Baha’is believe in the power of prayer and you’ll find Baha’is and their friends, throughout the world, getting together to pray. This is often referred to as a ‘devotional gathering’ or ‘devotional meeting’, and they happen in diverse settings, whether in cities or villages.
This presentation by Professor Donna Cross is part of a mental health forum dedicated to youth wellbeing that was held at the Baha’i Centre of Learning in Perth, Western Australia on October 16th, 2022. This event was sponsored by the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Melville in collaboration with Mind & Soul Matters podcast and Baha’i Blog.
Donna Cross Donna Cross is a professor with the School of Global and Population Health at the University of Western Australia, and Program Head of Health Promotion and Education Research at the Telethon Kids Institute. Donna is a Chief Investigator and the Western Australian Node Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. She was previously the Founding Director of the Child Health Promotion Research Centre at Edith Cowan University (2003-2012). She was awarded the 2012 WA Australian of the Year Award and received the 2012 Future Justice Prize for Australian leadership and initiative in the advancement of future justice. Professor Cross was also a finalist in the 2011 WA Citizen of the Year Awards and the 2017 WA Scientist of the Year. In 2016 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship and an NHMRC Research Fellowship, and in 2015 she was inducted as a fellow to the Australia Academy of Health and Medical Science.
The views expressed in this talk reflect the individual perspectives of the invited speaker to the mental health forum.
In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.
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