Caregiving
Jolene Philo
November Is Family Caregiver Awareness Month

November is Caregiver Awareness Month. As someone who became one of my dad’s caregivers before I started school, I grew up thinking everyone in the world was aware of caregivers and caregiving. As a young adult my husband and I cared for a son born with a life-threatening medical condition, and his typical sibling. As members of the sandwich generation, my brother, sister, and I cared for our mother for 15 years after she was diagnosed with dementia. This explains why, when I first heard that November is Caregiver Awareness Month, I was incredulous, and I still am. 

November Is Family Caregiver Awareness Month
Care and Support, Disability Ministry, Special Needs Ministry
Larah Roberts
A Conversation with Lauren Hickman from Hope ...

In this episode, Lauren Hickman shares her personal journey and calling to disability ministry, describing how God has guided her every step of the way to serve families impacted by disability.

A Conversation with Lauren Hickman from Hope Allen Center: Podcast EP 125
Autism, Care and Support, Church Support, Disability Ministry, podcast, Special Needs Parenting, Special Needs Ministry, Sandra Peoples
Sandra Peoples
Strategies for Small and Normative Sized ...

 In today’s episode, Sandra talks about the challenges small to normative-sized churches face in disability ministry and shares how the churches she’s been a part of have overcome these challenges.

Strategies for Small and Normative Sized Churches with Sandra Peoples: Podcast EP 124
Care and Support, Church Support, Disability Theology, Hope, podcast, Special Needs Parenting
Elaina Marchenko
Prepping for the Holidays, a Pastor & ...

This week Elaina, from Key Ministry, sits down with Sergei Marchenko, Lead Pastor of Chatham Bible Church, and Special Needs Parent. They discuss preparing for the holiday season, church inclusion, special needs parenting and more!

Prepping for the Holidays, a Pastor & Parent Perspective with Sergei Marchenko: Podcast EP 123
Mental Health Ministry, Strategies, podcast, #MHATC2024, Announcements, Catherine Boyle
Catherine Boyle
Wrap-Around Mental Health Support: 4 Steps Any ...

In this episode of Key Ministry the Podcast, Catherine Boyle shares 4 steps any church can take when an individual or family has a significant mental health need that may require ongoing church support.

Wrap-Around Mental Health Support: 4 Steps Any Church Can Take: Podcast EP 122

Hidden Disabilities

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Why Christians Don't Get Mental Health Treatment

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Why Christians Don't Get Mental Health Treatment

Since 2005, I have served on my church staff to provide clinical mental health counseling services to our congregation and others in our area. I have known people who wanted counseling but couldn’t get it, and others who had access to counseling but didn’t get it. I’ve known pastors who burned out without even considering seeking mental health treatment, and I’ve also known pastors who sought periodic counseling just as a personal self-care routine. Why is it that some people with symptoms of a mental illness go to counseling while others don’t?

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Companionship: A Response to Social Isolation and Loneliness

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Companionship: A Response to Social Isolation and Loneliness

Recently, a homeless stranger approached me for assistance to feed himself and his son. We discussed many things in our brief interaction before I said to him, “You matter, and you are a person.” His response stood out to me: “It feels good to be thought of as a person.” In that encounter, I practiced Companionship, something that can be offered to anyone we encounter.

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Things That Don't Seem to Go Together - In Christmas, and In Special Needs

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Things That Don't Seem to Go Together - In Christmas, and In Special Needs

‘Tis the season of waiting, expecting, hoping, dreaming, and if we’re going to be totally honest, Christmas is also a time of worrying. You may think that expectation and anxiety don’t belong together, but when you look closely at the Christmas story, the story is full of things that don’t seem to go together.

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Illuminating a larger vision for disability ministry – Inclusion Fusion Live 2020

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Illuminating a larger vision for disability ministry – Inclusion Fusion Live 2020

Allow me to share several reasons why you – or ministry leaders or families from your church need to be part of #IFL2020.

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Millennials as Mental Health Ministry Volunteers

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Millennials as Mental Health Ministry Volunteers

If you want volunteers, Millennials are a great place to look. But the church needs to speak the language of Millennials as we collaborate to serve. But the good news is that the church probably has a whole group of untapped volunteer potential, we just have to cultivate it.

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In Their Own Words: Church Support and Mental Illness

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In Their Own Words: Church Support and Mental Illness

Shortly before Dr. Grcevich’s book Mental Health and the Church was published, we asked our readers to share their experiences, both good and bad, about mental health needs and church support. We continue to get responses, and want to share a few that we have received since we made our initial request, for the insight that churches and ministries can glean from the experiences of others.

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Disability and the Protestant Reformation

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Disability and the Protestant Reformation

Disability is often at odds with our plans. But it was disability that first landed Paul in Galatia. The passionate language about justification by faith and not works of the law, so finely conveyed in this epistle to the Galatians, flows from a relational context colored by disability.

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Five Stages of Spiritual Growth in Mental Illness

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Five Stages of Spiritual Growth in Mental Illness

I’d never wish the darkness of mental illness on anyone, but if it wasn’t for anorexia, bulimia, anxiety and depression, I don’t know if I would be a Christian today. There seems to be a pattern common to many Christ-followers who also live with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, etc. Here’s how I now characterize the five stages in my relationship with Christ, and the spiritual growth He worked through each stage to the next.

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When Your Emotional Tank Is Empty

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When Your Emotional Tank Is Empty

I felt ashamed. There was so much to do last night, and there was no time to waste. I didn’t have time to run out of gas. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I keep going? Then the epiphany: there is nothing wrong with a car that runs out of gas. The problem is being out of gas.

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Get Rid of Your Camouflage

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Get Rid of Your Camouflage

No one wants to think of themselves or their family as dysfunctional. And the mental image associated with the term special needs most definitely does not fit. Special needs seems like a suit that was tailored for someone else. But there are no other health conditions for which there are such lengthy delays in diagnosis and treatment solely because of denial. Ditching the camouflage that covers your minimized mental illness might be the best wardrobe decision you ever make.