Dr. Steve Grcevich interviews Dr. Jim Sells about his new book When Hurting People Come to Church, coauthored with Shaunti Feldhahn. Together, they explore a practical model for how churches can support people with mental health struggles—not just through professional...
Call for Speakers - Disability and the Church 2026 On behalf of our team at Key Ministry and the DATC Program Committee, we invite prospective speakers to apply to be a speaker at Disability and the Church, Key Ministry’s annual, worldwide disability ministry...
Dr. Steve Grcevich sits down with Melissa Ortiz to discuss her history with disability & advocacy, physician assisted suicide, along with what she will be sharing at Disability and the Church Conference. capabilityconsulting.org Instagram: @dcbelleonwheels Email...
2024 has arguably been a year in which Key Ministry, and the like-minded ministries we serve have had an unprecedented impact in resourcing the Church to welcome, care for and minister with children, adults and families impacted by disability. This is a time of great...
On behalf of our team at Key Ministry, we encourage prospective attendees to save the dates April 29th-May 1 on their calendars and invite prospective speakers to apply to be part of the faculty for Disability and the Church, Key Ministry’s annual national disability...
This is the text of Dr. Steve Grcevich’s speech at the Colson Center National Conference in Arlington, TX on June 1, 2024. Thanks to the team at the Colson Center for inviting us to be part of such a fabulous event! I can’t begin to describe how honored I am to have...
Do you ever get the sense that God is nudging you to do more to share His love with individuals or families in your church, your workplace or your community, who are experiencing mental health-related challenges? If so, we suspect He may be calling you to join us this coming September 26th and 27th for Mental Health and the Church, Key Ministry’s national mental health ministry conference.
Registration is now officially open for Mental Health and the Church (#MHATC2024), Key Ministry’s inaugural mental health ministry conference with a national agenda, scope and representation of leaders and organizations engaged in mental health ministry. Here are four reasons why you and your church leadership should attend.
Dr. Steve Grcevich sits down and interviews Dr. Lamar Hardwick on his new book How Ableism Fuels Racism. This is the final part of a 3-part series.
On behalf of our Board, ministry team and the MHATC2024 Program Committee, I would like to invite leaders with impactful or innovative ideas and strategies for churches seeking to minister with individuals and families impacted by mental health concerns to conserve applying to be part of our speaking team for Mental Health and the Church, Key Ministry’s first national conference focused specifically upon mental health ministry, to be held at Bay Presbyterian Church in suburban Cleveland on September 26-27, 2024.
What can we do to love our neighbors with disabilities? Offer them our presence. Spend time with them. I’m convinced far fewer people with chronic illnesses would be seeking physician-assisted suicide if they didn’t have to suffer alone. Get to know the neighbors whose child is picked up by a van on school days. Provide dinner to the person in your office caring for an elderly parent or a child with a disability. Invite them to join you at church for a worship service or some other activity.
Dr. Steve Grcevich sits down and interviews Dr. Lamar Hardwick on his new book How Ableism Fuels Racism. This is Part 2 of a 3-part series!
On behalf of our team at Key Ministry, I would like to invite all pastors, church and parachurch ministry staff and volunteers, mental health professionals, educators, family members and Christians called to share the love of Christ with persons impacted by mental health concerns to gather together with us in Cleveland this coming September 26th and 27th for Mental Health and the Church, our first national Mental Health Ministry Summit.
Dr. Steve Grcevich sits down and interviews Dr. Lamar Hardwick on his new book How Ableism Fuels Racism. This is Part 1 of a 3-part series! Dr. Lamar Hardwick will be speaking at Disability & the Church 2024 Conference in Orlando, FL May 1-3. Go to www.keyministry.org/datc2024 to register now!
I’d like us to focus on the most important manifestation of the youth mental health crisis that the church needs to address, share a number of ideas for how local churches and individual Christians might care for and support the kids and families affected and consider what leaders within the institutions and ministries of the “Big C” church might do to promote the movement beginning to sprout to address the needs of kids and adults in our culture struggling with mental health issues.
We’re supporting this project because persons with disabilities are disproportionately represented among children and adults who embrace non-traditional gender identities and leaders serving in disability or mental health ministry will greatly benefit from a deep understanding of gender and sexuality from a Biblical perspective.
