Program:

see also: Call for Papers and Poster

MENNONITES, MELANCHOLY AND MENTAL HEALTH:

AN HISTORICAL CRITIQUE

 

October 14-16, 2010

 

Hosted by the Chair in Mennonite Studies

Held in Convocation Hall, University of Winnipeg

515 Portage Ave

Winnipeg, Manitoba

 

Thursday: 7:00: Opening

Welcome, David Fitzpatrick, Dean of Arts, University of Winnipeg

Introduction: “Presenters, Conference Themes, and Divergent Voices,” Royden Loewen, University of Winnipeg

Invocation, Rev. Pam Driedger, Petitcodiac, NB

 

7:20-9:00: Melancholia and Mennonites in Literature

Chair: Royden Loewen, University of Winnipeg

Grace Kehler, McMaster University: “Representations of Melancholy and Martyrdom in Canadian Mennonite Literature.”

Brad Born, Bethel College: “When the Bruised Reed Breaks: The Art of Consolation in Four Mennonite Women’s Writing about Familial Mental Illness.”

 


Friday: 8:30-9:30: Contexts: British Quakers and Western Canada Psychiatrists

Chair: Grace Kehler, McMaster University

Barry Edginton, University of Winnipeg: “The Influence of British Quakers on the Treatment of Mental Illness."

Chris Dooley, York University: “The Shame of the State: From Asylum to Medicare in Western Canada.”

 

Coffee: 9:30-10:00

 

Friday: 10:00-11:45: Mental Illness in Europe: Anabaptist Radicals and ‘Russian’ Mennonites

Chair: Janis Thiessen, University of Winnipeg

William Klassen, Waterloo: “Duke Ferdinand vs Pilgram Marpeck: Lunatics or Preachers of Care.”

Helmut Huebert, Winnipeg: “The Story of Bethania in Russia: A Centennial Celebration.”

Elsie K. Neufeld, Abbotsford: “Madness in my Family’s Journey: Ukraine, Germany and Canada.”

 

Lunch 11:45-12:45

 

Friday: 12:45-2:30: Old Order Groups, Tradition and Mental Health

Chair: Tina Fehr Kehler, MCC Low German Services

Margaret Reimer Loewen, Kitchener ON: “Murder, Suicide and Mental Illness in a Manitoba Mennonite Village, 1902.”

Steve Nolt, Goshen College: “Old Order Mennonite Mental Health Care: A History.”

Judith C. Kulig and Ling Ling Fan, University of Lethbridge: “The Meaning of Suffering and Mental Well-Being among Low German-speaking Mennonites.”

 

Coffee: 2:30-3:00

Friday: 3:00-4:00: Russlaender Refugees and the Trauma of War

Chair: Maria Cheung, University of Manitoba

Hans Werner, University of Winnipeg: “Canada’s Expulsion of Mentally Traumatized Russlaender Immigrants.”

Elizabeth Krahn, University of Manitoba:Lifespan and Intergenerational Effects of Soviet Oppression: An Autoethnography of Mennonite Women and their Adult Children.”

 

Friday: 4:00-5:30 The Praxis of the Mennonite Practitioner

Chair: Vonda Plett, CMU

Irma Janzen, past program director, MCC

Randy Goosen, psychiatrist, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

Carolyn Epp-Fransen, nurse, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

Annie Wenger-Nabigon, psychotherapist, Laurentian University

 

Dinner Break: 5:30-7:30:

 

Friday: 7:30-9:30: Pioneering a Modern Era Mennonite Mental Health Ethos

Chair: John Friesen, CMU

Conrad Stoesz, Mennonite Heritage Centre/Centre for MB Studies: “Canadian Conscientious Objectors and the Mental Hospital, 1939-1945.”

Titus Bender, Eastern Mennonite University: “The Mennonite Mental Health Movement and the Wider Society, 1942-1971.”

Aldred H. Neufeldt, University of Calgary (Toronto): “Mennonite Mental Health Services and an Ethos of Faith, 1947-1978.”

Saturday: 8:30-10:30: Mental Health and Canadian Churches

Chair: Irma Janzen, Fort Garry EMC Church

Glen Klassen, University of Manitoba and Charles N. Loewen, Winnipeg: “Eden Mental Health and the Evangelical Mennonite Conference.”

Ellen Paulley, University of Winnipeg (student): “Mental Illness in the MB Herald, Canadian Mennonite and Mennonite Mirror.”

Lucille Marr, University of McGill: “The Brethren in Christ and Mental Health.”

Ken Reddig, Eden Mental Health: “Bethesda Mental Hospital and Ontario Churches.”

 

Coffee 10:30-11:00

 

Saturday: 11:00-12:30: Diagnosing the Mennonite Mental Health Patient

Chair: Vonda Plett, CMU

John W. Elias, Saskatoon: “Love and Work:  Itinerant Perspectives on the Well-being of Mennonites in the Americas.”

John D. Friesen, UBC, and John Konrad, Abbotsford: “A Biopsychosocial Model of Depression Grounded in Personal Experiences".

Terence Hoorman, University of Winnipeg (student): “‘Mennonite Psychosis’ and Canadian Academia”

 

Lunch: 12:30-1:30

 

Saturday: 1:30-2:30: Children and Mental Health

Chair: Chris Dooley, York University

Erika Dyck, University of Saskatchewan: “Madness, Mennonites and Medicare: An Historical Look at the Mennonite Youth Farm in Rosthern, Saskatchewan.”

Allison Penner Harder, University of Winnipeg (student): “Attitudes to Children and Adults with Disabilities in Southern Manitoba: An Oral History.”

 

Coffee: 2:30-3:00

 

Saturday: 3:00-5:00: Critiquing and Celebrating Eden

Chair: Ken Reddig, Eden Mental Health Care Services

Bernie Loeppky, Eden, first CEO

Eckhard Goerz, Eden, former CEO

Pam Driedger, Eden, former chaplain

James Friesen, Eden, present CEO

 


For More Information call 786.9391 or email r.loewen@uwinnipeg.ca