On March 15th we hosted a webinar that generated significant traffic on Mental health and ministry.
If you haven’t yet taken in this webinar, here is a link that will take you to the recorded version.
As a team of bloggers for the Youth Ministry section of the Network, we reflected on “what can we add” which might aid this conversation further. What would be helpful for churches and ministry leaders on this topic?
A couple things came to mind.
- Are there stories in our churches that we can share with you containing some learnings for congregations when it comes to walking with those who struggle with mental health issues? One such story will be coming soon so stay close to this site.
- What resources have some of us used that we can share with churches? Today we want to share some of these resources with you.
We will start with our local connection
- The Network has lots of resources on a variety of mental health topics. Check out these mental health resources.
A few books that have been helpful.
- Dr. Les Parrot has a wonderful book called Helping the Struggling Adolescent which covers a variety of topics
- Marv Penner has written a book called Hope and Healing for Kids Who Cut.
- Dr. Archibald Hart has a book called The Anxiety Cure
- Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock have written two books that are helpful, A Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis and The Youth Worker’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis
For churches in Southern Ontario, Canada, here is a resource that you can tap into.
- Shalem Mental Health Network at shalemnetwork.org/
And lastly, I will again post Brett Ullmans website where he shares some of his resources in this area brettullman.com/tag/mental-health/
This topic touched a nerve for many of us. Personally, professionally and certainly emotionally, we don’t have to look too far and find that we are connected to someone who is struggling.
If there is something you have found that has been helpful, maybe even given you strength during a specific time, a scripture text, a workshop, a particular book, any resources that you can share with us, I encourage you to do so, here in to comments section, or in an email to me.
- What has helped you walk with someone who is dealing with mental health?
- Perhaps you are someone who is going through some tough times? What has been helpful to you?
Let’s keep the conversation going…
Comments
Among periodicals for people who are not specialists in the field of mental health are Anchor Magazine for people who suffer from depression and anxiety disorders. SZMAGAZINE targets those who suffer from schizophrenia and schizo-affective disorder. I believe there is also one for those afflicted with bipolar disorders, but you can check out the site mentalwellnesstoday.com for more information. These magazines are published by an evangelical Christian, named Bill McPhee.
Thank you for this Michele.
Ron, thanks for this. Another book I highly recommend is Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and Their Families. Mark
Thanks for the recommendation Mark. I plan to add this to my reading list
Hello again Ron: I am commenting from home tonight as I am thrilled to see the "conversation going". If I were in my church office I could add to the list of resources. At Neerlandia CRC, during the month of March, Pastor Ron Klok and I put together a CrossTraining series on Mental Illness Toward Understanding and Responding. That prompts me to say that for now I would add that our church family can be a valuable resource once we open up the topic for discussion. Blessings to all as we continue the conversation. Liz Nanninga, RN and parish nurse NCRC
I am very encouraged to hear about this cross training teaching at Neerlandia. When I am there in June, I would love to hear more about how it went.
Oh, and by the way there will be two articles in the Spring issue of SZMAGAZINE due to appear on April 4th that I wrote. They only publish online now, but you can get a subscription for $50.00 that will allow you to print as many copies as you want. These subscriptions are mostly for organizations since they usually have the funds to afford that. One of them was already published on the CRC Network.
Thanks for the information. Michele, where on the Network can we find that one article?
Here's the article on the network that Michele is talking about: On Chronically Normal People.
It appeared in May of last year, either the 19th or the 26th as a guest post.
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