I’m delighted to invite pastors, ministry leaders and Christians everywhere who share our calling to join us in Orlando this coming May 1-4, for Disability and the Church 2024, North America’s largest and most comprehensive disability ministry conference.
He has a hypothesis put forth in this article that the combination of school cultures increasingly hostile to boys, elimination of rough and tumble play and the allure of video games with opportunities for coalition competition have contributed to a decades-long mental health crisis resulting in young men ill-prepared for work, romantic relationships and marriage.
In 2028, we’re planning a year-long celebration of our first quarter-century of ministry. Our team has been seeking to discern what the future holds for disability ministry between now and the specific role we’re being called to fill between now and then. We have unprecedented opportunities – but if we’re to pursue the plans God seems to have for us, our ministry will need very different levels of staff support and resources than we’ve relied upon in the past. Here’s a look at what we think the next few years have in store for us and the disability ministry movement.
Depression rates among teens rose sharply during COVID – and the majority of teens with depression received no treatment.
Romantic chatbots are being developed offering suggestive selfies, sexually explicit (and apparently, realistic) conversations, and the ability to design a virtual girlfriend’s personality who is judgment-free, encourages users to spend more time with male friends and laughs at all of your jokes. What will the impact be on our ability to engage in authentic relationships that potentially lead to marriage? Or the impacts upon self-image for those unable to live up to the images in brains scarred by pornography?
The opportunity to apply to speak is open to any and all mature Christians with important or innovative thoughts or ideas to help grow or advance the disability ministry movement. We encourage leaders doing important work in relative obscurity lacking the connections or platforms to make their work better known throughout the church to apply.
Would your church be prepared to welcome a family that needed to flee their home with little notice for refusing to “affirm” their child’s gender identity?
Physicians from a pagan culture 400 years before the birth of Christ had more respect for life than the folks in charge of the medical profession today.
Mental Health, Medicine and Ministry is a pilot of a new product from Key Ministry. Our intent is to create a home for curated news and commentary on topics related to mental health, medicine and ministry for faithful Christians — especially those serving in positions of leadership in the church — from the physician and child psychiatrist who founded Key Ministry.
I’d like to say a few things publicly that need to be said by someone in my profession with my background and experience. Somebody needs to go first. My hope is it will be easier for others to speak if they know they’re not alone.
On behalf of our entire Key Ministry team, it’s my privilege to welcome you to join us for Disability and the Church, the largest live in-person disability ministry conference in North America. This year’s conference is being hosted at Bay Presbyterian Church on April 28th and 29th, 2023, with pre-conference intensives offered on April 27th. Disability and the Church is presented by Key Ministry with the support of the Tim Tebow Foundation.
Christmas Eve 2022 marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of Key Ministry. In honor of the occasion, I thought I’d share a few reflections on where our ministry has been over the last twenty years, some thoughts about where our organization and the disability ministry movement, in general, may be impactful in the next twenty years, along with some stuff I’ve learned along the way serving as part of the ministry’s leadership team.
We will have an open invite to ministry leaders with important ideas to share with the disability ministry movement who serve the church in relative obscurity and lack the connections or social media platforms to make themselves better known.
When I see how many gifted and talented people are out there applying to speak at our conference who are doing great work our team hadn’t been aware of – exercising gifts and talents with the potential to greatly benefit the larger disability ministry movement I think that we’ve stumbled upon undiscovered treasure. And I can’t help but wonder how much undiscovered treasure the “Church” misses out upon when we fail to mine the gifts given to Christians called to vocations that don’t involve seminary degrees or serving on a church payroll.
I’m honored to invite pastors, ministry leaders, volunteers and all individuals interested in ministry with children, adults and families impacted by disability to join us in Cleveland on April 29-30, 2022 for #IFL2022 , our fourth national disability ministry conference, hosted by Key Ministry in collaboration with the Tim Tebow Foundation.
Much of our focus this fall has been on development of new strategies for advancing disability ministry in an environment where established church leaders are struggling to maintain their existing ministries with more demands, fewer volunteers and less money. I’ll share some of those ideas in my next post. Here’s what we’ve been able to accomplish thus far in 2021.
What if the authors of these studies overlooked other explanations for the study findings that don’t show the church in such a favorable light?
