SAFE CHURCH

Mental Health First Aid and Suicide Prevention

Curated by The Office of Youth Ministries for The Episcopal Church 
If you are in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, help is available: 800-273-8255.
Available 24 hours. Languages: English, Spanish. This National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. (Note: the national 988 hotline is not anticipated to be completed until July 2022)
You can also text, 741741 or click here for immediate confidential support.
Statistics on SuicideAccording to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
  • Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the Unites States.
  • In 2018, nearly 48,000 Americans died by suicide and there were 1.4 million suicide attempts.
  • From 1999 through 2018, the suicide rate increased 35%, from 10.5 per 100,000 to 14.2.
  • In 2018, suicide rates were higher in the most rural counties compared with the most urban counties for both males and females.
  • 54% of people who died by suicide in 2016 did not have a known mental health condition.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in August 2020:
  • The prevalence of symptoms of anxiety disorder was approximately three times those reported in the second quarter of 2019 (25.5% versus 8.1%), and prevalence of depressive disorder was approximately four times that reported in the second quarter of 2019 (24.3% versus 6.5%)
  • Mental health conditions are disproportionately affecting specific populations, especially young adults, Hispanic persons, black persons, essential workers, unpaid caregivers for adults, and those receiving treatment for preexisting psychiatric conditions. Unpaid caregivers for adults, many of whom are currently providing critical aid to persons at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19, had a higher incidence of adverse mental and behavioral health conditions compared with others.
  • Approximately twice as many respondents reported serious consideration of suicide in the previous 30 days than did adults in the United States in 2018, referring to the previous 12 months (10.7% versus 4.3%)
In 2018, General Convention passed resolution C014, which recognized that “clergy and adults who work with youth are often on the frontlines of suicide prevention” and resolved that “the institutions and diocesan programs that educate Priest and Deacons be encouraged to offer four (4) hours of suicide prevention education, using evidence-based trainings, for its students, and that dioceses offer similar suicide prevention training for their clergy and adults who work with youth.” In addition, the resolution continued, “that the General Convention urge local congregations to call on state and federal leaders to develop and implement strategies to increase access to quality mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention services.” The resolution was assigned to for implementation to the Department of Faith Formation along with the budget line item of $75,000, which was allocated for the triennium.
In September 2019, leaders in the identified program areas were convened for a day-long “Summit” in Denver Colorado to begin the process of developing suicide education resources and trainings. As an immediate first step, several resources were identified as helpful and relevant. In September 2020, this working group gathered again to continue to refine these resources and, given the dramatic rise in suicide rates, to partner with LivingWorks to provide training for leaders in recognize when someone is thinking about suicide and connect them to help and support. Click here to learn more and enroll in this training.
Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Education and Resources Resources for Indigenous Communities Resources for Hispanic/Latinx Communities LGBTQ+ Resources Resources for Teens and Young Adults Faith Based Resources Training & Advocacy Resources Other Resources Related General Convention resolutions
  • 2009-D011: Reaffirm the Principles with Regard to the Prolongation of Life
  • 2000-A069: Authorize Additions to Supplemental Liturgical Materials
  • 2000-D008: Adopt Diocesan Resolution on Suicide Prevention
  • 1997-C013: Request Study of Theological Implications of End of Life Issues
  • 1994-A056: Amend General Convention Principles on the Prolongation of Life

ORGANIZATIONS

  • Youth Ministry TEC
  • Join Forma, an independent association and community of Christian educators, formation professionals, and institutional partners. Annual conference at Virginia Theological Seminary.
  • Living Compass is a is a faith-based wellness ministry providing resources, coaching, education, training, and support to individuals, families, and congregations.
  • Lifelong Faith provides resources, hosts an annual symposium, and produces Lifelong Faith Journal, free to anyone who joins the mailing list.
  • Building Faith has amazing resources from choosing curriculum, to Lent programs, ad retreat resources. 

