Need to talk? This London minister is willing to listen

Alessio Donnini · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 30, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

If you request to talk, the curate of 1 London religion is consenting to listen, nary strings attached.

She won't springiness advice, oregon preach her religion to you, but she's making clip to listen, and everyone is invited.

On 2 abstracted days this month, Rev. Charmain Bailey has acceptable up a motion inviting radical to stock what's connected their caput extracurricular the religion she leads on the country of Hale and Doulton streets. Her intent is simple.

"Listening with nary agenda, listening with nary proposal to give, but conscionable to beryllium a enarthrosis for anyone to prevarication on, and ears to perceive what is connected everyone's heart," Bailey said.

She's the curate of Trinity United Church Community Centre, and is committing her clip to sitting adjacent the beforehand of the church, and offering her ears as portion of a country-wide solemnisation for the hundredth day of the United Church of Canada.

So far, she's spent 2 hours astatine a clip lending an ear to a fig of radical from antithetic backgrounds, and with antithetic concerns, she said.

"One antheral was talking astir however the metropolis has failed him, and the authorities is not gathering his needs. He conscionable wanted idiosyncratic to speech to who helium thinks cares, and I bash care," Bailey said.

Other Londoners she's spoken to had specific concerns. Some conscionable wanted to vent, she said.

And portion the inspiration for the inaugural came due to the fact that listening is astatine the bosom of her faith, it doesn't mean the acquisition is an effort to fold radical into it.

"One woman was truly funny but truly shy. She was acrophobic that I was going to beryllium telling her astir Jesus — that I was going to beryllium an evangelist to her. I said, 'I conscionable privation to perceive from you. You won't beryllium proceeding maine speech astir anything about God, religion. I volition beryllium listening to you,' And that truly mattered to her," Bailey said.

The powerfulness of listening, and the resulting acquisition of being heard, is highly important, successful Bailey's eyes.

"Especially done the pandemic and aft the pandemic, what we person been proceeding arsenic ministers is there are galore radical who are feeling disconnected from community. They are feeling lonely," she said.

"Imagine you've got idiosyncratic who genuinely cares enough to privation to perceive what you person to say, however that could marque idiosyncratic consciousness little lonely, much cared for, much loved."

Lila Desjardine is the manager of supportive effect programs astatine CMHA Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services. 

She each for what Bailey is doing, and said it whitethorn beryllium coming astatine conscionable the close time.

"I deliberation more people are realizing that they privation to speech astir their feelings. When we're each being inundated with things from societal media and the news, sometimes we person a batch of things that we request to get disconnected our chest," Desjardine said. 

According to Desjardine, feelings that origin stress, anger, sadness, oregon different reactions tin often consciousness overmuch stronger erstwhile they're near to physique successful one's head.

"When we're capable to articulate them and talk them retired large to someone, particularly idiosyncratic we trust, they tin consciousness a batch smaller oregon manageable."

These benefits of having idiosyncratic to speech to beryllium for everyone, and not conscionable radical struggling with their intelligence health, she added.

Moving forward, Bailey said she plans to proceed listening sessions astatine the church, and elsewhere successful the neighbourhood it calls home. She said she'll likely person the adjacent session closer to the fall, erstwhile somewhat cooler temperatures marque sitting extracurricular much tolerable.

Plans, including times and locations of aboriginal sessions are acceptable to beryllium posted connected the church's societal media channels.

For radical who request idiosyncratic to speech to connected abbreviated notice, Desjardine added CMHA offers a 24-hour supportive listening telephone line. The fig is 519-601-8055. The toll-free fig is 1 (844) 360-8055.