Mental Health Resources
The North Carolina Conference Media Center recommends these books, DVDs, and online resources for pastors and churches to use in addressing issues of mental health. Anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference can borrow these resources through the mail, free of charge.
For professional help with mental health, contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness at nami.org or call their Helpline at 800-950-NAMI.
What We Believe
The Book of Discipline, The Book of Resolutions, and The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church include statements about mental health. These foundational texts should be used in local church education and ministry work.
Read The Book of Discipline and The Book of Resolutions online.
Read The Social Principles online.
The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2016, paragraph 162, Section X
The World Health Organization defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”
. . . .
When stigma happens within the church, mentally ill persons and their families are further victimized. Persons with mental illness and their families have a right to be treated with respect on the basis of common humanity and accurate information. They also have a right and responsibility to obtain care appropriate to their condition. The United Methodist Church pledges to foster policies that promote compassion, advocate for access to care, and eradicate stigma within the Church and in communities.
Book of Resolutions 3202: Health and Wholeness
“Health is the ultimate design of God for humanity. Though life often thwarts that design, the health we have is a good gift of God.”
3303: Ministries in Mental Illness
“We believe that faithful Christians are called to be in ministry to individuals and their families challenged by disorders causing disturbances of thinking, feeling, and acting categorized as ‘mental illness.'”
2023: Support for Clergy Families
“Over the past several years, clergy, whether single or married, and their families have continued to express serious concerns for the stresses they bear in their congregations.”
Online Resources
Access these free resources online to support mental health in your congregation and provide resources for your church members to share.
Mental Health Resources
By The North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church
Clergy Care Resources
By The North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church
Clergy Reflections on Mental Health
Faith leaders share their connection to mental health.
Resources for Congregational and Clergy Health
By The General Commission on the Status and Role of Women
Center for Leadership Excellence Webinars
View these archived webinars hosted by the NC Conference Center for Leadership Excellence.
Help! How Can I Respond to the Emotions?
With Amy Thompson
On any given day, children and teens experience a wide range of emotions and we are often left trying to determine how best to support them. Learn how to understand the brain states to form a better response in the moment and discover tools for managing emotional self-regulation. Watch the recording.
Self Care as Spiritual Practice for Leaders of Color
With Donna Coletrane Battle
This webinar, designed for pastors and laity of color, explores self care from a theological and practical perspective as a foundation for prioritizing our health and spiritual formation. Watch the recording.
Resilience: Bouncing Back in Troubled Times
With Alix Felsing
In this discussion about resilience, Alix Felsing will talk about how you can build and restore some equilibrium in uncertain times. Watch the recording.
Hope Always: How to Be a Force for Life in a Culture of Suicide
With Matthew Sleeth
Dr. Sleeth shares a biblical worldview of suicide and offers practical tools church and lay leaders can immediately deploy to become part of the solution to our suicide crisis. Watch the recording.
Online Videos & Tools
Use these videos and tools to learn more about what your faith community can do to support mental health. Share these resources with your church and community.
Mental Health & Care
By Amplify Media
From sadness and anger to depression and suicidal thoughts, this archived webinar series will help pastors and individuals understand and better cope with heightened stress. Watch the webinars.
Abiding in Exile
By The Iowa Conference of The United Methodist Church
This weekly e-newsletter supports the mental health and wellness of lay and clergy leaders living through the pandemic. More details.
Mental Health Ministries
By Mental Health Ministries
Mental Health Ministries was founded by United Methodist minister, Rev. Susan Gregg-Schroeder. It has evolved into a web-based interfaith outreach that offers a wide variety of downloadable print and media resources that can be adapted to the unique needs of each congregation. View resources.
Mental Health First Aid
By The National Council for Mental Wellbeing
Mental Health First Aid is a skills-based training course that teaches participants about mental health and substance-use issues. View resources.
Podcasts
Learn about mental health while you are on the go. Add these to your podcast feed or listen online at these websites.
Instructions for Living a Life
By Chrisie Reeves-Pendergrass and Adam Baker
Stories from the intersections of faith, hope, love, and mental health. Listen now.
Compass Podcast
By Rethink Church
How do you nurture your soul? The Compass Podcast seeks to answer this question by sharing insights on finding something spiritual or the presence of the Divine in day-to-day life. Listen now.
The Church and the Response to the Mental Health Crisis
By The Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Dr. Matthew Stanford speaks about the scope of the mental health crisis and the divine opportunity given to churches to respond in constructive ways. Listen Now.
