Peer pressure, academic stress, uncertainty about the future, parental pressure, and technology are just some of the more common causes of stress and pressure among young people today. Add to this the challenge of living through the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's little wonder that 1 in 5 teens experience some form of mental illness.

How prepared are parents and leaders in pastoral, faith formation, and youth ministries to recognize and respond to the signs of mental stress 
in our young people, their families, and even ourselves?

Mental Illness Awareness Week is observed annually during the first week of October. The MIAW Project is designed to raise awareness of the signs of mental illness and to explore how we can as a faith community best respond to what we see in others.
 

On This Page

General Information
Program Dates and Descriptions
Presenters
Toolkit
Prayer Cards
Resources

GENERAL INFORMATION

COST.  The programs below are offered FREE OF CHARGE. However, participants will be given an opportunity to make a donation during each program.
TO ACCESS THE PROGRAMS.  The evening programs will be live-streamed  on the Diocese of Davenport Facebook page. The daytime programs will be conducted on Zoom, and pre-registration is required. Register here.
SPREAD THE WORD.  Know of others who could benefit from these programs? Then help spread the word! Download the program flyer and social media posts (see the Toolkit section below),  and share.
BECOME A SPONSOR.  We are committed to providing free access to these programs, but we also have expenses associated with doing so. You can help make these available to all who need them by becoming an MIAW Project Sponsor. Sponsorship levels begin at $25 and max out at $500. Download the Sponsorship Opportunities information sheet, review it, and visit the MIAW Donate page to become a sponsor.
 

PROGRAM DATES & DESCRIPTIONS

Tuesday, October 6 - Helping Hurting Teens

Anxiety, depression, self injury, sexual orientation, suicidal ideation. These are just a few things ministers, catechists, teachers, parents and others involved in the lives of today’s teens face. It can be daunting to help teens who are dealing with these issues. Many adults think “I’m not a psychologist…How can I help these teens?” While there are limits to what non mental health professionals can do, there is much more you can do than you probably think. You’ll leave this session with a better understanding of these issues and with a clearer understanding of the critical role you can play in pastorally caring for today’s hurting teens.

Wedensday, October 7 - Caught Between the Rock and the Hard
                                              Place: Wellness 101

It's no secret that lilfe and ministry are demanding and if we’re not careful, we can lose our mental, physical and emotional health in the process. That is not God’s will for us nor ministry. In this workshop you’ll learn processes and gain tools for greater self-awareness, more effective boundary setting, personal psychological hygiene, and develop better professional and personal relational habits as well as explicit spiritual and religious tools that support them all.

Friday, October 9 - Developing a Pastoral Response Plan

How does a parish or school respond to the signs of mental illness? This workshop will explore the key considerations and resources for developing a pastoral response plan built around a team approach that includes: 1) Fostering Well-Being. 2) Prevention & Awareness. 3) Intervention, Response and Referral. 4) Post-vention & Grief Support. 5) Self-Care Plans. 

PRESENTERS

Roy Petitfils is an internationally recognized expert in understanding and raising teenagers. While he resides in Lafayette, LA where he works as a therapist at Pax Renewal Center, he is an internationally sought after speaker who uses humor, passion, clinical and life experiene to help adults connect with teens and teens to know, understand and love themselves. An award-winning author with several accomplished books concentrating on teenagers, Roy holds a Masters in Mental Health and School Counseling from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. 



Sean Robinson has worked in the Diocese of Columbus Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for over eleven years. He has helped to coordinate diocesan-wide summits to address the opioid epidemic, trauma-informed pastoral care in parishes and schools, and suicide prevention/ intervention/post-vention. Sean has also chaired the NFCYM Youth on the Margins Project Team in the development of Restoring Mercy and Hope to All Young People; A Process for Developing a Comprehensive Pastoral Plan.

 

TOOLKIT for Parishes & Schools

Click to download.

