Children’s Mental Health Day 2013…a look at the data

I’m guest blogging today for family therapy guru and all-around good guy Joe McGinnis on the theme A Different Way of Thinking About Kids and Mental Illness…check out Joe’s blog by clicking here. I thought I’d keep it simple today and share this graphic for you from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry…

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Our Key Ministry website is a resource through which church staff, volunteers, family members and caregivers can register for upcoming training events, request access to our library of downloadable ministry resources, contact our staff with training or consultation requests, access the content of any or all of our three official ministry blogs, or contribute their time, talent and treasure to the expansion of God’s Kingdom through the work of Key Ministry. Check it out today!

Contributing to a conversation about faith and mental illness

Adrian Warnock is a Christian author who serves on the leadership team at Jubilee Church in London. He writes a widely circulated blog on the evangelical channel at Patheos.com. I’ve messaged back and forth with him a few times because we have a couple of things in common that are extremely unusual in the evangelical church… We’re both physicians trained in psychiatry (Adrian with adults, I see kids) and we’ve both been involved with research.

Adrian was invited by Patheos to facilitate a broad conversation about mental health to include bloggers from outside the Patheos community. He’s posed a couple of questions for discussion this week I found worth tackling for Mental Health Month…

How has your religious community historically seen mental illness? 

How does your faith, today, shape the way you see mental illness? 

I’ll look at the first question today, and the second question tomorrow.

I think the perception of mental illness varies widely from denomination to denomination, and even more so between churches within a specific denomination. From where I sit, the attitudes of the senior leadership in any given church greatly influences the experience of families impacted by mental illness in that particular church. When the senior pastor “gets” mental illness or a family involved with leadership is impacted by mental illness, the church culture is more likely to be accepting and supportive.

The two churches I’ve attended as an adult (one Presbyterian, one non-denominational) have been very proactive in providing well trained pastors and professionally trained counselors to help support the needs of individuals and families not just in the church, but in the surrounding community as well. Both operate large and vital respite care programs serving families of kids with disabilities, the majority of whom have mental health diagnoses. The efforts of our home church to support families who adopted children from Eastern Europe with severe emotional and developmental disabilities led to the development of Key Ministry. I served on the Catholic Charities Services Board that oversaw delivery of millions of dollars in mental health services to residents of Northeast Ohio, and my first job out of training was as the medical director of the largest adolescent  residential treatment center in the state of Ohio, also operated by Catholic Charities. I’ve seen the church pool resources to meet very significant needs for kids with mental illnesses and their families.

From where I sit as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, there are two areas in which the church has the greatest potential for growth in ministering to families impacted by mental illness…

First, the church has made MUCH more progress in recognizing the signs of mental illness in adults and providing appropriate support than it has for children or teens. Mental illness in kids often manifests with anger, moodiness, irritability, aggression, defiance, and difficulties with self-regulation of emotion and behavior. It’s much more common in my experience for the signs of mental illness to be dismissed as a parenting problem as opposed to a spiritual problem. There was a family who shared their experience in looking for a church home with two young boys with severe ADHD…the mother summarized their experience with this statement…

“People in the church think they can judge when a disability ends and bad parenting begins.”

Lots of churches in our area have the ability to offer free or low-cost counseling to adults struggling with common conditions including anxiety and depression. In my experience, it is extremely rare for churches to offer resources to help children experiencing symptoms of mental illness, with the exception of respite care available for parents of kids with “special needs.”

Second, the church has missed a tremendous opportunity to reach out to and share the Gospel of Jesus with an enormously underserved people group.

While I can’t cite a specific, well-designed study looking at rates of church attendance and participation among families impacted by mental illness, I’d hypothesize (based on 27 years in the field of psychiatry) that kids and adults with mental illness are significantly less likely to attend weekend worship services or to be actively involved in small groups, Bible studies or serving ministries compared to the general population.

