Sometimes during the day, I pause from the work of ministry to look at this bowl, in order to remember what kind of work is ministry. We are new creations remade from the broken pieces of old creation. When we encounter the challenge of mental and emotional health, we feel this labor acutely. Elijah was …

How did you first realize that you had a mental health issue? I’ve struggled with depression most of my teenage years, but I never had a name to what I was experiencing. I didn’t know what to call it, I just knew that I battled with sadness. When I was 26 years old, an event …

Consistent Overall Rates According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), nearly 20 percent of adults experience at least one mental illness at any point in time. As reported by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, for children and teens, approximately one in six experienced a mental disorder in the most recent year studied. …

Clarify Be clear on what type of services you are providing. Are you offering long-term therapy or a brief mental health check-in? Are you doing some form of mental health assessment? Or perhaps you are providing increased pastoral counseling during this time. Even more likely, you’ve got volunteers who want to be there for those …

But the threats are not merely external. We face internal threats as well. Many are anxious or depressed or grieving. Others are full of anger. There is no end in sight. The pandemic has exposed and escalated other crises. Confronting death, living isolated lives, and experiencing continual fear have significantly increased the level of trauma. …