Hope for Minds & Hearts
Hope, Knowledge, Prayer & Support
Monthly Focus
July Resources - Building Resilience: Bouncing Back with Strength
Resilience is our ability to adapt and recover from life's challenges, whether it's everyday stress or major setbacks. It doesn't mean avoiding hardship--it means learning to navigate it with flexibility and strength. Developing resilience involves building supportive relationships, practicing self-compassion, maintaining realistic optimism, and focusing on what we can control.
Coping Skills to Try:
(1) When faced with a challenge, pause and ask yourself: "What's another way to look at this?" or "Is God teaching me something through this experience?" Shifting your perspective helps break the cycle of negativity and builds emotional flexibility--a key trait of resilient people. Turning to God or a favorite scripture can help as well.
(2) Set one small, achievable goal each day--like going for a walk, drinking more water, or sending a kind message to someone. Meeting small goals builds confidence and a sense of control, which strengthens resilience in the face of larger challenges.
Link to a roadmap to adapt to life-changing situations and build resilience.
Annual Topic Outline & Schedule
Congregational Depression Awareness Program (CDAP)
Date TBD
We are launching a program to disseminate valuable information about depression to individuals directly and indirectly impacted by depression. Participants will receive instruction, resources, and ongoing support on the following topics:
- Recognizing the signs and symptoms of depression
- Strategies to overcome the stigma associated with depression and other mental illnesses
- Medical and psychosocial treatments for depression
- Assisting individuals who need help identifying and accessing mental health services
- Providing informal (i.e., non-professional) support to complement the professional care individuals suffering from depression are receiving
- Providing guidance and support for individuals who have a loved one suffering from depression
- Recognizing and responding to suicide warning signs
Local and national resources (e.g., National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health America, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention).
Some homework between sessions.
Mental Health Resources
- Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology and How You Can Heal - By Donna Jackson Nakazawa
- Grace for Afflicted - By Matthew S. Stanford
- Out of the Darkness and Into The Light - By Daniel Hale, Ph. D.
- Resurrecting the Person: Friendship and the Care of People with Mental Health Problems - By John Swinton
- The Deepest Well - By Nadine Burke Harris, M.D.
- Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church's Mission - By Amy Simpson
- What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing - By Bruce Perry, M.D., Ph. D. and Oprah Winfrey
- The Noonday Demon: An Atlas Of Depression - By Andrew Solomon
- The Body Keeps The Score - By Bessel Van der Kolk
Annual Mental Health Symposiums
Past Education Series Topics
- Mental Health Overview: What do you think Christ would say about Mental Health challenges?
- Healthy Boundaries: What do boundaries have to do with Mental Health?
- Stigma & Shame:
Bipolar
Anxiety - Power of Empathetic Listening
- Healing Addictions: Yours & Mine with Janet Dagenhart
- Eating Disorders - Dr. Greer Mitchell from Hopeway
- Trauma & PTSD - King Jones from Carolina Family and Maternal Counseling
- Supporting Your Loved One's Mental Health - Christopher Weedom - NAMI
- Understanding Adolescent Mental Health with Brittany Collins, Therapist, Queen City Counseling
- "Depression - Out of the Darkness and Into the Light" - Worship & Luncheon Guest Speaker Dr. Daniel Hale
- It's OK to Talk: Mental Health in Our Community, Kevin Markle, Mental Health America
- Mental Health Issues in Children Ian Murray M.ED, LCMHC
- Broken Men, in God's Image Jay Cobb MA, LMFT, LCMHC
- The Beauty of Anxiety Rev. Bill Roth Myers Park Methodist
- Anxious Nation Documentary Viewing & Panel Discussion with Megan Yaho, M.ED, LCMHC & Ian Murray, M.ED, LCMHC, Southeast Psych
To find out more, please contact Kim Layton at 704-815-1913.