A Biblical Perspective on Trauma
By The Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Hebrew Bible Professor Paul Cho discusses the nature of trauma and how Scripture is a resource for congregations journeying alongside the traumatized. Listen now.
Small Group Studies
Use these studies in adult small groups to begin conversations around mental health. Teach groups how to care for ourselves and one another.
Soul Reset:
Breakdown, Breakthrough, and the Journey to Wholeness
By Junius B. Dotson
This churchwide DVD study is a call for the church and all of Jesus’ disciples to reset and reorder their lives around spiritual practices, to learn to walk through our difficult seasons with our souls connected to the source of Living Water so that we don’t burn out or break down. More details.
A Crazy, Holy Grace: The Healing Power of Pain and Memory
By Frederick Buechner and Michael S. Poteet
Though time really does help to heal wounds, nothing can erase our memories. In this DVD study, you’ll learn about the healing power of those memories and about how to use past goodnesses and graces from God to close old wounds. More details.
Unafraid: Living with Courage and Hope in Uncertain Times
By Adam Hamilton
In this DVD study, learn to identify fears and discover practical steps for overcoming them…all in the light of Scripture and a faith that promises again and again that we can live with courage and hope. More details.
Joshua: Winning the Worry Battle
By Barb Roose
In this in-depth Bible study for women, join God’s people as they arrive on the edge of the Promised Land only to find themselves in hostile territory. Learn how to fight in faith as you internalize God’s promises, draw strength from God’s faithfulness, act in obedience to God’s commands, and believe what our limitless God can do. More details.
Stress & Burnout
Many of us are still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stress and burnout continue to be realities among us. Use these books to learn strategies for coping with stress so that we can live into God’s calling on our lives.
Clergy Burnout: Surviving in Turbulent Times
By Fred Lehr
In short, insightful, and easily accessible chapters filled with many examples and stories from his own life and the lives of those he has counseled, Lehr identifies the typical forms codependence takes in the life and ministry of clergy. The book concludes with Lehr’s hard-won and carefully distilled words of wisdom for those who serve in turbulent times. More details.
From Burned Out to Beloved: Soul Care for Wounded Healers
By Bethany Dearborn Hiser
This book is Hiser’s story of burnout, self-discovery, and spiritual renewal. But more than that, it’s a trauma-informed soul care guide for all Christians working in high-stress, helping professions. It will equip you to confess your limitations, embrace your identity as a beloved child of God, and flourish in your vocation. More details.
Faithful and Fractured:
Responding to the Clergy Health Crisis
By Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell and Jason Byassee
In addition to physical health, this book treads deep into the territory of mental health and spiritual well-being, and suggests that increasing the presence of positive mental health may prevent future physical and mental health problems for clergy. The authors weave concrete suggestions tailored to clergy throughout the book. More details.
Self-Care
One helpful response and prevention to stress and burnout is self-care. These books offer a Christian perspective on self-care and why it is important to our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.
A Guide to Ministry Self-Care: Negotiating Today’s Challenges with Resilience and Grace
By Richard P. Olson, Ruth Lofgren Rosell, Nathan S. Marsh, and Angela Barker Jackson
A comprehensive and up-to-date overview of both the causes of stress and strategies for effective self-care. This book addresses a wide range of life situations and explores many forms of self-care, from physical and financial to relational and spiritual. More details.
Rest in the Storm: Self-Care Strategies for Clergy and Other Caregivers
By Kirk Byron Jones
Drawing from biblical, theological, and sociological sources as well as personal experience, Jones discusses the fundamental importance of self-care for clergy and other professionals engaged in helping people. This 20th-anniversary edition offers updated and expanded content in both modest and substantial additions throughout. More details.
Four Gifts:
Seeking Self-Care for Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength
By April Yamasaki
Drawing on the ancient scriptural command to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, Yamasaki helps readers think about the spiritual dimensions of attending to your own needs, setting priorities, and finding true rest in a fast-paced world. Find respite from superficial definitions of self-care and move toward deeper engagement with God. More details.
Tending Body, Heart, Mind, and Soul: Following Jesus in Caring for Ourselves
By Mary Jane Gorman
We hear a lot about what Jesus said. But what did he do? How did he live? During the days of his ministry, how did he care for his own body, heart, mind, and soul? In this compelling book, Gorman looks behind and between the words of Jesus to discover his humanity, painting a vivid portrait of the life he called us all to live. More details.