We’d love to have you join us this weekend for the Thrive and Cultivate Summit.. The very presence of events such as this one is reason to be hopeful that the church is starting to “get it” when it comes to mental health.
Expressions of medical mistrust in the evangelical community appear very similar to those observed in other minority groups
Inclusion Fusion Live, the disability ministry conference we’ve hosted annually is currently scheduled to take place as a live and “in person” event on Saturday, April 17th, originating from Bay Presbyterian Church in suburban Cleveland. The theme of this year’s conference is doing ministry together after the pandemic.
Disability and the Church will likely be the most impactful book written in our field of ministry for many years to come. I also find Lamar to be “pitch-perfect” in the language he uses to speak into difficult issues with the grace and truth reflective of our faith.
We need more people like her willing to enter into the centers of political and cultural power if we are to stem the steep decline in Christianity’s reputation and influence in America. I would aspire to conduct myself in the medical profession as well as Shannon has while serving in government.
Self-ratings of mental health declined in every demographic Gallup measured – age, race, gender, income, marital status, political affiliation except for one – weekly church attenders.
Our ministry plans for 2020 went out the window when church doors closed across the country as we learned the meaning of social distancing. But in reviewing the accomplishments of the team in 2020, it’s hard not to argue that Beth, Catherine, and the rest of the team had their most impactful year of ministry ever.
These are some of our guiding principles for growing disability ministry in a shrinking church in the years ahead.
These findings tell us that we need to reverse course and consider how to attend to the mental health of pastors themselves.
We’d love for you to learn more about caring for the people of your church who are hurting while getting yourself and your ministry colleagues support for your own mental health and the mental health of your family during a challenging season of ministry.
I want Barb to know how much we value her and the gifts she’s given to us and everyone else serving in the disability ministry field.
We’re hosting an event combining an online retreat for pastors and church staff with a mental health ministry conference.
Based upon my observations from thirty years as a child psychiatrist, here are five groups of kids I’m most concerned about this school year.
Change that would have occurred gradually over the next ten years will take place in the next 12-24 months thanks to the disruption from COVID.
Compassion in Action: A Guide for Faith Communities Serving People Experiencing Mental Illness is available as a free download through the HHS website.
If your church is has an online presence and an interest in disability ministry, your online presence needs to be a critical component of your disability ministry strategy.
We know the lives of our Black brothers and sisters are precious to God. It’s important they know their lives matter to us.
It’s very possible that the COVID-19 pandemic will have provided the impetus for introducing many local churches to people in their communities with conditions that would otherwise make in-person attendance either highly unlikely or impossible.
“Inclusion” during this time may mean doing what we need to do to ensure that our friends with disabilities are safe while demonstrating to them that they’re loved.
So if God is great, all knowing, all powerful…how do these things occur?
We’re hosting a very special worship service for families impacted by disability who don’t have a church this Easter morning
Here’s why I’d recommend Psychological First Aid to any pastor or church leader interested in quickly building capacity to care for large numbers of hurting people during the pandemic.
Are all lives equally valuable?
What can we do now to mitigate the mental health impact of steps being taken to control spread of the virus?
The claims made by pastors in this study are VERY inconsistent with the experiences of our Key Ministry team and other like-minded ministries.
What can parents do to promote the mental health of their kids amidst talk of the coronavirus in the weeks and months ahead? Here are seven ideas..,
We might look at this crisis as presenting a great opportunity to share the love of Christ with the disability community during a time of need while showing families who are already part of the church the extent to which they are cared for and valued.
90% of U.S. pastors and church leaders should be able to access live, high quality disability ministry training within a half-day drive of where they live.
How could you ask for a better finish to your life than to be sharing God’s word in front of God’s people in the middle of God’s house?
Dr. Grcevich will explore the forces that will propel ministry with the vulnerable – highlighted by ministry with persons with disabilities – to the forefront of the church’s public witness.
I’ll share a non-exhaustive list of ten predictions for how the disability ministry field might evolve and grow over the next ten years.
The invitation resulted from our ministry’s involvement in a unique project intended to help churches and other places of worship better care for and support individuals and families impacted by mental illness.
Allow me to share several reasons why you – or ministry leaders or families from your church need to be part of #IFL2020.
In 2019, we enjoyed unprecedented opportunities to advance the cause of disability ministry.
