The National Institute of Mental Health reports that one in five U.S. children and adults have a diagnosable mental health condition, and attributes of common mental health conditions often create barriers to church attendance and engagement for persons with mental illness and their families. Participants in this intensive, led by Dr. Steve Grcevich of Key Ministry, Catherine Boyle of Outside In Ministries, Brad Hoefs of Fresh Hope and Jolene Philo will be introduced to a model for outreach and inclusion of children and adults with a broad range of mental health conditions into weekend worship services and other ministries and activities that serve as catalysts to spiritual growth and will be provided with the necessary tools for crafting a mental health ministry strategy consistent with the unique mission and calling of their church. Registration includes a copy of Mental Health and the Church by Dr. Grcevich, along with Key’s Mental Health Ministry Planning Tool.

1. Developing a Mental
Health Inclusion Strategy
in Your Church
Stephen Grcevich, MD
President and Founder, Key Ministry
Inclusion Fusion Live Ministry Intensive
April 20, 2018

2. Building a bridge between
two worlds…

3. Why hasn’t the church
embraced mental health
inclusion ministry?
• Stigmatization
• Failure to recognize how the presence of common
mental health conditions might limit church
participation
• Variable levels of understanding of mental illness
among pastors, church leaders
• We don’t have a ministry model

4. A different way of thinking
about mental health ministry
How do we connect churches
and families impacted by
mental illness for the purpose
of making disciples of Jesus
Christ?
• Why mental illness is
different from other
disabilities
• Why church participation is
difficult
• What would a mental health
inclusion model for churches
look like?

5. How do we define
“disability”
• “A person who has a mental or physical
impairment that substantially limits one or more
major life activities, a record of such an
impairment, or is regarded as having such an
impairment.”
• An impairment that substantially limits one
major life activity need not limit other major life
activities to be considered a disability

6. How we understand
disability in the church
Disability Ministry Special Needs Ministry

7. How is mental illness different
from other disabilities?
• Often episodic
• Hidden
• Situation-specific

8. Can someone be “disabled” at church
and function well in other life
activities?

9. Why is church involvement
so difficult?
• Attributes of common
mental conditions
cause difficulty
functioning in
common ministry
environments.
• Church culture – our
expectations for how
people should act
when we gather
together

10. What might an effective
mental health inclusion
strategy look like?

11. A foundation for a mental
health inclusion ministry model
• Recognition of how non-essential attributes of
our ministry environments and practices
interfere with participation for children and
adults with common mental health conditions
• Implementing a set of strategies across your
ministry environments to help individuals and
families join activities most critical for spiritual
growth.

12. What gets in the way of
church participation for
families affected by mental
illness?

13. Seven barriers to including families
impacted by mental illness at
church…
• Stigma
• Anxiety
• Capacity for self-
discipline-executive
functioning
• Sensory processing
differences
• Necessary social
communication skills
• Social isolation
• Past experiences of
church

14. How might we help
individuals and families
affected by mental illness
become more active in our
church?

15. Seven strategies for promoting mental
health inclusion (TEACHER)
• Assemble your inclusion team
• Create welcoming ministry environments.
• Focus on ministry activities most essential to spiritual growth
• Communicate effectively
• Help families with their most heartfelt needs
• Offer education and support
• Empower your people to assume responsibility for ministry

16. Who needs a seat at the table?
Building an inclusion team
• Senior leadership
• Ministry directors on
church-wide
implementation team
• Ministry departments
may have their own
team
• Consider gifts, talents,
passions of church
members, attendees

17. Welcoming ministry
environments…
• Promote focus, attention
• Help attendees prioritize
most important
takeaways
• Support those with
difficulty processing
directions.
• Sensory stimulation
engaging, not
overwhelming
• Supports kids in
maintaining self-control

18. Inclusion in high-impact ministry
activities
What do you MOST want
people to do to grow in faith?
Prioritize that!
• Weekend worship?
• Small groups?
• Prayer/family
devotions/serving

19. Communicating about mental
illness
• Preach it from the pulpit!
• What NOT to say
• Pictures, video
• Bulletins, printed
materials
• E-communication
• Social media
• Online church inclusion
• Inclusion “concierge?”