People with mental illness don’t fit neatly and cleanly into our ministry “silos.” Most kids or teens with mental illness would never think of themselves as having “special needs” or as being “disabled”, nor would their parents think of a disability/special needs ministry as having something to offer them. Adults who suffer from Bipolar Disorder, recurrent depression and many types of anxiety often experience extended periods of relatively symptom-free functioning, and are less likely to be defined by their mental illness in comparison to adults with outwardly apparent disabilities or those participating in 12-step programs. Adults and kids who suffer from anxiety often avoid services tailored to meet their needs because their condition often leads them to misinterpret the level of risk in new situations and misperceive the way their acceptance of services offered to them is viewed by others in the immediate environment.

The church has had a hard time understanding how persons with mental illness experience conditions that represent disabilities in some environments, but not others. The environments in which we “do ministry” present major impediments to people with common mental illnesses who may function reasonably well in other life activities. Let me cite an example…

Consider the obstacles your ministry environments would pose to a family in which the mother has moderate to severe symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder (according to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorder in the U.S., affecting 18% of the adult population, or 40 million people)…

• She’s less likely to have friends to invite her (and the family) to church.
• The prospect of going somewhere for the first time where most people are strangers (and some will likely approach her to initiate conversation) may feel overwhelming.
• She’s likely to fear how she’ll be perceived if her child becomes distressed.
• If she becomes confused during her early experiences, she’s likely to have difficulty approaching a volunteer to help.
• She may find the invitation to introduce herself to others during the worship service heightens her experience of anxiety.
• She may struggle with making a follow-up call in response to an announcement in the bulletin to register her child for an activity, or to volunteer to serve in the church.
• The prospect of having to self-disclose in a small group study may lead to avoidance of small groups.

I just started reading Andy Stanley’s new book, Deep and Wide, with the subtitle “Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend.” What if the environments in which we “do church” are distressing to large segments of our population who struggle with common mental illnesses? And what about the family members of a child or adult with a mental illness who miss out on learning about Jesus or growing in faith in Jesus because attending church or belonging to a small group or participating in a service ministry is too overwhelming to their brother or mother? It’s not unreasonable to assume that a significant chunk of people in any given community have some experience of church but don’t regularly attend church because of the subtle, but real ways in which mental illness presents a barrier to the environments in which we do ministry.

To reach people no one else is reaching, the church will need to try stuff no one else is trying. The more church leaders understand about the experience of kids and adults with mental illness, the better equipped the church will be to create ministry environments where all people can come to investigate the claims of Jesus and grow in faith in Him.

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Key Ministry’s mission is to help churches reach families affected by disability by providing FREE resources to pastors, volunteers, and individuals who wish to create an inclusive ministry environment. We have designed our Key Catalog to create fun opportunities for our ministry supporters to join in our mission through supporting a variety of gift options. Click here to check it out! For a sixty second summary of what Key Ministry does, watch the video below…

Does your church inadvertently hurt people with mental illness? Guest blogger Amy Simpson

Our entire Key Ministry staff and volunteer team is honored to kick off National Mental Health Month by introducing you to our guest blogger, Amy Simpson. 

Amy is a passionate leader and communicator who loves to encourage Christ’s church and its people to discern and fulfill their calling in this life. A former publishing executive, she now spends part of her professional life working at Christianity Today as Editor of GiftedForLeadership.com and marriage & parenting resources for Today’s Christian Woman. She has published articles in Leadership Journal, Christianity Today, Today’s Christian Woman, Relevant, PRISM Magazine, Her.meneutics, ThinkChristian, Christian Singles, Group Magazine, and several others. I have worked for Tyndale House Publishers, Group Publishing, Standard, Gospel Light, Lifeway, Focus on the Family, and Christianity Today.

Her family’s firsthand experience with mental illness provided the inspiration for her new book, Troubled Minds: Mental Health and the Church’s Mission. She’ll be sharing with our readers twice this week. Here’s her guest post to kick off the month, Does Your Church Inadvertently Hurt People With Mental Illness?