I wrote a book describing a model for doing mental health ministry without having ever truly seen what it looks like. God gave me the privilege of seeing it in action last Sunday at CVC.
We’re especially interested in extending the invitation to speak to ministry leaders with great ideas or experience laboring in relative obscurity who long for the opportunity to share with a larger audience.
Dr. Grcevich shares several hypotheses about contributing factors to the rapidly increasing rates of suicide in older children and teens.
Our staff has developed a page on our website listing disability ministry and mental health ministry training opportunities throughout the Continental United States.
A psychiatrist looks at how the church can better support pastors who wrestle with suicidal thoughts.
I will never label him and I will never limit him.
Our true Christian privilege is the privilege to serve. One of the best ways for Christians to change the ways in which our faith is perceived by secular culture is through serving and elevating the status of the most vulnerable in society.
It’s ironic that at a time when Christians are becoming more open and accepting of welcoming and including persons with mental illness, the mental health field (and academic medicine, in particular) seems to be growing less and less tolerant of colleagues with a Christian anthropology or worldview.
Make ‘M Smile represents a great model for a summertime special event to share God’s love with kids and adults with a broad range of disabilities. Marie Kuck and her team have developed a model for a celebration that churches of all sizes might easily replicate, with each event taking on its own unique flavor from the sponsor, the event venue and the mix of participating disability-related organizations.
There is no clear evidence growing up in a family with traditional religious beliefs related to sexual expression or attending a church espousing traditional beliefs makes kids any more likely to attempt or commit suicide and overwhelming evidence that teens who delay the onset of sexual activity – gay as well as straight – are much less likely to struggle with suicidal thoughts or behavior.
Surely the church can do more to support the caregivers in our midst. We shouldn’t have to wait for the government to take care of our own.
He regularly provides a lighthearted, first-person perspective as a prominent individual in Christian culture whose ministry has been shaped by his mental health condition. The Bee shines a spotlight on the challenges many people with anxiety experience in trying to be part of church.
The Child Mind Institute has launched the #MyYoungerSelf campaign during Mental Health Month to counter the stigma for the 1 in 5 children struggling with these disorders. This May actors, athletes, social influencers, business people and others are sending a message of hope about their experiences growing up with a mental health or learning disorder. Here’s a letter from the leader of our ministry team to an eleventh grade boy who was going through a difficult time.
Janet’s long history of advocacy for persons with disabilities isn’t the only reason why I wanted her to have the opportunity to attend our conference and connect with the leaders and speakers in attendance. I knew Janet could speak into disability issues from the perspective of someone who has been there and done that.
Our team has a vision that every pastor, church staff member and volunteer ought to be able to access disability ministry training of the highest quality without having to travel further than a half-day drive from their home.
I’d like to share five compelling reasons why you need to block out the first weekend in April to join us in Cleveland to celebrate what God is doing in the field of disability ministry.
We’re hoping to fill the church throughout the two days of IFL 2019 with pastors, ministry leaders and families from all across the U.S. for a time of prayer, worship, learning and collaboration for the purpose of helping individuals and families affected by disability to be welcomed and fully included in the worship and ministry offered through the local church. Our team would love for you to join us!
The need for our ministry to churches is growing rapidly! Here’s a look at how we helped in 2018.
Sandra has written a remarkable book that will be a great source of comfort and encouragement through revealing “the joys and possibilities of life in a special needs family.”
“I’m afraid that the church people won’t accept someone with my mental health issues.”
Above all, we’re grateful to be part of a movement of God that’s so visibly transforming the ways in which churches minister with families affected by disability.
Is it possible that God might be using mental health concerns as an instrument for bringing about the salvation of those affected? What if God plans to use someone’s mental health condition…or the condition of a loved one as the means of connecting them with individuals and churches positioned to introduce them to the Gospel?
What teaching or reading have you come across that’s been helpful to you in better understanding God’s purposes in mental illness?
Do I train them in the best way I know how to take care of the kids in their care, or do I tell them what they’ll need to know to give kids the level of care their insurance company is willing to pay for and to go home at night with a clear conscience?
Here are some of my hypotheses as to why over 20% of U.S. kids meet criteria for at least one mental disorder…
The scope and impact of our ministry – along with the ministry done by other like-minded organizations is exploding.
The study found that the children most likely to be excluded from church are those with autism spectrum disorders and common mental health conditions – anxiety, depression, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder and ADHD.
