happened, or label them.
It Happened
It happened on the Rock of Gibraltar,
Where the music of guitars brought excitement.
It was like the trees in their wisdom had spoken.
And again on a safe ward for people who are mentally ill,
Something about Bob Dylan on Facebook lit a sparkler.
It happened to a man waiting outside Rawalpindi,
When an old man looked deep into a soul,
Tree language, they spoke to each other.
And to a woman, ill, watching cormorants on the St. Lawrence River,
The sense of the moment was found only when her wings were broken.
It happened in a room in Tehran,
where a window framed the snow on Damavand mountain.
A woman felt it when she made an off-chance visit to a church in Wales,
the emotional battlements toppled.
And it happened when a letter was received in a prison,
A child’s voice told someone who he was.
It was met on the night bus to Delhi,
Where the wisdom of the ancient scripts was remembered:
‘O darling, let your heart dance with your body,
Loosen your grip on resistant thoughts,
Powerful surrender.
And in the uncomfortable darkness of a summer bedroom,
A prayer was made.
Radical care is not a service, but a shared act of love. It’s a necessary ‘disturbance’
towards social equality and justice. In both clinical and non-clinical settings, it is
crucial to create holistic approaches and spaces where individuals are treated as
whole, with all aspects of their identities.
This group is committed to staying in touch and supporting each other whenever
possible. It is important to us to treasure and nurture the love and solidarity that
blossomed during the course. We have shared ‘a bit of our paradise’ with each
other—something we couldn’t have found without this space of shared vulnerability,
mutual love, and understanding.
You, meditating in a collective silence with no agenda
You, learning to to be at peace like Buddha
You, praying for peace five times a day facing Mecca
You, not sure where prayer goes or what the truth is
You, loving your homeland but it is a mess
You, on edge with the rain on your face
but carrying a sunlight in your smile
Much love.
We must thank Prof Brendan Stone for providing funding for this project through the
University of Sheffield. Many thanks to our co-facilitators, Wemmy Ogunyankin, and Ola Fagbohun. And finally special thanks to our participants for contributing to this project with love and generosity.
Article written by: Shirin Teifouri, Sheffield Flourish Board Director & Connected Worlds Lead.
1 For resources and ongoing discussions related to this topic see The Spirituality
and Psychiatry Special Interest Group (SPSIG)
2 Mary Nathan MSc Overcoming Barriers to the Provision of Spiritual Care: the
place of compassion in clinical practice