In April, news outlets revealed a disturbing practice that’s apparently common in Nevada’s State mental health system, and particularly in its largest psychiatric hospital, Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas.

The hospital, coverage revealed, regularly places people with mental illness on Greyhound buses and sends them to other states. In 2012, Rawson-Neal sent nearly 400 patients to 176 cities and 45 states around the country.

The state claims it’s merely helping people find their way back home, but specific cases show this is not always true. Nevada also claims the state is sending people off with adequate provisions, but again, documented cases call that claim into question.

Is Your Church Like Vegas?

Like Nevada, and all the states those Greyhound busses are bound for, churches are full of people who struggle with mental illness. Each year, 26.2 percent of the American adult population suffers from a diagnosable mental illness. At the same time, an estimated 20 percent of children in the United States are at least mildly impaired by some type of diagnosable mental illness. And about 5 to 9 percent of children ages 9 to 17 have a “serious emotional disturbance.” That translates to millions of individuals and families directly affected by mental illness. Many more are affected by the symptoms of friends, classmates, co-workers, and the people who sit next to them on Sunday morning.

The church is the first place many people go when they’re looking for help of all kinds, including treatment for mental illness. Among people who have sought treatment, 25 percent have gone first to a member of the clergy. This is a higher percentage than those who have gone to psychiatrists, general medical doctors, or anyone else. Unfortunately, many church leaders are ill-equipped to help people get the care they need. And while 25 percent of those who seek help from clergy have the most serious forms of mental illness, studies have shown that clergy refer less than 10 percent of them to mental-health professionals. On top of that, for every person who seeks help, many more stay silent, afraid to admit their illnesses to themselves or to risk the rejection of the people around them.

With so many opportunities to help people in need, how many churches respond as the state of Nevada does?

Some churches actually intentionally reject people with mental illness. In their theological framework, mental illness has no place among God’s people. Those who manifest symptoms are assumed to be demon-possessed, willfully attached to some egregious sin, or lacking the faith they need to claim God’s healing. When they don’t get better by simply praying or exercising more faith, they are considered at fault and not welcome within the fellowship. Such churches misunderstand the true nature of mental illness and need to revisit their theology of illness and suffering of all kinds. Until they do, they are not safe places for people with mental illness or their families and are best avoided.

But most churches do not hold to the kind of theology that overtly blames, rejects, and casts out people whose brains have shown themselves particularly vulnerable to the forces of disease and decay that haunt us all in various ways. Even so, many inadvertently communicate rejection through their policies or culture.

Here are three ways many churches are emulating Nevada, along with some key questions for church leaders.

Uniquely Attractive—and Responsible

As news coverage has pointed out, the city of Las Vegas makes Nevada a unique state: “The city’s entertainment and casino culture draws people from all over the world…including the mentally ill.” The trappings of Vegas may be more likely to attract people with mood disorders, schizophrenia­, and other conditions—and the same may be said for churches. Spiritual experiences, promises of peace and joy, opportunities for community and for communion with God…these elements of church life are understandably attractive to many people with mental illness. Churches have a special responsibility to recognize this and respond intentionally.

-      ­Do you make people with mental disorders feel unwelcome? ignore them and focus on the more attractive new people who walk through your doors, hoping they’ll go away and other churches will meet their needs?

-      In sermons, Bible studies, and classes, do you send the false message that Christians should not expect trouble, pain, or sickness? that happy, comfortable, and “victorious” life is the norm?

-      When was the last time mental illness was mentioned in a sermon, in a way that normalized it?

-      Does your community expect people to have it all together when they walk through the doors?

-      Do you expect people to be “cured” before finding a place to serve?

None of us will ever be whole this side of heaven—and many people with mental illness suffer from chronic and repetitive symptoms that can be managed but not technically cured. These conditions do not cancel God’s purposes for them. They do not disqualify people from a place in the body of Christ. Just as much as other ill or injured people, they deserve loving acceptance, clear and consistent boundaries, and grace.

