75 - Children's Mental Health (feat. Dr. Stephen Grcevich)

Content warning: very brief mention of self-injury and suicidality.

The first week of May is Children’s Mental Health Week, and to celebrate we’ve got the second part of our conversation with Dr. Stephen Grcevich! We cover a lot of ground including things to look for in children, the medicating of kids (are we overdoing it?), the rising rates of anxiety & ADHD in children, and helping our kids be resilient. In the intro, Robert & Holly talk about Burger King’s recent campaign “for” Mental Health Awareness Month.

Things we mention in this episode/other resources:
- the first half of this conversation is episode 74 - How Do We Make Our Churches Inclusive for Mental Health? (feat. Dr. Stephen Grcevich)
- National Institute on Mental Illness’s statistics page
- Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls by Lisa Damour PhD
- episode 70 - Teens, Anxiety, & Self-Esteem (feat. Lisa Schab)
- Key Ministry’s resources page

Connect with Stephen on Twitter, online at church4everychild.org, or connect with Key Ministry on their website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Buy ‘Mental Health and the Church: A Ministry Handbook for Including Children and Adults with ADHD, Anxiety, Mood Disorders, and Other Common Mental Health Conditions’ on Amazon.

Quotes:
- “Mental health disabilities are by far and away the most common disabilities that are seen in children worldwide.”
- “There are few medical or mental health concerns that are greater than what we see with kids with anxiety, depression, ADHD, post-traumatic stress disorder.”
- “In any given year, roughly 1 in 3 kids will struggle with anxiety.”
- “About 7.5% of school age kids experience social anxiety.”
- “One of the things I’m struck by is how radically different the demands we place upon kids for academic productivity are now.”
- “It’s not uncommon for me to have 40lb kids in my office with 10lb backpacks.”
- “Some of the anxiety [in children] I think comes from families and the expectations they have for their kids in terms of athletic success, academic success, and interpersonal success.”
- “For some kids with different mental health issues, [social media] is truly a lifeline.”

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Intro/Outro music for this episode is ‘Fall Down’ by Rivers & Robots.