        Full Toolkit (pdf)
        Bishop Zinkula's Letter (pdf)
        Flyer for posting or bulletin stuffer (pdf)
        Parish Bulletin Blurb (Word doc)
        Homily Helper (Word doc)
        Parish Prayers of the Faithful (Word doc)
        Parish Youth Night Outline (Word doc)
        School Newsletter/Backpack Stuffer Article (Word doc)
        School Announcements/Prayer Petitions (Word doc)
                       Social Media Posts to bring attention to the week
                       

PRAYER CARDS

St. Dymphna is the patron saint of mental illness, and St. John of God is the patron saint of hospitals, nurses, and the sick. The prayer cards (that appear in the Toolkit and below) can be purchased for $0.05/each plus postage. Consider ordering a supply to distribute to youth, parnts, and parishioners during Mental Illness Awareness Week. Complete this order form (coming soon) and your cards will be mailed to you along with your invoice.










 

RESOURCES

Youth Mental Heath Resources. This NFCYM page contains numerous links to resources on "Mental Health and Well Being," "Stress, Anixiety, and Depression," "Suicide Prevention," and "Cutting and Self-Injury."

ARTICLES
Adolescent Suicide: Signs, Causes, and Possible Responses by Roberty J. McCarty. A dated article in terms of statistics, but still very applicable in its content.
Teens and Mental Health: An Urgent Need. A 2018 article from OSV (Our Sunday Visitor).
Youth Suicidal Behavior. A resource distributed a few years back by the USCCB as part of their respect life program. 

LESSON PLANS/CURRICULUM UNITS
Faith in an Anxious World: A 4-week High School Curriculum. Today's young people are anxious. This resource developed by the Fuller Institute teaches them they are not alone. (This resource must be purchased.)
Mental Health: Hope, Dignity and Our Compassionate Response - A School Curriculum for Grade 9-10. This resource was developed by Ontario (Canada) Catholic to support teachers in teaching students in grades 9 and 10 about mental health and mental illness. The Grade 9 unit, focused on "Hope and Dignity," contains nine three-part lessons. The Grade 10 unit, focused on "A Compassionate Response," contains ten three-part lessons.
Mental Health: Out of the Darkness, Into the Light. A catechetical lesson plan for teens on mental health.
Totally Mental. This three-week series is an encouragement for those suffering with mental illness and a challenge for Christians who are not. This series helps break the stigma associated with mental illness.
YOUTH MINISTRY ACCESS has three youth programs on mental health. (Subscription needed to access these programs.)
       - Living with Mental Health by Deborah McDonald
       - Giving Pain a Voice: Suicide Prevention by Cathy Becker
       - Suicide - What to do when a friend... by Deborah McDonald

TOOLS
Know the Signs. This California-based suicide prevention social marketing campaign website is very helpful and user-friendly.
mindyourmind is a secular Canadian resource that works with young people to co-create interactive tools and innovative resources for young people aged 14-29 to build capacity and resilience.
NAMI Info Graphics. These one-page sheets from NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) give a quick overview of statistics and tips on each of the topics below.
       - The RIPPLE EFFECT of Mental Illness
       - It's Okay to Talk about SUICIDE
       - Common WARNING SIGNS of Mental Illness
       - You Are NOT ALONE
Say It Out Loud: Speaking with Teens about Mental Health. A tool kit from NAMI to get teens talking about mental health.

AUDIO & VIDEO RESOURCES
BRAVE TEENS is a first-of-its-kind digital community of teen storytellers who are going on the record about their mental health journeys. These are personal, unfiltered accounts from young people who are living with or recovering from a mental illness or substance abuse disorder.
TODAY'S TEENAGER podcast is a free tool for parents, teachers and other caring adults to understand, reach and influence teens. Roy Petitfils and his guests dive into the hard topics of child rearing like communication, bullying, depression and suicide, emotions, perfectionism, sexting, oping, cutting, accompanying LGBTQ teens and more. New episodes every Monday and Wednesday.