Next Sunday…Amy will be guest blogging again-her topic: A Call to the Church.

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Mental illness is the sort of thing we don’t like to talk about. It doesn’t reduce nicely to simple solutions and happy outcomes. So instead, too often we reduce people who are mentally ill to caricatures and ghosts, and simply pretend they don’t exist. They do exist, however—statistics suggest that one in four people suffer from some kind of mental illness. And then there’s their friends and family members, who bear their own scars and anxious thoughts, and who see no safe place to talk about the impact of mental illness on their lives and their loved ones. Many of these people are sitting in churches week after week, suffering in stigmatized silence. In Troubled Minds Amy Simpson, whose family knows the trauma and bewilderment of mental illness, reminds us that people with mental illness are our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in Christ, and she shows us the path to loving them well and becoming a church that loves God with whole hearts and whole souls, with the strength we have and with minds that are whole as well as minds that are troubled. Available at Amazon and Christianbook.com.

FREE GIVEAWAY! Every person who becomes a NEW e-mail subscriber to Church4EveryChild between now and May 13th is automatically entered in a drawing for a free copy of Amy’s new book, Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission. Enter your e-mail in the sidebar to your right and you’re automatically registered.

Introducing Amy Simpson…guest blogger for Mental Health Month

May is National Mental Health Month, and our Key Ministry team has lots of great people and resources to share in support of churches seeking to serve families impacted by mental illness.

We’ll be kicking off the month with one of two guest blog posts from Amy Simpson. Amy is an extraordinarily gifted and passionate writer and leader in the church who experienced firsthand the impact of mental illness as the daughter of a mother with schizophrenia. Amy writes for Christianity Today  and is the author of the recently released book, Troubled Minds: Mental Health and the Church’s Mission. Tomorrow, Amy will be guest-blogging on the topic: Does Your Church Inadvertently Hurt People With Mental Illness? On Mothers’ Day, Amy will blog on the topic A Call to the Church.

Check out the video introducing Amy and her family’s story below…you’ll get to meet her and learn more about her new book tomorrow.

I’ll be doing a short series next week in honor of Children’s Mental Health Week examining the obstacles to fixing our country’s broken system of providing care for kids and teens with mental illness and their families and exploring ways in which the church might play a redemptive role in supporting families in need of care. Later in the month (or whenever it becomes available), we’ll be launching a series based upon the publication of the DSM-5, the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. We’ll look at some of the changes in diagnostic criteria likely to impact the care of children and teens, and help parents, church staff and volunteers to become more adept at recognizing the signs and symptoms of mental illness in kids.

Make a point of checking out and sharing Amy’s guest post tomorrow as we kick off our features for Mental Health Month.

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Our Key Ministry website is a resource through which church staff, volunteers, family members and caregivers can register for upcoming training events, request access to our library of downloadable ministry resources, contact our staff with training or consultation requests, access the content of any or all of our three official ministry blogs, or contribute their time, talent and treasure to the expansion of God’s Kingdom through the work of Key Ministry. Check it out today!

Why every mature Christian should have to preach at least once…

I’m absolutely drained this morning.

Every once in a while, I get an invitation to teach for a local pastor during Sunday morning services. I’ll be filling in this Sunday at Martindale Christian Fellowship Church in Canton, OH.

I finished the rough draft of the message yesterday afternoon. I’ve probably spent around 25 hours reading, studying, and preparing for Sunday’s teaching. From the guys I know who serve as teaching pastors, I guess that’s pretty typical. I wanted to make sure I got the bulk of the preparation done well in advance of Sunday, because emergencies tend to happen (especially this time of year) in my specialty and I wanted to be prepared. But my pastor friends deal with emergencies at least as much, if not more than I do.

I probably did more public lectures and presentations last decade than any other doc in my specialty. But I’d often give the same (or a very similar presentation) multiple times, and in a year in which I’d give 200 talks, I’d probably cover 10-15 topics. Pastors have to generate original content every week, and may get the opportunity to publicly rehearse their material two or three times tops before they’re on to the next topic. As an experienced speaker, getting up in church to teach on Sunday morning is harder than anything I’ve had to do in the medical field.

