Together with Children
About this blog
Together With Children is the blog of the Office of Child Advocacy.
Recent posts
- Media Violence is Violence, Too
- Fragile Children in Fragile Families
- Home: A Safe Place for Children?
- The Vanishing Culture of Civility
- When Violence Supercedes Dialogue
Categories
Archives
Pray for Children Living With Mental Illness
October 7, 2011
Leading up to the twentieth anniversary of the National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths, focus your prayers today on the children and youth living with mental illness. This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week. The National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) reports that:
One in 10 children has a serious mental health condition, but only one-third receive treatment.
Half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14 and three-quarters begin by age 24.
On average, eight to 10 years pass from when symptoms of mental illness begin to when they get treatment.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth ages 15-24.
At a time of recession when the stresses on families have increased on all fronts, mental health services for children and adolescents have experienced devastating state budget cuts. Federal mental health block grants have been reduced or frozen over the past 10 years. Pray for children and youth who may be experiencing the first symptoms of a serious mental illness and yet go undiagnosed.
Compassionate God,
We pray for children and young people who are living with mental illness, and for the families that love and care for them.
For those whose journey is just beginning and who do not yet know the path they travel, grant them companions for the journey.
For those who experience despair and uncertainty as their feet trace a road that is known and yet unknown— for obstacles to be overcome and turns that cannot be anticipated—grant them insight in recognizing and cherishing times of joy and discovery.
By your Spirit, hold all these children and their families in the palm of your hand. By your Spirit, stir us to surround them with the love of Christ. Amen.
- Posted at 7:23 a.m.
-
- Tweet