Congregational Care
Use these resources to start or strengthen a congregational care ministry in your church. Pastors and lay leaders will find helpful resources for providing pastoral care.
The Caring Congregation Ministry Care: Implementation Guide
By Karen Lampe and Melissa Gepford
Equips pastors and lay leaders of any size, type, or denomination of church with all the necessary resources needed to build and sustain a Congregational Care ministry. More details.
The Caring Congregation Ministry: Care Minister’s Manual
By Karen Lampe and Melissa Gepford
The Care Minister’s Manual is the personal training workbook and reference guide for Congregational Care Ministers, who serve a central role in the Caring Congregation Ministry. More details.
Crisis Counseling in the Congregation
By Larry E. Webb
This book explores the core competencies, skills, and knowledge available to and needed by pastors so that they can provide suitable care for the most common needs of their members. It provides a basic tool kit including in-depth listening skill, helping questions, various frameworks, and when to refer. More details.
Lay Pastoral Care Giving
By Timothy M. Farabaugh
It is time for clergy and laity to partner in caring for one another. Farabaugh offers a systemic path for pastoral care using the gifts of the laity in the church. Learn to reach out with God’s love and care for others as outlined in this practical book. More details.
Invite Conversation about Mental Health
Use these resources to spark courageous conversations about various mental health issues in your church. The leader tools provide what you need to create a brave space for personal and spiritual growth.
For Caregivers of Youth & Children
If youth and children are a part of your life, whether in ministry or in your family, these resources provide much-needed help in understanding and handling mental health issues with young people.
Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness with Children and Teens
By Sarah Griffith Lund
Remove the barriers of stigma and shame associated with mental illness in children and teens. This book includes practical resources such as prayers and a guide for having age-appropriate talks with children about warning signs and how to get help for themselves and friends. More details.
The Volunteer’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis
By Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock
The authors recommend and detail a program for dealing with crises in a way that will be most helpful for struggling teens. This 4-session DVD study is a helpful, comprehensive guide invaluable to anyone working closely with teens. More details.
When Kids Ask Hard Questions, Volume 2: More Faith-filled Responses for Tough Topics
Edited by Bromleigh McCleneghan & Karen Ware Jackson
The contributors, including Rev. Rhonda Grant Jordan, address 30 tough topics, offering theological perspectives and suggestions for comforting and spiritually guiding children. More details.
For Youth & College Students
These resources are for use with youth and college students to support their well-being. Look below for additional youth resources related to anger and bullying.
The Awakened Life: An 8-Week Guide to Student Well-Being
By Sarah E. Bollinger and Angela R. Olsen
Equip chaplains, collegiate ministers, and spiritual leaders in helping college students navigate emotional disturbance, build resiliency, and learn psychosocial skills. This book teaches age-appropriate mindfulness practices written from a United Methodist lens that students can use to tackle anxiety and learn to navigate the challenges of adulthood with equanimity. More details.
The Awakened Life for High School Students:
Finding Stillness in an Anxious World
By Sarah E. Bollinger and Angela R. Olsen
Students will learn how to connect with their own minds and bodies, expand their understanding of the importance of connection to others, develop connections to nature, and then combine all of these practices to build a resilient, joyful, and awakened life. More details.
A Cry for Help: How to Help a Friend Who is Depressed or Suicidal
Published by Paraclete Press
Featuring Sue Eastgard, President of The American Association of Suicidology, and groups of teens, this DVD talks about how to intervene and get help when a friend is contemplating suicide. It prepares young people to listen and care in one of the most challenging situations they might ever face: stopping a friend from taking his or her own life. More details.
Children’s Picture Books
Read these picture books with children to help them learn how to respond to difficult situations they may encounter.
Eek! Said Amy
By L. J. Zimmerman
Devon is a little boy that introduces readers to his friend Amy the AMYgdala! Through his friendship with Amy, Devon learns that fear helps him stay safe, but sometimes he needs to face his fears. The book shows children ages 3-7 how fear is not always a bad thing; fear can keep us safe and when we face our fears, it can make us stronger. More details.
When God Made Light
By Matthew Paul Turner
This book brings the message of a God-made light that cuts through darkness to bring vision and hope to all young readers. This light radiates, chasing away the shadows, providing the wonder and fun of stargazing or firefly chasing. Most important, this light appears in each child–an inner God-given spark that grows and will be used to change the world. More details.
