About Dr. G
Dr. Stephen Grcevich serves as President and Founder of Key Ministry, a non-profit organization providing free training, consultation, resources and support to help churches serve families of children with disabilities. Dr. Grcevich is a graduate of Northeastern Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), trained in General Psychiatry at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at University Hospitals of Cleveland/Case Western Reserve University. He is a faculty member in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at two medical schools, leads a group practice in suburban Cleveland (Family Center by the Falls), and continues to be involved in research evaluating the safety and effectiveness of medications prescribed to children for ADHD, anxiety and depression. He is a past recipient of the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Dr. Grcevich was recently recognized by Sharecare as one of the top ten online influencers in children’s mental health. His blog for Key Ministry, www.church4everychild.org was ranked fourth among the top 100 children's ministry blogs in 2015 by Ministry to Children.
I’d like to challenge church leaders to assume responsibility for supporting their families when they pursue adoption ministry. Continue reading →
Posted in Adoption, Families, Foster Care, Key Ministry, Strategies
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Tagged Adoption, church leaders, churches, Foster Care, Inclusion, Orphan Sunday, pastors, responsibility, trauma, trauma-informed
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But they are kids, first and foremost. Welcome them as you would any other child. Work with their parents or guardians to figure out how to include them well.
Continue reading →
Posted in Adoption, Families, Foster Care, Key Ministry, Strategies
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Tagged Adoption, children's ministry, church, Disability Ministry, Family Ministry, Foster Care, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Shannon Dingle
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The depths still loom. They threaten. They seduce. They fight back, grasping at your feet. But your fight, the teaspoons you have gathered into your body, says, “I cannot let you take me. I cannot.” No explanation, just blind trust and hope that your fight and your faith will lead you to better waters. Continue reading →
Posted in Advocacy, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Mental Health, Stories
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Tagged anxiety disorders, battling mental illness, Bipolar Disorder, cutting, Depression, eating disorders, life struggles, mental illness, PTSD, Quiet Little Voices, stigma, suicide, The silent fighter
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So it makes sense that one way to love the adoptive and foster families in your church is to partner with us. In many ways, this looks just like family ministry does for everyone else. Continue reading →
Posted in Adoption, Advocacy, Families, Resources, Strategies
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Tagged Adoption, children's ministry, Disability Ministry, Family Ministry, Foster Care, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Partnering With Parents, Shannon Dingle, Special Needs Ministry
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The film highlights three stories of individuals with disability living in a culture where families are often shamed, isolated and marginalized by their community because of their child having a disability. Continue reading →
Posted in Advocacy, Key Ministry, Stories
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Tagged 99 Balloons, Brian Hill, church-based respite care, Disability, documentary, Key Ministry, key ministry.tv, Matt Mooney, Notable, rEcess, Uganda
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But very few churches talk about the babies, special needs babies, who also suffer from PTSD. Because we don’t want to believe they feel pain. Very few churches talk about children already traumatized before birth or children traumatized by direct or observed trauma.
Because we good church people don’t want to believe they remember.
Continue reading →
Posted in Advocacy, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion Fusion, Mental Health, PTSD, Resources, Stories
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Tagged children's ministry, church, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion, Jolene Philo, Key Ministry, mental health, newborns, pain, PTSD, special needs
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So, church leaders, what can you do to become trauma- and attachment-informed and to then use that knowledge to serve adoptive and foster families well? Continue reading →
Posted in Adoption, Advocacy, Controversies, Families, Foster Care, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Strategies
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Tagged Adoption, attachment, attachment-informed, children's ministry, church, Disability Ministry, Foster Care, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Shannon Dingle, trauma-informed
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When their parents are being elevated with comments about what a great thing they did, then those children may feel like they are less deserving of their families than a biological child might be. Continue reading →
Posted in Adoption, Advocacy, Families, Foster Care, Key Ministry, Strategies
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Tagged Adoption, church, Disability Ministry, Foster Care, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Orphan Sunday, Shannon Dingle, Special Needs Ministry
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The question for us became, “If our parents can’t come to us, how can we come to them?” Continue reading →
At first, it was difficult coming to terms with laying down my dreams. Like any special-needs dad, it’s hard emotionally to reach the point where you realize the dreams, goals, and plans you had for your child aren’t going to happen the way you hoped. But whose dream was it anyway? It wasn’t God’s dream. Continue reading →
Posted in Families, Inclusion Fusion, Intellectual Disabilities, Stories, Training Events
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Tagged children's ministry, Disability Ministry, fathers, Inclusion, Inclusion Fusion 2014, Jeff Davidson, Key Ministry, Men's ministry, No More Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Rising Above Ministries, special needs
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Church4EveryChild 