I wish parents, educators and church leaders would come to recognize that many teenagers aren’t remotely prepared to manage the intensity of emotions that results when relationships become sexualized. Those who ultimately commit suicide represent casualties of the sexual revolution.
Can the church and the mental health system work together? And sadly, I’m coming to suspect the answer to that question is NO…so long as that church adheres to traditional church teaching and Biblical interpretation of texts addressing human sexuality.
Churches provide services and support to a large segment of the population who would otherwise increase demands on the mental health system. At the same time, mental health professionals and leaders have an interest in seeing that the care provided by churches is of high quality and meets the needs of those being served.
Here are eight thoughts for church leaders and my fellow Christians to consider in making sense of the suicide epidemic.
We’re delighted to welcome Catherine Boyleto our ministry team! Catherine will be assuming a key leadership role in overseeing our efforts to support churches in mental health outreach and inclusion.
How do we explain a nearly three-fold increase in the number of children and teens brought to pediatric emergency rooms over a seven year period with suicidal thoughts or behavior?
Our team is pleased to announce we’ve completed a library of training videos designed to accompany and support Mental Health and the Church, Key Ministry’s book on including children, teens, adults and families impacted by mental illness at church.
I’d like to invite our readers to join with me, along with Kelly Rosati, Amy Simpson and Kay Warren on Tuesday, May 8th at 2:00 PM Eastern time for a Twitter chat designed to encourage pastors, ministry leaders and key volunteers to consider how they can be involved in addressing the epidemic of mental illness in children and teens.
It was almost in indescribable experience to spend time with people who are doing disability ministry work. There is something about being with people who “get it.”
We need churches committed to welcoming children, teens and adults on the autism spectrum of typical to high intelligence and affording them opportunities for using their considerable gifts and talents to advance the mission of the church.
We want to make it easy for any church to start a respite ministry to serve families of kids with disabilities. We’re delighted that the largest church-based respite care network in the U.S. is partnering with us to make that possible! Nathaniel’s Hope will be providing a day-long ministry intensive at Inclusion Fusion Live to provide the necessary training to churches seeking to launch new respite ministries.
We’ll be offering an all-day training for churches interested in developing a mental health inclusion strategy and making available five additional workshops and presentations for ministry leaders and families with interest in mental health ministry.
Registration is now open for Inclusion Fusion Live – a disability ministry conference hosted by Key Ministry on April 20th-21st, 2018 at Bay Presbyterian Church in Bay Village, Ohio.
If we could eradicate all mental illness, we would reduce acts of violence by approximately 4%. 96% of the violence that currently occurs in the general population would continue to occur.
The most troubling aspect of the stories shared by Mary Ann and others is that their experiences reflect poorly upon the character of God as reflected through the words and actions of the church. We can and must do a lot better in sharing Christ’s love and the message of the Gospel with our friends and neighbors with mental illness and welcoming them into the fellowship of the church.
Now that our model to assist churches in developing a mental health inclusion strategy is publicly available, I’d like to spread the word about some of the tools and resources our Key Ministry team has developed to assist readers serving on ministry teams seeking to implement the ideas presented in the book.
Are you called to be part of God’s plan for those he loves with mental illness? Has God prepared you beforehand for this task? Have you come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Your stories can help churches better understand how to most effectively welcome and minister with people of all ages with mental illness and their families.
The evangelicals I know care about the people and causes that Jesus cared about during his earthly ministry. They may not necessarily fit the narrative that many in the media would like to propagate about our community. I can’t help but think that evangelicals would have a very different image in our larger culture if more people had the opportunity to get to know some of the folks I was surrounded by during the last three days.
Our Key Ministry team is looking to assemble a launch team to help the world discover the resources available through Mental Health and the Church. We’re looking for friends with access through social media to pastors, church leaders, persons with mental illness and their loved ones who are willing to share their platforms with us to help get the word out to those likely to be most interested in mental health inclusion ministry.
Here’s a progress report on the work God did through our ministry in 2017!
Will you embrace all of the gifts God has given you in the year ahead, including the ability to serve and represent Jesus in extending his love to those who are hurting?
Some friends in a like-minded ministry have produced a wonderful video that illustrates the challenges one family impacted by a hidden disability experienced in maintaining their involvement at church.