Bye-Bye Bully! A Kid’s Guide for Dealing with Bullies
By J. S. Jackson
Aided by its little elfin characters, this helpful booklet delves into the who, what, and why’s of bullying-and most importantly, the how’s of thwarting bullies. Kids will learn non-violent ways to assert and protect themselves and when to ask for adult help. More details.
Hands are Not for Hitting
By Martine Agassi
Psychologist Martine Agassi helps young children understand that violence is never okay, that they can manage their anger and other strong feelings, and that they’re capable of positive, loving actions. More details.
Anxiety & Emotions
This Spiritual Growth study from United Methodist Women addresses anxiety for adults and youth and helps children understand how to manage their emotions.
Finding Peace in an Anxious World
Edited by Erin James-Brown
This study uses the book of Proverbs and “The Serenity Prayer” as a guide to help Christians find their way through anxiety, worry, and fear and move towards God’s peace that surpasses all understanding. More details.
Managing Anxiety: A Youth Study
By Trudy Rankin and Faye Wilson
This study provides youth with a foundational understanding of anxiety and other emotions while equipping young people with practical ways they can manage them using our Christian faith as a guide. More details.
Managing Our Emotions: A Children’s Study
By Trudy Rankin and Faye Wilson
Helps children learn about their emotions and accept God’s gift of their entire range of emotions (sadness, joy, excitement, fear, and frustration to name just a few) through four two-hour sessions. More details.
Anger
How should Christians feel about anger? Use these resources with adults and children to explore a Christian response to this emotion.
Angry and Good: A Biblical Approach
By Bert Ghezzi
This DVD study offers biblically-based advice that shows us the best way to handle anger. Under the power of the Holy Spirit, we can transform our anger into occasions of grace. Over time, we learn how to replace anger with behaviors like patience, endurance, and determination to do the right thing. More details.
Christian Reflection: Anger
Published by Baylor University
The contributors to this issue help us discern when is it a necessary spur to recognize and confront evil, and when it becomes a capital vice, or “deadly sin,” we must avoid. The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to help us understand the role of anger in the Christian life. More details.
Handling Anger in Your Home
By Jim Williams
Teaches parents how to manage their own feelings and help their children handle their emotions. The DVD sessions focus on learning the differences between anger and rage, where our negative feelings come from, handling negative emotions in a positive way, and helping children deal with anger. More details.
Love in a Big World: Anger Management
By Tamara Fyke
This social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum for grades 6-8 is both research-based and practical. It provides the supporting resources necessary to empower students to be socially competent, emotionally healthy problem-solvers who discover and maintain a sense of purpose and make a positive difference in the world. More details.
Bullying
Adults and children can learn skills and techniques to confront and prevent bullying.
Owning Up:
Empowering Adolescents to Confront Social Cruelty, Bullying, and Injustice
By Rosalind Wiseman
Created in collaboration with children and teens, this curriculum helps young people identify and be critical of social issues in their lives―from bullying and harassment in the classroom to systems of power and oppression in the world around them. More details.
Bullying: What Every Adult Needs to Know
Published by Paraclete Press
Young people need guidance from the adults in their lives to deal with bullying in a healthy way. This DVD educates adults about what bullying is and what they can do to help the young people in their lives when bullying is a problem. More details.
Stop Bullying! Standing Up for Yourself and Others
Published by Paraclete Press
Through expert advice and students’ real-life experiences, this DVD gives students concrete steps they can take to respond to bullying. Emmy-nominated youth speaker Mark Brown uses his own personal experience with having been bullied as he speaks to kids about the importance of tolerance and respect. More details.
Stop Bullying
By Mike Hall
Join Mike Hall, a former victim of bullying himself and now a nationally sought-after expert in the field, as he explains The Bully, The Target, and How We React in this lively DVD presentation. Most importantly, Mike walks you through the “4 Cs of How to Handle a Bully”: Remain Calm, Get Connected, Be Confident, Learn to Compliment the Bully. More details.
Addiction
Addiction takes many forms and continues to be on the rise. Use these resources to provide care and support to families and individuals in your churches and communities.
Among the Many: Wisdom, Companionship, and Hope for Those Who Have Lost a Loved One to Drug Overdose
Published by Paraclete Press
With testimony from addiction experts, and family members who have walked through this tragic loss, this DVD offers hope for anyone grieving the death of a loved one to overdose. More details.