20. Helping families with their most
heartfelt needs…
• Casseroles
• Respite
• Referral services
• Counseling
• Special worship services
• After-school programs
• Parent advocates for kids
on 504 plans, in special
education
• Tutoring at-risk kids

21. Education and support
• Fresh Hope
• “Grace Groups” –
individual, family,
PTSD curriculums
• NAMI Family to
Family, Peer to Peer
• Diagnosis-specific
groups (CHADD)

22. Empowering your people to assume
responsibility for ministry
• Inviting
• Responding to needs
• Grabbing a mop
• Relational respite
• Business cards with
respite invitations
• 1:1 discipleship
• Parent mentors
• “Ministry of presence”

23. Using the ministry planning
tool…

24. What might our planning
process look like?
• Leaders in each ministry area might identify
potential barriers, useful strategies within their
area of responsibility.
• An alternate approach might be to focus on a
strategy (or several strategies) and implement
the strategy across your ministry departments
or environments.
• Assigning responsibility for the plan (or
components of the plan) with deadlines for
implementation important.

25. Meet the Phillips Family…
• Josh is “neurotypical.” His friend from
school invited him to your VBS. Josh
had a great time and wants to come
every Sunday.
• Jennifer (daughter) struggles with
separation anxiety
• Tammy (mother) has social anxiety
disorder and agoraphobia
What challenges might they
face the first time they attend
a weekend worship service at
your church?
How would your church
serve them?

26. Stigma as a
barrier…
WHAT THEN IS WRONG
WITH THE “MENTALLY
ILL?” THEIR PROBLEM
IS AUTOGENIC; IT IS
WITHIN THEMSELVES.
Jay Adams
• Mental illness defined
as sin or a parenting
problem
• If it’s not a disability,
why would disability
ministry serve them?
• Widespread perception
they’re not welcome at
church

27. Overcoming Stigma…
Key Strategies
• A comprehensive mental health communication
plan
• Providing mental health education and support
groups
• Serving the needs of persons with mental
illness in your community
• Using your people to change perceptions of the
church’s receptiveness to individuals with
mental health issues

28. A perception we need to
overcome among outsiders

29. Talking about mental illness

30. The challenge involved with helping
those who won’t self-disclose…
Church… Helping them fit in
• Consider interventions to
help all kids, families
• Review registration
materials
• Communicating with
parents
• Floating support in your
children’s, student
ministries

31. Anxiety as a
barrier…
CORE DIFFERENCE:
PEOPLE WITH ANXIETY
MISPERCEIVE RISK IN
UNFAMILIAR
SITUATIONS
• Social anxiety
• Separation anxiety
• Agoraphobia
Fears specific to church:
• Fear of scrutiny
• Performance worries
• Anxiety results from
lack of faith

32. What strategies are most important
for overcoming anxiety?
• Identifying challenges in assimilation to
weekend worship, small group activities
• Examining how your church prepares
prospective visitors and long-time attenders for
new experiences
• Your channels for communicating – and
supporting the communication needs of
persons with anxiety
• Empowering your people to help friends and
neighbors with anxiety to navigate potential
landmines?

33. What church activities are challenging
for persons with anxiety?
Children/Teens
• Separating from
parents at worship
• Speaking in front of
peers
• Retreats/mission trips
• Self-disclosure in small
groups
• Transitions between
age-group ministries
Adults
• Visiting a church for the
first time
• Meeting new people
• Using the phone
• Joining a small group
• Volunteering

34. Preparing for
an initial
visit…
Offer the child/family a tour
of the church before the
first visit –familiarize them
with your environments.
Share pictures, video of
their leaders, teachers
Include lots of pictures of
worship services on your
website, video of your
worship services

35. Tips for church staff and
volunteers for kids with anxiety
• Don’t call attention to an anxious child
• Avoid interventions that make them feel “different”…
buddies, being part of “special needs ministry”
• Train greeters to observe for problems at “drop-off”
• Designate a private place for kids/parents in distress
• Watch for kids who are alone
• Offer to meet with parents when a child’s anxiety
appears to interfere with ministry participation
• Remember…anxiety generally decreases with
experience (exposure)

36. Ideas for including adults
with anxiety
• Role for a mental health liaison
• Alternative path for connecting with groups
• Reserved seating (end seats, near exits) or
alternative seating outside the sanctuary
• The role of your media team
• Alternative paths for communication
• A role for your media team
• How regular attendees can support friends

37. Executive
Functioning
as a barrier…
COGNITIVE ABILITIES INVOLVED
IN MODULATING OTHER
ABILITIES AND BEHAVIORS
• Behavioral inhibition
• Verbal working
memory
• Non-verbal working
memory
• Emotional self-
regulation
• Reconstitution

