October 28, 2021
David Wood
Shelter Cove Community Church
4242 Coffee Rd
Modesto, CA, 95357
Dear Parents,
On October 31, 2021, our youth group will be discussing mental health and illness. Mental illnesses are medical conditions that disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning. This will be a difficult topic to cover, but my goal is to get two things across:
1. Jesus doesn't stigmatize mental illness; He was sent to meet all human needs with good news, hope, and freedom.
2. To those who suffer: you are loved, you are valued, and you are not alone.
Mental illness has a lot of power when it is left in the shadows and not discussed openly, so we are going to take that power away from it by defining the more common mental illnesses that affect teens, such as:,
1. Anxiety
2. Depression
3. Bipolar disorder
4. Eating disorders – anorexia and bulimia
5. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
6. Self-Injury
7. Suicide
My goal isn’t to diagnose – it is to equip students and encourage them to open-up and talk to someone if they are dealing with mental illness and to be a resource for a friend or family member who is struggling with it. Thirteen percent or more of youths aged 8 to 15 live with mental illness severe enough to cause significant impairment in their day-to-day lives. This jumps to 21% in youths aged 13 to 18. Mental illness isn’t a life sentence; help is available, and hope is possible.
When we have a physical illness, sometimes we need a doctor. With a mental illness, we may need a doctor or therapist to get better. Regardless, we need to open up and talk about it so that we don’t feel alone.
I am giving your teens resources to take with them that go more in-depth and give descriptions, warning signs, and tips for addressing common mental illnesses.
Three websites that have tremendous resources are:
These sites provide information and help for people with mental illness as well as info for family and friends of people who suffer.
We are not going to shy away from the tough stuff. We will discuss suicide and self-harm and how to seek help for ourselves and others.
The night will conclude with prayer stations where each student will have quiet time to think and pray for a person in their life suffering with a mental illness, as well as time to pray for their own mental health.
Jesus was sent to meet every human need with good news, hope, and freedom. I want our students to know that includes mental health.
You are loved, you are valued, and you are not alone.
In love,
Pastor David Wood
Student Ministries Pastor
Shelter Cove Community Church