It’s October, which means here at Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries we are running a mental health awareness campaign. October 6-12 is Mental Illness Awareness Week (in Canada and the United States) and October 10 is World Mental Health Day, so this is a good month to focus on raising more awareness around mental health and mobilizing efforts to support mental wellbeing.
This year, our focus is on all things youth. Our team has been working on developing The Sanctuary Youth Series, and we are eager to share it with you, along with some key insights into youth mental health. Throughout October 2024, you can expect to see helpful statistics, a teen’s lived experience story, a blog post from one of our youth advisors, more information about The Sanctuary Youth Series, and other inspirational content that you can share too!
The theme for this year is, “It starts with YOUth: Mental health from Gen A to Z.”
We believe at Sanctuary that reducing stigma around mental health starts with you, and includes every generation. Whether you are a pre-teen or teen, a youth ministry leader or volunteer, or a parent or caregiver, each of us has a role to play in the mental health of youth today. There is an opportunity for all of us to care and participate in conversations about mental health in our churches and communities. These conversations can help reduce stigma and encourage young people to find support.
Did you know that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age fourteen, and three-quarters by age twenty-four?1 That’s exactly why we wanted to create a resource—The Sanctuary Youth Series—that would reach young people. By opening up conversations about mental health at an early age, this resource will help young people grow in awareness of their own mental health, reduce stigma, and offer support to others. They will learn how to care for their mental health when it’s languishing, as well as when and how to seek help before arriving at a crisis point. By exploring this topic in a church setting, they will also see that mental health and faith do overlap, and explore important questions around this intersection.
Youth are talking about mental health already, but it is mostly with their peers. Only 34% of young people say they are comfortable talking to the adults in their lives about mental health, and the majority of young people (61%) agree with the statement, “the adults in my life don’t truly know how much I am struggling with my mental health.”2 So parents, caregivers, teachers, pastors, or youth ministry leaders may not be the first individuals that these young people reach out to when they are languishing. Intergenerational conversations within the Church about youth mental health are important. Youth should feel able to speak to trusted adults in their life, like their caregivers and youth ministry leaders. When they do, they are more likely to be resilient. That’s why we made a comprehensive Facilitation Guide for youth ministry leaders who are facilitating The Sanctuary Youth Series, as well as a guide for parents and caregivers with information and resources to be better equipped to continue the mental health conversation at home.
As we conducted research while designing this youth resource, we asked young Christians to tell us the most important message someone needs to hear when going through a hard time. The most popular choice was: “You are not alone and God is with you.” The second most popular choice was: “Your church community is here to walk alongside you.” Let’s pass on the hope of this promise from Hebrews 13:5 that God will never leave us nor forsake us. He is there with us on our mental health journeys, whether we are flourishing or languishing, with a diagnosed mental illness or not.
How might your actions, your care, your hope, and your openness to conversation, create a ripple effect in the life of a young person? Engaging with youth about their mental health at home and in the Church can help them right now and later in their lives too, as they learn to care for their mental health and integrate their faith and mental health journeys.
Check out session one of The Sanctuary Youth Series when it launches! Commit to run it in 2025.
Our hope is that churches around the world would make use of The Sanctuary Youth Series in their youth ministries to engage young people in these important conversations about mental health. It is one way to demonstrate a church’s commitment to care for both the mental health and faith development of young people.
You might be wondering, what is this resource like, and who can facilitate it? You don’t have to be an expert to talk to youth about mental health. The Sanctuary Youth Series provides everything you need to begin the conversation, using engaging films, discussion questions, exercises, and more. There’s a thorough Facilitation Guide for leaders and a guide for parents and caregivers. Everything you need will be free to access through Sanctuary’s website.
We are excited to share that session one will be completed and released on the portal this month! You’ll be able to explore it and get excited for the full release of The Sanctuary Youth Series in January 2025.
Would you consider committing to run The Sanctuary Youth Series? By pledging, you are joining a community of people around the world who are investing into the young people in their lives. Check this map where you can see all the people who have pledged for their youth ministry already.
And bonus: every person that signs up will receive free posters on youth mental health for their youth ministry.
Other ways to get involved
Perhaps you are not a youth leader or minister yourself, but you love the idea of The Sanctuary Youth Series and you want to help out in some way. That’s fantastic! Here are a few other things you could do:
- Share about The Sanctuary Youth Series with others
- Follow Sanctuary on Instagram, Facebook, and X to see our mental health awareness month posts
- Sign up for the youth newsletter to receive updates on the youth resource development
- Donate to help The Sanctuary Youth Series reach youth in faith communities around the world
[1] Ronald C. Kessler, G. Paul Amminger, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Jordi Alonso, Sing Lee, and T. Bedirhan Üstün, “Age of onset of mental disorders: a review of recent literature,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 20, no. 4 (2007): 359-364, https://doi.org/10.1097/YCO.0b013e32816ebc8c
[2] Springtide Research Institute, The State of Religion & Young People 2022: Mental Health—What Faith Leaders Need to Know, (Springtide Research Institute, 2022), 11.
Header photo by Sam Poullain on Unsplash
MADDIE GARCIA
Maddie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and has worked as a social media manager and digital marketer in ministry settings for over five years. In her Masters of Communications, Maddie researched marketing best practices for non-profit organizations with a special focus on campus ministries. Through her experience as an online mentor for teens and young adults, she learned the importance of loving others through listening.