38. Strategies for overcoming
executive functioning challenges
• Addressing stigma toward persons who
struggle with self-control
• Minimize stimulation, distractions that detract
from cognitive capacities for self-control,
learning
• Adaptations in teaching, communication
• Prioritizing most relevant, important content
• A role for your congregation in providing
accountability

39. Who said this?
“A respectful and mannerly
5-year-old unbeliever is
better for the world than a
more authentic defiant,
disrespectful, ill-mannered,
unbelieving bully. The
family, the friendships, the
church, and the world in
general will be thankful for
parents that restrain the
egocentric impulses of
their children and confirm
in them every impulse
toward courtesy and
kindness and respect.”

40. Helping kids who struggle to regulate
emotions and behavior…
Church Helping them fit in?
• Friendly physical
environments
• Sequence of activities?
(high-energy last?)
• Supervise transition times
• Developmentally-
appropriate content
• Some may be better with
physical activity, movement

41. The more they have to process, the
less capacity they have for self-control

42. Communicating for
Change…

43. Easy to follow signage…

44. Better at doing than
listening?

45. Relationships are important
for accountability!

46. Sensory
processing as
a barrier…
PERSONS WITH SENSORY
PROCESSING DIFFERENCES
MAY EXPERIENCE AS
AVERSIVE NOISE, LIGHT,
TOUCH AND SMELLS THAT
OTHERS FIND ENGAGING
Challenges for kids:
• Pick up and drop-off times
• High energy worship
• Aggression
Challenges for adults:
• Greeting times (hugging,
handshakes)
• High-energy worship
• Multiple conversations in
close proximity

47. Minimizing obstacles from
sensory processing differences
• Common among persons with autism. Also
seen in…
• ADHD
• Anxiety disorders
• Persons without a mental health diagnosis
• Hypersensitivity AND hyposensitivity

48. Predominant strategy: A sensory-
friendly ministry environment
• Sound (volume,
simultaneous
conversations)
• Lighting
• Flooring
• Window treatments
• Wall color
• “Fragrance-free” zones
• Seating
• Dress code

49. Where to start in becoming
sensory-friendly?
• Consider starting
with…
• Entrances
• Worship spaces
• Children’s/student
ministry spaces
• Vacation Bible School
• Sensory-friendly
movies
• Online church

50. Social
communication
as a barrier…
WHAT CHALLENGES
MIGHT SOMEONE
ENCOUNTER AT CHURCH
IF THEY STRUGGLE TO
PICK UP ON SOCIAL
CUES?
• Body language
• Tone, inflection of voice
• Facial expressions
Church-specific
challenges:
• Small groups
• Small talk
• Bullies
• Unfamiliar situations

51. Two key concepts…
• Most persons who
struggle with social
communication desire
authentic friendships
• Despite the struggles
to participate in
church life, many
desperately want to
belong to a church

52. Welcoming persons with social
communication challenges
• Extending
opportunities for
friendship
• Address bullying
• Alternative paths for
discipleship
• Options for electronic
communication

53. Additional ideas for supporting kids
with social communication challenges
• Address sensory
component of ministry
environments
• Let them use precocious
gifts to serve others
• Identify “friendly” small
groups
• Provide opportunities to
rehearse new
experiences
• Alternative paths of
discipleship (mentoring)

54. Social isolation
as a barrier…
HOW DO FAMILIES FIND
YOUR CHURCH IF THEY
DON’T CONNECT WITH
FAMILIES ATTENDING
YOUR CHURCH?
• Kids seen as less
desirable friends
• Less involved in
extracurricular
activities
• Time, financial
burdens of pursuing
treatment
• Lack of affordable
child care leaves
parents with fewer
social outlets

55. Strategy for overcoming social isolation
Mobilizing your church
• Who has relationships that bring them in
contact with affected individuals, families?
• Take the church to them!
• Small groups
• Christian-based support (Grace Groups, Fresh
Hope)
• Online church
• Relational respite

56. The importance of closing
your back door…
• Persons with
depression may
begin to isolate
themselves after long
periods of church
involvement
• What systems are in
place to follow up
with regular attenders
who are absent?

57. Past experience
of church as a
barrier…
THE APPLE OFTEN
DOESN’T FALL FAR
FROM THE TREE!
• Children of parents with
bad (or no) church
experiences aren’t
going to church
• Kids depend on parents
for transportation
• Parents struggle with
mental health issues
too!
• Inconsistent attenders?

