The purpose of this journey is to travel to the Upper World with this question: Are there ways to uplift the mental health of a whole country’s population?

I begin by standing on the mountain ledge where, this time, there is a wide tube with a subdued bluish glow that I step inside, and start to get taken upwards.

I’m going up. It’s very pleasant and I’m looking out and seeing the Earth far below me. Already there is a message here: That by desiring and connecting to the Spirit World the Spirits will make it easier for us to improve our mental health.

I find myself in a nature area with many trees – and understand that this too is a message: being in Nature is conducive to mental health. In fact, they mean immersion in nature. I ask my question: “How can all of us, here in the US and everywhere, improve our mental health? Are there ways of improving the mental health of a whole country’s population?

The Spirits say this is one of the biggest questions I could have brought to them. When we look at the terrible crime rate, including these mass shootings, this is an absolute indicator of mental health issues. It’s all very well to consider the topic of gun control for example, but attention to mental health may be the priority.

The Spirits say we have things like space programs, getting to Mars, getting to the moon. These are wonderful programs but what are our priorities as a society? Mental health of a country should be very high up in the top of the list of priorities.

The Spirits say that it really begins in two places – it begins with one’s home life, and continues in school. School is the most fundamental place with a potential for improving mental health because virtually all children go to school from quite an early age and that’s where changes can be promoted..
Far more emphasis should be put on emotional well-being in school.
Usually the main aim of most schools is getting the kids trained in school subjects like math and language, and that’s essential too, but school is an amazing opportunity where mental health can also be nurtured. We’re squandering this opportunity.

Of course, this brings up all kinds of things, like how many children there are in a class, and the cost etc. and how much responsibility teachers already have despite poor pay and often poor conditions. The Spirits say that we as a society should invest in putting more importance on our teachers and their training, and their work conditions.

It’s a long-term project to get sufficient teachers trained, and then to have the children that they teach, get effectively exposed to this mental health training.
The Spirits say we’ve really been amiss as a society, for not making it a major part of teacher-training and a major part of the purpose of school. It’s a whole reorientation of what it means to be a teacher, and what school is for.
We’re talking decades for this to start being manifest. We want those children in turn, to become parents who have good mental health.

Most teachers don’t have the time to fulfill this role, and they’re not given these skills as much as they should be. Are we prepared as a society to divert more resources to this? It’s going be a project like putting men and women on Mars, that’s what they say – we’re talking billions of dollars probably.

Yes, there are school psychologists, however that tends to be where a few children who are identified as having the need for mental health support go to a psychologist, but that’s not what they’re talking about. They say that we’re in the territory here of love, and compassion, and encouragement, and motivation.

And parents have to be comfortable with teachers taking on more of that responsibility – parents will need to feel confident in their teachers. The Spirits recognize that the whole territory is rife with challenges, but does that mean we shouldn’t try?

Ideally there would be parents support structures in place to a much greater extent. It’s a very difficult area because some parents, because of their own mental health issues, would shy away from seeing it as support and see it as interference, so we’re talking about influencing generations two generations away.

Some parents are so emotionally damaged from their own upbringing, that they are not interested in this, and they certainly don’t have the skills. It should be as a marker of our devotion to our children that we’re willing to do these classes, which need to be of a very, very high and effective standard.

It really boils down to how important we regard the mental health of the country. The Spirits say we need their help, whether it be through our shamanic Spiritual connection or through more formal religion practices.

Religious teachers and religious institutions have also got an opportunity to put a message out to their congregants about the importance of their mental health. Religious leaders need to understand that emotional well-being should be an absolute priority, and are they receiving the training to facilitate emotional well-being?

The Spirits add that the media should be should also be brought on board – the editors in chief of newspapers and radio, and magazines and internet – to be willing to put far more support around promoting the mental health of the country, and discriminating about how they can influence what people are exposed to.

This will all filter down eventually to those who become parents. Parents need support.

With that I’m going to say “Goodbye” to the Spirits. So, I thank the Spirits and I’m walking out of the clearing to the blue tube. And I go in and I get lowered back towards the Middle World – to Earth.

Thank you Spirits, for this wonderful Journey.