I have what I need this Christmas. What I want is for our Key Ministry team to have the resources to help families impacted by disability to find what they most need… a church where every member of the family might come to know Jesus and grow in faith in him.
Our team is hosting a disability ministry conference in Cleveland next April. We want the pastors, church staff and volunteers in attendance to leave with the tools and resources they need to launch new ministries or expand the scope of their existing ministries. We want family members of persons with disabilities to leave prepared to support the spiritual growth of their loved ones and to expand the impact of their personal ministries. And we can’t do it without your help!
Dr. Grcevich will be a panelist for the “Special Needs and Mental Health” breakout session on Saturday, January 20th at 9:00 AM.
EVIL is the root cause of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, and the shootings in churches in rural Texas, Nashville, and several years ago, at an historically African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. As a society, we seek to minimize the existence of evil because recognition of evil threatens our shared delusion that any absolute standard of right and wrong exists.
The FDA has again approved a generic version of the most commonly prescribed medication for teens in the U.S. without requiring proof that the new product works as well as what kids are currently taking.
Dr. G takes a closer look at ministry resources offered by Fresh Hope, shares an amazing testimony from Colleen Swindoll-Thompson and a video describing Key Ministry’s model for mental health inclusion ministry.
If we were to add to the skill set of church staff in planning an inclusion initiative for families impacted by mental illness, what types of experience, gifts, and talents might we want to seek out in considering people for our team?
Perhaps one of the reasons the church has struggled to effectively minister with many persons with autism spectrum disorders is that we don’t do a very good job of welcoming and including children and adults with mental health-related challenges common among persons with autism?
Three point two percent. According to a study authored by a Baylor University professor, those are the odds of an adolescent who attends church less than once a month becoming a weekly church attender in young adulthood.
Our team at Key Ministry is delighted to be partnering with Fresh Hope and long-time friend of our ministry Colleen Swindoll-Thompson for a special day of dialogue and conversation regarding the mental health needs of children, youth and families in the church.
A young wife and teacher nearly ends up dead after following the counsel of a pastor and his wife to stop taking psychiatric medications that were helping her to lead a productive life. This is spiritual abuse.
I began to study what the Bible has to say about suffering and discovered it is more of a gift than I ever understood before.
FAKE NEWS ALERT: Mark Zuckerberg never claimed that Facebook would take the place of church. But he did give a speech a couple of weeks ago that ought to spur lots of thought and conversation among those who recognize the transcendent value of Christian community.
Pastor Bob clearly demonstrated the experience, wisdom and integrity sufficient to earn the trust of the very gifted pastors and ministry leaders who serve our church. He was a pastor to hurting pastors…and for that, I’m grateful.
How many grandparents quietly, day in and day out, without fanfare or special recognition provide an irreplaceable blessing through the care they provide to children with disabilities? How many lend the additional hands necessary for their families to function after decades of raising their own kids? And what do we do to support them?
I wonder if we lose a lot of our youth when we focus exclusively on activities and programs that occur in medium to large-sized groups and offer little to kids who are more comfortable in gatherings of two or three?
If the “inviolability of life” is not an absolute for Christians or Christian-led organizations, what is?
I suspect that much of the church’s struggle to “get” mental illness, and in turn to minister effectively and compassionately with persons with mental illness is rooted in our understanding of how much control we have over our thoughts and our behavior.
Isn’t it possible, if not likely that God uses afflictions such as depression to draw those he loves into a closer relationship with him. The church should help persons suffering from depression through pointing them to Christ and demonstrating Christ’s love for them in tangible ways.
Let’s celebrate Jesus’ resurrection today with our families and our fellow Christians. But let’s not forget that we don’t have any more time to waste if we are to be sufficiently prepared to follow him faithfully in the years ahead,
Adults with autism and no intellectual disability are over nine times more likely to commit suicide when compared to their age-matched peers.
Key Ministry has developed an array of resources for pastors, church staff members, volunteers and families interested in supporting kids with autism spectrum disorders. We encourage you to share these resources freely with church leaders or families that would find them helpful.
In short, we are going to have to be the church, without compromise, no matter what it costs.
I suspect that past experiences of church may be a major barrier to current church involvement for many adults with a history of mental illness or parents of children or teens with significant mental health conditions.
