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Tag Archives: children
Obstacles Families Face in Finding Mental Health Care For Kids
Parents of kids with significant mental health disorders frequently experience great frustration in negotiating the confusing maze that constitutes our system of mental health care in many communities across the U.S., along with the yet more confusing (intentionally?) system of paying for needed care. Quite frequently, pastors and ministry leaders are trusted resources to parents of children or teens in crisis, and my own professional society encourages parents who are looking for help for their kids to seek recommendations from their spiritual leaders. This post seeks to help ministry leaders better appreciate common challenges families face in finding the proper help for their kids, and offer some resources to share with parents looking for help.
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Posted in Families, Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry, Mental Health, Parents, Resources
Tagged AACAP, access, adolescents, children, church, Facts For Families, families, mental health, NAMI
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Hot Topics: Is Antipsychotic Medication Safe for Kids?
Among the classes of medication commonly used for kids and teens with mental health disorders, I’m most concerned about the potential long-term safety risks associated with the use of antipsychotics.
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Hot Topics: What’s Causing the Epidemic of Mental Illness in Kids?
As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I frequently encounter parents and skeptics who freely share their opinions that much of the reported crisis in children’s mental health is fabricated…a marketing scheme of the pharmaceutical industry, a consequence of poor parenting or misplaced priorities on the part of families.
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Hot Topics: Are Antidepressant Medications Safe For Kids?
Few topics in child and adolescent mental health have generated as much controversy over the last decade as the debate about the safety of antidepressant medication given to kids. In 2004, the FDA issued a “black box” warning claiming that antidepressant use in children and teenagers is associated with increases in suicidal thinking and behavior, which was expanded in 2007 to include adults between the ages of 18 and 24. In my opinion, the larger controversy about antidepressant use in children and teens is not “are they safe?” but “do they work?” and if they work, what do they work for? Some of those questions were addressed here.
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Hot Topics: New Data on Foster Kids and Medication
The proportion of children in foster care who were prescribed psychotropic drugs remained much higher than all Medicaid-‐enrolled children. Continue reading
Hot Topics: Why is effective mental health care for kids so hard to find?
Reflecting upon these observations, one barrier to kids receiving effective mental health care is that parents often lack an appreciation of the standard of care they should expect for their children. Another barrier is that many parents don’t know the right questions to ask to ensure that their kids get the treatment they need. Parents may be intimidated by the prospect of questioning professionals about their child’s care, especially when access to other qualified professionals is limited by geography or finances. An additional reality is that too many professionals treating kids aren’t especially competent or effective, but continue because the need is so great and alternatives are scarce in many communities.
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Posted in Advocacy, Controversies, Resources
Tagged AACAP, access to care, children, church, effectiveness, Inclusion, Key Ministry, mental health care, NAMI, NIMH
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Spiritual Growth Challenges for Kids With Asperger’s Disorder
We spent time this past week reviewing the criteria used to diagnose Asperger’s Disorder, and looked at some of the challenges kids with Asperger’s experience as a result of other conditions frequently associated with the disorder. Today, we’ll use this information to anticipate the obstacles to spiritual growth kids with the condition are likely to encounter.
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Kids With Aggressive Behavior…Is it Ever OK for a Church to Say No?
So when should kids at risk for severe aggression be asked to stay home? Schools have guidelines for parents about when they should keep children home to prevent other kids from getting sick. When are other kids, church staff and volunteers at risk of being harmed by kids prone to aggression?
If the parent(s) can’t manage the child’s behavior safely at home
When a foreseeable event has transpired at home (changes/lapses in medication used to control aggressive behavior, marked escalation of behavior while transitioning/preparing to leave for church) or at church (changes from the norm in environment/availability of appropriately trained staff or volunteers familiar to the child) increasing the child’s risk of aggressive behavior.
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Foster Kids and Medication
My purpose in writing this is to help parents and churches go into foster care ministry with their eyes open. Foster care ministry is an incredibly noble calling. Lots of kids are on way too much medication with way too many side effects with problems for which medication is likely to be of little benefit. Unfortunately, the implication of the 20/20 report that loving parents and the absence of medication will generally lead to happy endings for kids in foster care with problems that led to psychiatric referrals is at the very least incredibly naive, and at worst, a deliberate misrepresentation of reality. Continue reading
Posted in Adoption, Controversies, Families
Tagged 20/20, ABC, Adoption, antipsychotics, children, church, Disability Ministry, Foster Care, Inclusion, medication, psychiatry, Stephen Grcevich MD
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The Mental Health Needs of Kids in Foster Care
Churches planning ministry initiatives to serve kids in foster care need first to develop competency at serving kids with serious mental health issues and their families.
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Posted in Inclusion, Key Ministry, Strategies
Tagged AACAP, antipsychotic medication, children, church, Disability Ministry, Foster Care, inclusion ministry, Key Ministry, mental health
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