That’s why every mature Christian should have to preach at least once. We’d all have a far greater appreciation for the dedication and commitment required of the folks who put their heads and hearts into sharing with us from God’s Word every week. Make a point of telling your pastor how much you appreciate their dedication and commitment. Take them out to breakfast or lunch or get them a gift card to download more books or resources. Commit to praying for them on a regular basis. And don’t forget to acknowledge the children’s pastor or youth pastor who takes the time to teach your kids with less notice or recognition.

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Our Key Ministry website is a resource through which church staff, volunteers, family members and caregivers can register for upcoming training events, request access to our library of downloadable ministry resources, contact our staff with training or consultation requests, access the content of any or all of our three official ministry blogs, or contribute their time, talent and treasure to the expansion of God’s Kingdom through the work of Key Ministry. Check it out today!

Advancing the movement…

Last week, our Key Ministry team enjoyed the opportunity of sharing and connecting with many of our colleagues involved with disability ministry at McLean Bible Church’s 2013 Accessibility Summit. In the aftermath of the meeting, we experienced great energy and enthusiasm among the leaders of other like-minded ministries for getting together on a more regular basis and working together to advance the “Movement” among churches to become more effective in welcoming and including persons with disabilities and their families.

In the coming weeks, we’re likely to have more discussion of the “how” of developing synergy between diverse ministry organizations. For now, I’ve been giving some thought to what Key Ministry can do to serve our colleagues in ministry in maintaining the energy resulting from the sense that God’s up to something really big. In the same way that we’ve been guided by a set of “Key Strategies” throughout our ten plus years of ministry, leaders in the disability ministry movement might identify and agree upon some common strategies for advancing larger Kingdom goals beyond the scope of the supports and services provided by our individual ministries. I’ll share some ideas about strategies we can all begin to pursue where we’re positioned right now…this is intended to be a starting point to spark discussion, and I’m posting the link to this post on the Special Needs and Disability Ministry Facebook Forum (“friend” me and send me a message if you’re not part of that group and would like to be invited) to encourage other ministry leaders to add their ideas and feedback.

Strategies for advancing the “Movement” among churches to become more effective at including persons with disabilities and their families…First Draft

Leaders and organizations seeking to honor God through ministry to families impacted by disability seek to…

• Be intentional in identifying and pursuing opportunities to collaborate with other like-minded leaders and organizations. Jesus meant for His followers to work together.

• Model a spirit of generosity in sharing ministry resources with other leaders and organizations. We don’t need to expend precious time, talent and resources reinventing the wheel when excellent ministry resources already exist.

• Welcome and include new leaders and ministries to the movement when there’s evidence the Holy Spirit is present in their work. Everyone gets to play!

• Use the communications tools available to our respective organizations to enhance the visibility of resources developed by other like-minded ministries.

• Commit to an “abundance mentality”…the success of one leader or ministry does not take away from other organizations. To paraphrase my teammate (Harmony Hensley)…We can compete with one another when every person in every family impacted by disability has come to know Jesus and is actively using their gifts and talents in a local church. Until then, there’s plenty of work for everyone to do.

• Agree to be “Kingdom builders”…as opposed to builders of individual kingdoms. It’s nice to be recognized as a leader in the church. Individual and organizational agendas need to work in support of God’s larger agenda.

• Identify and mentor the next generation of disability ministry leaders. The disciples were constantly working alongside and mentoring the leaders who would succeed them.

• Demonstrate a willingness to be accountable to one another and to hold one another accountable in accordance with principles outlined in Scripture.

• Establish the habit of offering prayer and encouragement for our like-minded colleagues in ministry. Disability ministry is hard work. When we serve the Kingdom in meaningful ways, we will invariably face adversity. We need one another.

What strategies should be added to the list? What should we take away? What’s stopping us from doing all of these things now?