What would our churches look like if we valued the gifts and talents of all of our members and celebrated the work accomplished by the Holy Spirit through them in the way that Louisville High School demonstrated to two of their athletes?
Our crew at Key Ministry is starting a Facebook group for leaders interested in advancing the cause of mental health inclusion ministry.
It makes me happy to think about other families having a strong faith foundation when the winds and waves of contemporary life come crashing against the shore.
Square Pegs and Round Holes…Helping Kids With Asperger’s Disorder and Social Disabilities Grow Spiritually
Our mission is successful when all families have the opportunity for memories of attending church together to form the foundation of their Christmas traditions.
The root cause of the massacre in Newtown…as well as the massacres in Chardon, Aurora, Virginia Tech and Columbine is a fundamental problem of the evil in the human heart. You’ve never seen anyone who displays the fruits of the Spirit shooting up a school or crashing planes into buildings.
The court said the video’s depiction of happy Down syndrome children is “likely to disturb the conscience of women who had lawfully made different personal life choices.”
Kevin brought us an appreciation for the challenges adoptive parents face in staying involved with church when their children experience emotional, behavioral or developmental challenges that make church attendance difficult.
What Key Ministry provides to churches and families…
I left feeling very encouraged that the Lord is raising up like-minded people in many different places to champion the development of mental health inclusion ministry as he is doing for special needs ministry.
Let’s get to work in exploring how we can do a better job of including kids vulnerable to aggression into our ministry environments while maintaining the safety of those environments for all kids, staff, and volunteers.
We need to reject the false gospel that the outcome of our efforts to obtain relief from the burden of mental illness for ourselves or our loved ones hinges not on our efforts to heal ourselves, but on God’s mercy and grace. We also need to recognize that the ongoing presence of mental illness in ourselves, our friends and our family members may not be a barometer of faithfulness so much as a necessary step in the fulfillment of God’s purposes.
To reach families impacted by mental health issues, churches need to start by responding to their immediate needs first. Here are twelve ideas.
We’d like to invite as many of our friends and colleagues to join us and other champions for mental health outreach and inclusion at a special event next month for church leaders throughout the mid-Atlantic region and the East Coast.
The FDA announced plans to rescind the approval of generic versions of Concerta manufactured by Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. The drug companies have until mid-November to file a request for a hearing to appeal the decision. Thanks to all of our readers who contacted the FDA to share their experiences with these products.
Foster care placement in and of itself may represent a risk factor for mental and physical health problems.
How shall we prepare now to fight the good fight in the years ahead when we’ll likely pay a price for practicing our faith?
Small things done with great love will change the world.
Is the stigma against treatment of mental illness generally, and treatment of ADHD specifically a contributing factor to the difference in rates of completed suicide among African-American children and other ethnic groups?
God writes the best stories.
My pastor announced his resignation yesterday. I’ll miss him greatly.
I am suggesting that parents consider why their child’s reactions to being parented in their use of technology are so extreme and to consider how they might address the “why” that fuels their child’s apparent addiction to their electronic toys.
Teens who voluntarily engage in sexual activity or are victims of sexual violence are far more likely to experience suicidal thinking or behavior than their peers.
From a developmental standpoint, there are lots of teenagers who aren’t remotely equipped to manage the intensity of emotions that accompany a sexual relationship.
Transitions from one ministry environment to another all too often result in kids and families falling away from church programming. With a little understanding of how transitions may impact kids with specific disabilities and some advance planning, church staff, volunteers and parents can help most to have positive experiences as they progress into their age-appropriate ministry environments at the start of the new program year.
Dr. G identifies seven reasons church attendance/participation is difficult for families of kids with mental illness.
So…if we’re wrestling with a business challenge or providing a service or advocating for a specific candidate or cause, the question on the table is this – will this action reflect well upon the reputation of the One I claim to serve in front of a hostile world?
We are all anxious. We all will and do experience anxiety. Anxiety is part of our human condition. With that being said, I believe that God uses our anxiety as a tool to help us grow.
We can minister effectively to kids with disabilities and their families without requiring knowledge of diagnoses that may or may not be accurate or by defining children and their adults by their disability as opposed to by who they are in God’s Kingdom.
