Pastors

[This article is part of a youth ministry series we have been writing about for years. Click the link to check out all of the other articles we have here.]

If there is one thing I hold our teenagers up as doing better than any generation still alive, it is their openness, willingness, and ability to talk about mental illness and good mental health. While they do not have it all figured out, we do not as adults either. So I want to make sure we educate ourselves with 12 facts to know about teens and mental illness, so we can have more educated conversations and better empathize with them about what they are going through.

[This article is part of a youth ministry series we have been writing about for years. Click the link to check out all of the other articles we have here.]

The phrase, “It’s okay to not be okay” is becoming one of the biggest phrases for mental illness and those who have stigma about mental health. We actually did our own devotional post on this phrase, but for pastors with anxiety.

For pastors, do you know how your teenagers are doing? They have never been a teenager at their age, let alone through a pandemic. They don’t have answers to this, just like it seems most adults do not have a working solution either. So check in with your teens frequently about their mental health.

[This article is part of a youth ministry series we have been writing about for years. Click the link to check out all of the other articles we have here.]

As with all substance use, you need to know the facts of the substance and unfortunately many of these facts are specific to teenagers.

1. 3.6% of adolescents (ages 12-17) reported misusing opioids over the past year. This percentage is twice as high among older adolescents and young adults (ages 18-25). [SAMHSA]
2. 153,000 of adolescents have an opioid use disorder versus 392,000 young adults with the diagnosis.
3. Opioids come in many different forms, including oxycodone (OxyContin®), hydrocodone (Vicodin®), codeine, morphine including others that are prescribed but can be misused or overprescribed. These are the same general chemical compounds as heroin. All can get you high and overdose.
4. 57% of 12- to 17-year olds who misused prescription opioids got them from a friend or relative. [SAMHSA]
5. 20% of 12th graders said they could easily get heroin if they wanted to. [The University of Michigan]
6. Teens are more likely to abuse prescription opioids if their parents do so, according to a new study. The connection is similar to those seen in parent-child use of cigarettes, marijuana, and alcohol. 14% of adolescents misused prescription opioids if their parents did compare to 8% if their parents did not. [AAP Journals]
7. Every day, 115 Americans die from an opioid overdose. Nearly 15,000 people died from a drug overdose involving heroin in the United States [CDC]
8. Opioid use can affect every area of your life. Using drugs, especially early in life, can lead to poor grades, worse performance in sports, and bad relationships with friends and family. Opioids also alter judgment which can cause you to do risky things you wouldn’t ordinarily do, like having unprotected sex or getting into a car crash because you drove while under the influence of opioids.
9. In some communities, heroin is cheaper and easier to get than prescription opioids. Because of this, people who are addicted to prescription opioids sometimes switch to using heroin instead. It is estimated 4 to 6% who misuse prescription opioids switch to heroin.
10. overdose deaths have almost tripled in the last 15 years and the majority of these deaths involve opioids. One of the ways opioids works to relax your body is by slowing down your breathing. When misused, opioids can slow your breathing too much. This can cause you to stop breathing entirely and lead to an overdose. For some people, just one dose is enough to make them stop breathing. Because of this, opioid misuse is generally recommended to head to treatment right away.

List in the comments what other questions or concerns you have.

A research report came out in March that at the time we were talking with several other ministries about the validity of the test, and then the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic happened where we wanted to help pastors reduce stress and thrive in this new social distancing world, so reviewing it was put on hold until now.

The research is by LifeWay Researched, titled “Churches Believe They Are Welcoming to Those With Disabilities” that surveyed over a thousand pastors across the United States and found that 99% of pastors agree and 97% of churchgoers feel they are welcoming at our church.

The worries of coronavirus have certainly rocked how we live day-to-day. The media and Facebook communities are a buzz about those who will recover from being infected, financial rebound after being unemployed for so long, and miss out on life events like graduation.

But in the mental health field we know there are so many other issues this pandemic will have long lasting concerns with, including mental illness, relapse with substance misuse, and what we will talk about here abuse. In response to these concerns with hidden issues that will creep in, we want to educate pastors in what to look in case congregation members need more support.

The coronavirus is here for a while. We hope that you listened to medical professionals throughout this time and took care of yourself, your loved ones, and your community. This extra post we are doing is a request of a couple of youth pastors who want to have resources they can give to their congregation. Please use these as you need.