WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?The country is paying attention to teen mental health — and rightfully so. The Christian community can be an integral part of this solution as a support network to the medical experts and those qualified in dealing specifically with life changing and life-threatening challenges. It’s essential that church leaders provide a spiritual foundation for our students and families struggling with these trials. We believe our teenagers will thrive when they are supported to navigate their current discomfort and depression, and ultimately learn to manage the power of their emotions. Teens thrive when we build upon their strengths and while Jesus Christ is an essential element of healing a child’s body, mind and soul, we also believe we must empower parents with the knowledge of how much they matter in their teens’ lives. Adults given the strategies to help young people thrive and the steps to take when they think a teen is having mental or emotional distress can be critical to saving a child from despair, or worse, suicide.
TEACHER MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION
Almost 200 teachers gathered from 9 am-noon on 2/5 as Karla Hutcherson, M.Ed., LPC-S, reminded us of this helpline, and MUCH more helpful information to notice when kids are struggling beyond typical teenage challenges. Karla’s the owner of Lifeline, a private counseling practice in Dallas, and is the Partner of Mental Perk and the Co-host of the Mental Perk Podcast, https://www.mentalperk.org/ , and she and her partner, Brandi Mock, did a great job today. First United Methodist Church is thankful for the grant from the North Texas UMC Conference that allowed us to sponsor this incredibly informative teacher workshop to understand more about teen mental health and suicide awareness.