Dismantling Racism with Children and Youth

Racial Justice Lesson Plans
Free Lesson Plans for Youth and Young Adults written by Miriam McKinney
We are called to seek Beloved Community. Part of that is seeking racial justice so that we might live in love, trust, and peace.
These lessons will support you on your journey to break down the barriers of systemic racism and oppression to see each other as God’s children and, therefore, siblings. While they are ready to be implemented as they are, please adjust them to your use. Use one scripture passage instead of both. Change the scripture as needed. Write your own prayers.
Each lesson includes prayer, a brief meditation about the theme, questions on each theme, the theme’s connection to the Becoming Beloved Community Four-fold Path, the Baptismal Promise, and the Way of Love, Bible Study, and a theme-related activity.
https://lessonplans.episcopalchurch.org/racial-justice-lesson-plans/
 
Dismantling Racism Youth Curriculum
Rooted in faith, the Diocese of Atlanta developed a Christian formation program specifically for youth (grades 6-12). Dismantling Racism: A Youth Curriculum is a 6-session curriculum will help Middle School and High School youth have conversations about race, become allies, and build relationships to address systemic racism in their context. The goal is to help youth connect their faith with racial healing in our communities.The Leader Guide includes full lesson plans with rich content, experiential learning, and reproducible handouts; access to downloadable videos created by the Diocese of Atlanta; liturgies and prayers; and parent/guardian letters to send out after each of the six sessions, plus content for a parent meeting. Each session is approximately 90 minutes long; the program can be offered as a six-week study, three-day weekend retreat, or in covenant groups over the course of two or three weekends. 
More info about the Leader Guide and Student Journal is available at the CPG website. 
The curriculum is available for purchase AFTER going through a curriculum training. More info on the training HERE. 
Contact Sally Ulrey at [email protected] with questions!
 
Living God's Dream
Rooted in faith, this five-session formation curriculum is designed to help children in grades K-5 understand their own belovedness and the belovedness of their neighbors. Living God’s Dream is a curriculum for children built from activities designed to cultivate the practice of seeing the image of God in everyone. Encouraging children to action, service, and relationships, the curriculum helps children resist ideas that treat others as outsiders. The leader guide includes full lesson plans with rich content and experiential learning, as well as ideas for games, skits, crafts, and snacks. It also includes suggestions for storybooks that can frame each lesson. Developed in conjunction with the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing and field-tested in churches, Living God’s Dream is designed for use in a variety of settings, including Sunday school, schools, and Vacation Bible School.
More information here: https://episcopalatlanta.org/livinggodsdream/
Contact Sally Ulrey at [email protected] with questions!
 
Sowing Seeds in the Sand: 
Explore challenging conversations about race through the lens of God's dream for all creation.
In a world of overly-intellectual trainings with powerpoints and lectures, we offer a different invitation for transformation: stories told in sand. For five years (formerly known as Tell Me the Truth About Racism) we have trained storytellers to host conversations about racism.  Whether for groups of children, adults, or intergenerationally, discover how the ability to wonder about the history of racism opens hearts towards God's dream. Dismantling racism can feel like Good News because it liberates all people. We can host a zoom or in-person event for your community or diocese,  and our newest offering invites those not ready to tell stories themselves to be trained as facilitators. We prepare community leaders to host video presentations of the stories and invite groups in wondering and noticing.  The next facilitator training takes place October 23 & 30 over Zoom. 
For more information: https://www.sowingseedsinthesand.org/event-schedule
Contact [email protected]
 
