Church and Mental Health - Uniting the Church and mental health

Mental Health Statistics

Previously, we shared statistics on substance abuse and overdose impacting America and today wanted to couple it with mental health statistics. The following mental health statistics are for adults and you.

Why share these? One of the most beneficial things anyone can do with treatment is to talk about it. First, it brings awareness to people. Secondly, it normalizes the situation by bringing to light how many people struggle with it. Finally, it provides support to those who struggle with mental health because now it is okay to talk about and ask questions for help and understanding.

We will include a couple of stats for pastors, but there is a whole study we covered on the blog about mental health statistics in the church which is pretty alarming. Even more so, there is a more recent study talking about how churches do, or do not, support families and those who struggle with suicidal ideation.

All Christians February 20, 2019

Anxious For Nothing [Book Review]

Anxiety at it’s best is something that can help motivate someone, but in reality, we tend to overdo it. When anxiety hits, we find ourselves fixated on things we cannot control. At it’s worse, it becomes a disorder that physically alters the brain chemistry of the individual, directly impacting their life with significant problems, failed relationships, and a barrier for someone with their faith.

In the spectrum of Anxious For Nothing, this book definitely leans on talking about the “we overdo it” side and not the clinical diagnosis spectrum. Within the intersections of church and mental health, this book looks to take a subset of anxiety and see how our faith can impact it for the better.

Uncategorized February 15, 2019

Why Are You Missing Out On Date Night? Why It’s A Problem.

With February right around the corner, conversations of a romantic date are in the air. Reservations are being made, roses are being purchased, and babysitters are starting to come in short supply. But the conversation of date nights for couples who are married and engaged is bigger than this one day. The concerning question is, are Christian’s missing out on date night?

I want to start off this article understanding that there are different seasons for people. Having contracted with the military, I understand it can actually be impossible for people to date at times in their life. Newborns become the most important thing for a moment, big events hit life that can take the immediate focus, and sometimes our own mental health can cause barriers. If dates are not an option, I encourage you to check out our post on improving communication in your marriage. But I want to speak for every other day, the other 40 or 45 weeks of the year.

Not dating is a problem.

Uncategorized February 6, 2019

We Will Be At Inclusion Fusion Live!

On April 5, 2019, we will be in Cleveland, OH attending
Inclusion Fusion Live!, a conference hosted by Key Ministry. We will be present at the “Mental Health Inclusion Ministry” and “Starting A Special Needs Ministry” Intensive workshop.

If you are curious about what it is, here is their “Values” video from last year:

All Christians January 30, 2019

Why Did God Allow This To Happen? [Devotional]

Trauma can happen in any number of forms. Being caught up in a wildfire or flooding, being in, near, or closely linked to a shooting, being the victim or witness of rape, domestic violence, or a car accident all can cause trauma symptoms. This doesn’t even include the every day pains of emotional abuse that can impact us to our core or betrayal and hatred that appear in our daily lives and online.

Why does God allow this to happen?

All Christians January 23, 2019

A Christian Suicide Prevention Ministry: TWLOHA

We talk about the Church needing to step up with regards to mental health. No greater need from the Church is present than crisis services and suicide prevention and we’ve talked about how churches can help prevent this in their community now. And amazingly, there is a Christian suicide prevention ministry already there you can utilize, To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA).

TWLOHA is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope & finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, & suicide. Originally started simply as the founder Jamie Tworkowski wanting to save the life of his friend who struggled with addiction and suicide, so did a fundraiser to help her get into treatment. Here’s their story.

Uncategorized January 16, 2019

How Churches Can Help Counseling Clients

The Church and mental health professionals have a common group of people. If we took the two populations of each and put them in a Venn diagram, there would be overlap with those who are hurting, lonely, and struggling.

Counseling is specifically looking at how to help people work on their own concerns with data-driven psychology and professional care. The Church has been and will always be focused on sharing the Gospel, loving one another, and providing a hopeful community to the marginalized.

All Christians Pastors January 9, 2019

5 Tips To Improve Your Resolutions

Welcome to 2019. A new year, a fresh start. And for Christian bloggers, it seems it is a time to put down those who enjoy coming up with New Years Resolutions. In fact, Gospel Coalition has five articles on their site basically renaming resolutions. Not only do we encourage New Years’ Resolutions, but we want to help you with how to make the best of them with great tips from best counseling practices. (Note: I’m a fan of Gospel Coalition, I know several writers there. Just seems like lazy writing on the topic.)

If you have already made some, but they already seem to not be working, no worries, we can fix them as you go. If you haven’t but thought about it, it’s not too late.

All Christians January 2, 2019

Prayer As A Coping Skill

Prayer is one of the essential tools a Christian needs to learn in their journey with God. Throughout the last two thousand years, we have seen prayer take many forms, including praying in tongues, breath prayers, intercessory prayer, healing or thanksgiving, and prayers for salvation, to name a few. But for counseling, we see prayers used in a clinical environment as a coping skill.

We will explore a couple of ways that counselors can utilize prayer in their counseling session and how pastors can use it to promote better mental health.

Counselors December 26, 2018

Dreamland [Book Review]

If you have watched the news for the past 4 years, if you are involved with your local and state communities, or if you are involved in counseling, you know of the opiate epidemic. My experience as a mental health and substance abuse counselor is that many people know some things but few know most of what has been happening. The news is getting this opiate crisis only partially reported, mostly because there is so much happening. Dreamland, authored by Sam Quinones, touches on all that has been happening since the late 20th century.

All Christians December 19, 2018