Author Archives: Dr. G

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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.

Lessons For Church Leaders in “Medication Nation”

This past Friday, we looked at statistics from Medco Health Solutions demonstrating that more than one in five U.S. adults (and more than one in four women) take medication on a regular basis for a mental health condition. The percentage of the U.S. population taking psychotropic medication has increased 22% in the last ten years. Today, I’ll share a few thoughts on why church leaders should care about the data.
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How Many Kids (and Parents) are Taking Medication?

More than one in five adult residents of the U.S. currently take medication for a mental health disorder, including more than one in four women. More boys than girls are on medication, but the rate of increase in the use of medication is greater in girls than boys. Continue reading

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Inclusion Fusion…What’s Next?

From the comments we’ve received thus far and the many chats and discussions that took place during the conference, our team has sensed a clear consensus that Inclusion Fusion shouldn’t just be a once a year thing. Our team wants to build upon the energy and momentum generated by the Web Summit. Some have suggested periodic (monthly-quarterly) mini-conferences focused upon a topic of interest in special needs ministry coupled with lots of opportunity for interaction between speakers and participants. If we were to do that, some ideas we’re kicking around include…
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Check Out Kidmin Leaders

For some time now, our team at Key Ministry has been very intentional in seeking to build collaborations and relationships with leaders in the children’s and youth ministry communities. One of our newest relationships is with GJ Farmer’s website, Kidmin Leaders. We’re going to be contributing features to the site on a twice-monthly basis for the purpose of resourcing children’s pastors and key volunteers to more effectively minister to kids with hidden disabilities and their families. Continue reading

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A Special Announcement About Inclusion Fusion

ACCESS TO INCLUSION FUSION TALKS AND DOWNLOADS NOW EXTENDED THROUGH SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3rd! Chuck Swindoll and more than twenty-five ministry leaders came together on November 3rd-7th as part of a Special Needs Ministry Web Summit for church staff, volunteers, family members and caregivers everywhere. Inclusion Fusion is a Key Ministry event, presented FREE OF CHARGE with the support of Pajama Conference. Register here for access to the video archives of the Summit!
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Inclusion Fusion…Suggestions for Parents

Most ministry conferences our Key Ministry team has participated in have been developed by and for church staff or highly committed volunteers. We wanted parents and caregivers to be meaningful participants in Inclusion Fusion and to access speakers and presentations that addressed their concerns and interests. We hope we accomplished both goals this year. Here are a few presentations that I think will be of special interests to parents and caregivers of persons with special needs…
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Inclusion Fusion…Suggestions for Our “Kidmin” Friends

One of the goals of our team at Key Ministry when we put together Inclusion Fusion in partnership with Jeremy Collins (a children’s pastor) and his team at Pajama Conference was to establish a community where pastors, children’s and youth ministry leaders, disability ministry leaders and families could connect to share ideas in order to help more churches connect with more families of kids and adults with special needs.
Thanks to the incredible support of Chuck Swindoll, his daughter Colleen, and their team at Insight for Living, Inclusion Fusion has been successful beyond our wildest expectations. The interest in the conference was so great on our first day that the media team had to replace their servers to manage the volume of internet traffic!

As the Chairman of the Inclusion Fusion Program Committee, I wanted to invite our friends and colleagues in Kidmin to be part of the conference. Now that we’ve extended the conference through Monday, November 7 (due to connection issues caused by the internet traffic), I thought I’d help our friends in children’s ministry identify some presentations of interest.
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Inclusion Fusion…Day Three Suggestions

If there are folks you see at church tomorrow, feel free to invite them to check out the conference, since we’re now running through Monday night. Also, if you have ideas about speakers or topics or general comments about Inclusion Fusion, feel free to e-mail me at: steve@keyministry.org, or respond in the comments section below.
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Let’s Try This Again…Some Suggestions For Inclusion Fusion: Day Two

If you’re just beginning to check out the conference, a great place to start would be Chuck Swindoll’s brief Keynote Address…Challenges…Choosing What You Will Do With Them as well as Part One and Part Two of Katie Wetherbee’s interview with Chuck and his daughter, Colleen. We’re blessed to have a leader in the church of Chuck’s wisdom and prominence with the ability and willingness to articulate the importance of including persons with special needs and their families.
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We’re responding to the technical issues with Inclusion Fusion

Our partners are in the process of increasing the capacity of the servers hosting the conference. We believe that your Inclusion Fusion experience will improve as each hour passes by. I personally guarantee that everyone who wants to access any of the conference lectures and materials will have adequate time and opportunity to do so. In recognition of the frustration some participants have experienced in accessing the conference, we are going to extend Inclusion Fusion through Monday, November 7th.
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