Rhett Smith’s outstanding interview on his new book, The Anxious Christian, has generated lots of interest in the topic of anxiety and church. In the process of compiling resources pertaining to spiritual development and anxiety, I came across this interview that Katie Wetherbee conducted with Rhonda Martin for the 2011 Inclusion Fusion Special Needs Ministry Web Summit.

In this interview, Rhonda discusses the unique spiritual needs of children who have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Social Phobia and Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder. Katie and Rhonda cover identification, accommodations and unique spiritual issues for each manifestation of anxiety from the church nursery to the high school youth group.

Rhonda is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor who works in private practice with preschoolers, children, adolescents and adults at Akron Family Institute in Green, Ohio, specializing in work with children who have OCD and other anxiety disorders. She serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Key Ministry, and serves as a volunteer trainer for the ministry.

Rhonda is the author of Stuck, a best-selling children’s book describing the life of Cinnamon, a young girl with OCD, as well as OCD in Kids…a website developed for children with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), their parents and and treating professionals. as a companion to the book.

Here’s the interview with Rhonda and Katie…

Last Summer’s blog series examining the impact of anxiety upon spiritual development in kids, along with additional resources to better understand the impact of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents may be accessed here.