Here are five ideas for Christians as individuals and churches collectively for advancing the Kingdom in a post-Christian America…
I found myself thinking that on any given Sunday, most churches wouldn’t use the opportunity of their worship celebrations to intentionally welcome kids with disabilities and their families or to publicly acknowledge their value. J.R. Smith thought to do that for a boy with spina bifida on one of the biggest days of his life. Is it wrong to expect the same from our churches?
Based upon the experiences shared by fathers of kids treated in our practice, here are four thoughts as to why they may be more vulnerable to depression…
We’re delighted to share that the team at Harper Collins Christian Publishing and their associates at Zondervan (which, along with Thomas Nelson is one of their two foundational publishing groups) has recognized the same need and has extended a contract to work together with us in making the book a reality.
A new study suggests the media implicates mental illness as a cause of violence with increasing frequency and in doing so, is complicit in increasing the stigma experienced by persons with mental illness and their families.
I thought it might be helpful to look at the available research into kids and teens who commit sexual offenses to better understand their backgrounds and the impact that treatment may have on reducing their risk of harming other kids in the future.
The professional community, parents and families hold assumptions about the effectiveness of psychotropic medication, especially medication for depression, that are unrealistic based upon our understanding of the research literature.
We’re honored that 64 churches in 26 states with identified disability ministries have chosen to partner with us to launch Key for Families by registering with our church network and expressing a willingness to welcome families in need of a church who access our online platforms.
Most kids with gender dysphoria become comfortable with their biological sex as they progress through childhood. For those who continue to experience significant gender discordance as adolescents, far too many will have experienced trauma, mental illness, social isolation, self-injury and suicidal thoughts.
Are we as church called to care for orphans? You bet. Are we expected to use the gifts and talents entrusted to us to support families who respond to such a noble calling? They should expect nothing less!
Families in which someone was struggling with a mental illness were very desirous of support from their local churches, but members not exposed to mental health issues were basically oblivious to their needs and the presence of mental illness appears to be an impediment to church attendance and regular prayer.
Since we’re filming a training this weekend on the impact of ADHD on spiritual development, I thought today might be a good time to review some of the impediments to kids and adults with ADHD becoming involved and staying involved at church. Let’s start by...
Editor’s Note: “Sydney” sent me this e-mail last week and gave me permission to share with our readers. Her e-mail is a wonderful, first-person description of attending church as a person with Asperger’s Disorder. Church is one place where there ought to be a...
Editor’s note: Out of the 700+ blog posts featured here since the middle of 2010, the post I’ve printed out and shared most frequently with parents coming through our office is this post on the differences in kids with ADHD. Here’s an updated version taking...
The potential effects of trauma and abuse on the developing brain and nervous system are powerful and incredibly complex. Healthy brain development is highly contingent upon a number of highly interrelated neuroregulatory systems that are highly sensitive to...
We likely have a minimum of 25 million adults with mental illness who don’t attend church. If the majority of those 25 million adults believe they won’t be welcomed at church, WE HAVE A REALLY BIG PROBLEM.
Our current blog series… Dissecting the DSM-5… What it Means for Kids and Families, continues today with an examination of the recently updated diagnostic criteria for Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Mental health professionals working with kids and families are...
We’ll take a closer look in this post at the new companion diagnosis to Reactive Attachment Disorder related to pathologic care in early childhood… Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder. Studies of children who have been maltreated or raised in institutions...
Consider the stories of the five people described in these passages… I’ve lost twenty pounds in two months because of your accusation. My bones are brittle as dry sticks because of my sin. I’m swamped by my bad behavior, collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt. The...
I’ve been guilty myself of citing or repeating statistics I’ve heard at conferences without verifying the primary source…I’d NEVER be able to get away with spouting statistics without references if I was presenting at a major medical conference.
How will the church serve a generation of families with kids who have issues with emotions or behavior that interfere with their ability to function on a day to day basis?
One of the benefits I experienced during my days on the lecture circuit was the opportunity to meet wise and learned senior colleagues who shared pearls of knowledge that helped me see clinical situations in a new light.
I live in two worlds. People from my work world rarely enter my other world. That reality is tragic… and utterly unacceptable.
There are many reasons why children adopted from orphanages and children in foster care frequently exhibit severe problems with conduct and emotional self-regulation. Effects of trauma and neglect upon brain development combined with genetic and environmental influences appear to be responsible in most instances…as opposed to a primary attachment disorder.