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Category Archives: Depression
Where do I go for help if I think my kid might be depressed?
It’s been my experience that many churches offer reasonably good short-term counseling and support for adults, but very few will have staff with adequate training or supervision in counseling children or teens. So…where does a parent go to find the right help when they suspect their child needs help for depression? Continue reading
What if Mom is depressed?
But for the sake of this discussion, it appears that in examining depression as a specific disability, regular involvement of either the child or the parent with depression at church not only produces spiritual benefits, but actually helps reduce the risk for the condition itself. Continue reading
Posted in Depression, Families, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Mental Health, Resources, Strategies
Tagged children's ministry, church, Depression, Faith Net, families, Family Ministry, Grace Groups, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Mental Health Grace Alliance, mothers, NAMI, youth ministry
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Depression…Challenges in serving kids with an episodic disability
The first people in a church likely to suspect a problem will be the youth pastor or a small group leader when they notice an often abrupt change in the pattern of involvement of a teen suffering from depression. Unlike the other conditions we’ve discussed since launching the blog, in the absence of another mental health condition or a parent with a disability, I’d hypothesize kids with depression wouldn’t be any less likely to start attending church…they’ll have difficulty staying involved with church once symptomatic. Continue reading
Are they really depressed, or do they have something else?
One of the challenges I face as a clinician when a family comes to our practice because they suspect their child is depressed is teasing out all of the other possible explanations for why their child might appear depressed. Continue reading
Posted in ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry, Mental Health
Tagged ADHD, anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, children, children's ministry, Depression, diagnosis, Family Ministry, Inclusion, Key Ministry, learning disabilities, medication, OCD, Stephen Grcevich MD, substance abuse, teens, youth ministry
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Understanding Depression and Comorbidity in Children and Teens
This is Part Four in our Winter 2013 blog series Understanding Depression in Kids and Teens…A Primer for Pastors, Church Staff and Christian Parents. Today, we’ll look at the phenomena we refer to as “comorbidity”… the propensity for other mental health disorders … Continue reading
Posted in ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry, Resources
Tagged AACAP, ADHD, anxiety, comorbidity, Depression, Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry, mental health
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Kids and Depression…What Does the Data Say?
Suicidal thinking and behavior is very common among youth with depression. Approximately 60% of teens diagnosed with depression will experience thoughts of suicide…30% have made one or more suicide attempts. Continue reading
What do kids and teens with depression look like?
Today, we’ll help readers develop a mental picture of what they might notice in a child or teen experiencing an episode of Major Depression. Continue reading
Depression…Definitions matter
The purpose of this series will be to help pastors, church staff, volunteers and Christian parents improve their ability to recognize the signs and symptoms of depression and children and teens and help them to most effectively support kids with depression and their families. Here’s a tentative outline of some of the topics we’ll be covering in the series… Continue reading
What Pastors Believe About Mental Illness
I would think that churches inclined to view depression or other mental disorders as conditions associated with a lack of faith in God would be most committed to efforts to reach and build relationships with persons suffering from these conditions. After all, to fail to do so would be analogous to building a hospital and subsequently deciding to do as little as possible to let sick people know that the hospital was open. Continue reading
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