The Recovery-Minded Church: Loving and Ministering to People with Addiction
By Jonathan Benz with Kristina Robb-Dover
Here you will discover a clinically informed, biblical, and theological framework to love the addicts in your midst and also practical tools to help you succeed in doing so. More details.
Loving Someone with an Addiction
Published by Paraclete Press
Through interviews with experts and with families who have experienced the addiction of a loved one, this DVD will offer hope-filled support in the form of practical information, advice from others who have been there, and the power of shared experiences. More details.
One Day at a Time: Discovering the Freedom of 12-Step Spirituality
By Trevor Hudson
Discover how the Twelve Steps can help you have a closer relationship with God and enable you to live with greater joy and freedom. These practical guiding principles of recovery can help you, whatever your struggle, to reclaim self-worth and renewal. More details.
Depression & Suicide
These resources offer faith-based help for depression and suicide. If in need of immediate or professional assistance, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255.
Learning to Be: Finding Your Center After the Bottom Falls Out
By Juanita Campbell Rasmus
When everything in her life came to a stop, Pastor Juanita Rasmus found that she had to learn to be-with herself and with God-all over again. Offering both practical and spiritual insights, she shares a wise, frank, and witty account of her own story of exhaustion and depression, acting as a trustworthy companion through dark days. More details.
The Lifesaving Church: Faith Communities and Suicide Prevention
By Rachael A. Keefe
Pastor Rachael Keefe shatters the taboo of suicide by sharing her own painful story of life-long depression and suicidality–and how her various faith communities responded, for better and for worse. Reminding us of the Church’s call to be the Body of Christ for each other, Keefe empowers us to recognize the hurting in our communities and recover the lifesaving message of the Gospel that helped her to heal. More details.
Hope Always: How to be a Force for Life in a Culture of Suicide
By Matthew Sleeth
As a physician and minister, Dr. Sleeth shares his personal and professional experiences with depression and suicide, challenging Christians to become part of the solution. With sound medical principles finding their rightful place beside timeless biblical wisdom, this book offers the practical and spiritual tools that individuals, families, and churches need to help loved ones who are stressed and struggling. More details.
Journey Through the Shadows: Hope for Healing After Someone You Love has Died by Suicide
Published by Paraclete Press
This DVD offers encouragement and support to survivors who are both grieving a loved one’s death by suicide and wondering why it happened at all. Advice from experts and family members who have walked this path combines with resources that teach friends how they can help. More details.
Hope
Hope is a Christian and biblical principle that can help those going through troubling times or facing mental illness. These resources help readers discover where their faith can provide hope. For additional resources, view our pathfinder on Weathering Storms.
Looking for God in Messy Places: A Book about Hope
By Jake Owensby
This book is for anyone who has ever been frozen in place by loss or regret or endured suffering, cruelty, or rejection. Quite simply, it is a book about hope. How to find it. How to practice it. How to grow in it. How it makes life worth living. Because when we look for God in the middle of the mess, we find hope. More details.
Hope for Hard Times: Lessons on Faith from Elijah and Elisha
By Magrey R. deVega
Discover how these two great, biblical prophets trusted God to find a way for them. Read these stories, pray, and listen as you receive encouragement and guidance for whatever you are facing today. This 4-session study also offers a separate leader guide. More details.
Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder’s Meditations on Hope and Courage
By Steven Charleston
Choctaw elder and Episcopal priest Steven Charleston offers words of hard-won hope, rooted in daily conversations with the Spirit and steeped in indigenous wisdom. Native America knows something about cultivating resilience and resisting darkness. For all who yearn for hope, this is a book of comfort, truth, and challenge in a time of anguish and fear. More details.
You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Your Turbulent Times
By Max Lucado
With the compassion of a pastor, the heart of a storyteller, and the joy of one who has seen what God can do, Max explores the story of Joseph and the truth of Genesis 50:20. What Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good. This 6-session DVD study offers refreshing assurance. More details.
Build Resilience
We continue to encounter unexpected changes and stressful situations. Use these books to increase your capacity for resilience.
Borrow These Resources
The NC Conference Media Center can loan you the resources listed here through the mail. Anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference can borrow these resources, free of charge.
For a complete list of all our resources on mental health, view the Mental Health Resources pathfinder.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-man-packing-stack-of-books-in-opened-cardboard-box-4498140/