Released on: September 6, 2007, 10:21 pm

Press Release Author: Lisa Copen, National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week

Industry: Healthcare

Press Release Summary: Spirituality and how it affects one\'s health or illness is
the topic of five of twenty free online chat workshops during National Invisible
Chronic Illness Awareness Week, September 10-16, 2007.

Press Release Body: Spirituality and how it affects one\'s health has become a widely
recognized subject among both medical professionals and patients. National Invisible
Chronic Illness Awareness Week, September 10-16, 2007 has five of twenty free online
chat workshops that touch on the issue of one\'s faith and living successfully with
chronic illness. The week is sponsored by Rest Ministries, the largest Christian
organization that serves the chronically ill, so the spirituality workshops are
Christian-based, but all are welcome to attend.

* \"Touching Lives for God... in Sickness and in Health\" will be presented by Carol
A. Krejci, author of \"Sowin\' Seeds and Touchin\' Lives.\" She was an emergency room
nurse for forty-two years before retiring in 2002. She lives with Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome

* \"Discerning God\'s Will in Life with Chronic Pain & Illness\" will be presented by
Maureen Pratt, award-winning author of the book \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on
Chronic Pain & Illness.\" She is a popular speaker and syndicated columnist who
focuses her work on prayer, faith, and living with chronic pain and illness. She
lives with lupus and other ailments.

* \"Mental Illness and Faith Communities: Creating Caring Congregations\" will be
presented by Rev. Susan Gregg-Schroeder, Coordinator of Mental Health Ministries,
www.mentalhealthministries.net. She is the author of \"In the Shadow of God\'s Wings:
Grace in the Midst of Depression,\" and she works to erase the stigma associated with
mental illness in faith communities, educating doctors, therapists and other mental
health care providers.

* \"Overcoming Insurmountable Challenges\" is the topic of Laura Beth Young, writer,
singer, speaker, and founder of Cheerful Hearts, www.cheerfulhearts.org. When an
accident left Laura Beth bed-ridden with spinal damage and chronic pain at the age
of twenty-eight, she felt her life was over. But God had a different plan! She now
shares the story of God\'s awesome power in her life and how she raised four sons
from her bedside.

* \"When it\'s Not Getting Better: Spiritual Resources\" will be presented by Virgil
Fry, chaplain and author of the new book \"Disrupted: Finding God in Illness & Loss.\"
He has been a hospital chaplain, adjunct professor and presenter on coping with
serious illness and grief. His wife of thirty-three years has ongoing chronic
illness issues (diabetes & dialysis) and he will also speak of marriage and illness.


Workshops are free chat sessions Sept 10-14, 2007. See dates and times at
www.invisibleillness.com . Guests will present for about forty minutes and then
accept questions from attendees. Transcripts will be available in October. Many
guests are donating free items or services.

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week was founded in 2002 by Lisa Copen
and is held annually in September and is sponsored by HopeKeepers Magazine and Rest
Ministries, Inc. Other sponsors for 2007 are Chronique Couture, a company that has
stylish items such as whimsical walker bags or sharps containers, DePaul University
Chronic Illness Initiative, and www.relieve-migraine-headache.com .

The 2007 theme is "Invisible Illness is a roller coaster. Help a friend hold on!"
T-shirts, static clings for car windows, silicone bracelets, books, and more
awareness items are available at www.invisibleillness.com or call 888-751-7378. Sign
up for the Invisible Illness Week ezine "Update" and receive the first 40 pages of
Copen's book, "Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend."

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SUMMARY:



Keywords:

Chronic illness, cronic, health and spirituality, faith, healing, god, chaplain,
mental illness, Maureen Pratt, chronic babe, illness, diseases and conditions,
coping with illness, invisible illness, national invisible chronic illness awareness
week



Web Site: http://www.invisibleillness.com

Contact Details: Lisa Copen, Director
National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week
858.486.4685 - www.invisibleillness.com
lisa@invisibleillness.com
Rest Ministries, Inc. (parent company)