Breaking Bread, Building Bridges:
A Lunch and Learn Pilgrimage with a Purpose at the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing
Breaking Bread, Building Bridges is a two-hour pilgrimage experience designed especially for 9th–12th graders, though it can be adapted for all ages. At its heart, the program weaves together hospitality, faith, and courageous conversation. We begin by sharing a meal, offering prayer, and grounding ourselves in Christian community and the Baptismal Covenant. The experience then unfolds in three movements—Respect, Realign, and Restore—using short videos and interactive dialogue, through which participants reexamine the stories that shape us, confront how racism distorts God’s dream for humanity, and make justice commitments guided by the seven strategies of the DIGNITY Lens. Rooted in the legacy of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing, the program equips young people to live into their baptismal promises, see with new eyes, and help build communities of dignity and justice. This new offering is part of the Center’s ongoing mission to teach values and build leaders.
If you are interested in experiencing Breaking Bread, Building Bridges as an in-person event at the Center in Atlanta—an ideal student day-trip excursion—or if you would like to learn how to facilitate or replicate this pilgrimage in your own diocese or parish, please contact Sandra Tarver, Director of Programming at: [email protected] 
Website: https://centerforracialhealing.org
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ABOUT YOUTH MINISTRY 

Print & eReaders

Baker, Dori Grenenko. Lives to Offer: Accompanying Youth on Their Vocational Quest (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 2007)

Dean, Kenda Creasy. Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American ChurcH (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010)

Martinson, Roland, Wes Black, and John Roberto. The Spirit and Culture of Youth Ministry: Leading Congregations toward Exemplary Youth Ministry (St. Paul: EYM Publishing, 2010) 

Mercer, Joyce Anne. Girltalk Godtalk: Why Faith Matters to Teenage Girls and Their Parents (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008) 

Pearce, Lisa, and Melinda Lunquist Denton. A Faith of Their Own: Stability and Change in the Religiosity of America’s Adolescents (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011)

Roberto, John. Faith Formation 2020: Designing the Future of Faith Formation (Naugatuck: LifelongFaith Associates, 2010)

Root, Andrew, and Kenda Creasy Dean. The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2011)

Yaconelli, Mark. Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006)


FROM AROUND THE DIOCESE

Happening # 12 – A Light in the Darkness: A Rector's Return
Ten years ago, I led my first Happening at the Claggett Center. Surrounded by the ‘church camp’ family I had built for myself over four years of service and ministry across the United States and Maryland, I spoke to my peers about finding God in the ups and downs of life. Our theme for Happening #2 in 2009 was “Life is a Rollercoaster,” and together we spent our weekend remembering to trust God in the lows, as easily as we turned to Him in the highs that life hands us. As I spoke that weekend, I remember feeling I was like closing a door on a chapter of my life. That Happening was the last Maryland Diocesan Youth Event I attended for ten years. It was also the last time I attended church for ten years.
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The Eye of the Storm: Campus Ministry Alternative  Spring Break
When most people hear the word “hurricane,” the first thing they think of is either Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Sandy; as for the residents of Lumberton, North Carolina, they think of Hurricane Matthew.
Lumberton, NC is a small town in Robeson County, one of the most diverse in the state, but most interestingly one of the homes of the Lumbee Tribe, the fourth largest Native American Tribe in the nation. Lumberton, however, was also not very financially privileged before the events that occurred between September 28th and October 18th, 2016, with a third of its population beneath the poverty line. To protect the big corporations in town that were stimulating the economy of the town from flooding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a dike. This would come back to bite them in the rear, since it ran alongside the Lumber River.
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Combined Youth Groups Use Theater to Discuss Racism
In a recent Sunday morning service, Crystal Johnson, youth director at Asbury-Broadneck United Methodist Church on the Broadneck peninsula, welcomed guests from nearby St. Margaret's Church and asked them to stand. The service that morning focused on a civil rights program that was written by an Asbury youth member focused on the idea that it takes all kinds of people -- white, black, Christians, Jews, men, and women -- to help secure the civil rights of all.  After his visit, St. Margaret's Director of Family Ministries Jenelle Mejia then reached out to youth director Johnson, trying to come up with ways their children and youth could connect. To celebrate Black History Month at Asbury, a youth member had written the play on civil rights, and St. Margaret's youth were asked to perform multiple roles.
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