58. Strategy-Disrupt multigenerational
absence from church
• Change perceptions of
church through
provision of service,
support
• Coming alongside
parents of faith raising
kids with mental health
concerns
• The need for an
inclusion plan
supporting kids and
adults

59. Mental Health Ministry is
Family Ministry!

60. A family-based approach to
mental health ministry
• Leveraging the influence of parents, extended
family
• The importance of the “4 to 14 window”
• Coming alongside divorced parents
• The role of adults from outside the family
• Reinforce important faith concepts taught at home
• Provide support when affected parents are
struggling

61. Including kids…when parents have
mental health concerns
Church… Helping them fit in
• Parents of kids who are
inconsistent attenders?
• They may need more
reminders to come
• Watch for folks who
haven’t attended for
some time
• Community helps with
accountability

62. Defining the “win”
• Your ministry achieves a win when any family
member of someone with mental illness has a
meaningful encounter with your church.
• Persons with mental illness have spouses,
parents, sons, daughters, siblings who need
churches too!
• Mental health ministry and foster care/adoption
ministry go hand-in-hand

63. Putting the model
into practice…

64. For children’s/family
ministry staff, volunteers
• What are some strategies you might implement
to help kids prone to impulsivity and
distractibility to fully benefit from your ministry
programming?

65. For student/youth ministry
pastors and volunteers
• What steps might you take to help more kids
who are anxious, shy or with less well-
developed social skills take part in your
worship activities, small groups and special
events (retreats, mission trips)

66. For pastors, staff and volunteers in
adult, discipleship ministries
• What processes might you put in place to
minister with individuals/families with a
connection to your church who become socially
isolated as a result of their own mental illness,
or mental illness in their family? What about
persons in the larger community?

67. For pastors and ministry leaders
involved with missions, outreach
• What are some components of a ministry
strategy to share Christ’s love with individuals
and families impacted by mental illness in the
communities you serve?

68. For executive pastors, church administrators
and social media directors
• What would a communication strategy look like
that addresses the needs of individuals and
families impacted by mental illness who are
already connected with your church, as well as
persons in the surrounding community with no
connection to a church?

69. For senior pastors and
leaders
• How would you help your people to take
ownership in addressing the seven barriers to
church participation we’ve outlined?

70. Questions and
Discussion

71. After lunch…
Three ideas for your church
• Jolene Philo on becoming a trauma-informed
church
• Brad Hoefs (Fresh Hope) on a mental health
support model your church can implement
• Catherine Boyle (OutsideIn Ministries) on
creating a role for mental health liaisons in your
church

72. Taking the Next
Step…Together
Stephen Grcevich, MD
President and Founder, Key Ministry

73. Key considerations for an effective
mental health inclusion strategy…
• Inclusion is a mindset – not a program
• Buy-in from senior leadership is absolutely essential
• A good strategy benefits everyone and doesn’t require anyone to
self-identify
• Consider creating a role for a mental health inclusion coordinator
or “concierge”
• Ministry is owned by the people, supported by church staff
• No church will be able to include everyone with mental illness, but
every church can welcome, serve and include more people with
mental illness

74. The First Step…
• Senior pastors
• Pray for discernment
• Pursue buy-in from
staff, board
• Church staff,
volunteers
• Approach senior
leadership for support,
guidance
• Developing a personal
ministry
• Respect church leaders
• “Be the church” where
you’ve been planted

75. Coming Alongside Your
Ministry

76. Key Ministry promotes meaningful
connection between churches and
families of kids with disabilities for
the purpose of making disciples of
Jesus Christ.
Free training, consultation, support and resources
What Does Key Ministry Do?

77. Help from Key Ministry
• Training
• Conferences
• Video training
• Book study
• Consultation
• Available to church teams
• Resources
• Networking with other ministries
• Social media, sermon videos, research to support your
ministry
• Support

78. Connect with Key Ministry
• www.keyministry.org
• Twitter: @KeyMinistry
• www.facebook.com/keyministry
• www.keyministry.org/contact/

79. Stay in Touch!
Key Ministry Website: http://www.keyministry.org
Church4EveryChild…Key Ministry Blog:
http://www.church4everychild.org
www
http://www.facebook.com/keyministry
http://www.pinterest.com/keyministry/
http://twitter.com/#!/drgrcevich
http://twitter.com/#!/KeyMinistry