After a workshop I facilitated on working with kids who have been abused, an elderly woman approached me to ask me a question. She shocked me with the simplicity and depth of the question. Here’s what she said, “I love the kids in my community but I don’t know how to connect with the. I [...]
Archive for the ‘Substance Abuse’ Category
Would Jesus Sit In The Smoking Section With A Gay Huckleberry Finn?
Posted: November 23, 2010 in Drug Abuse, LGBTQ Youth, Self-Injury, Substance Abuse, Teens, Youth MinistryTags: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, AIDS, God, Huck, Huck Finn, Jesus, Mark Twain, Samaritan
In Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck wrestles through a moral dilemma about demonstrating true friendship to a stigmatized person of his day – a man who bore a dual stigma of being black in a racist society and slavery in an exploitative one. To help his friend Jim escape meant violating not only [...]
The Anatomy Of Honesty
Posted: October 25, 2010 in Drug Abuse, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Teen Dating Violence, Teens, Youth MinistryTags: Dishonesty, God, Health, Honesty, Philosophy, Substance Abuse, Youth
We encourage students to explore the role of honesty and confession as a discipline in the Way of Jesus. Issues relevant to this topic include: What is the cost of dishonesty? When is it safe to confess? What if the other person doesn’t accept honesty? “I haven’t told my parents that I use pot. I [...]
Roles Of Children In Dysfunctional Families
Posted: July 6, 2010 in Adolescent Development, Depression, Drug Abuse, Mental Health, Parenting, Substance Abuse, TeensTags: Dysfunctional Families
When we think of a DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY it’s like a machine which is run by gears with weak or cracked cogs. As one cog breaks it puts more stress on the other cogs of that gear and then on other cogs of other gears. Eventually the whole machine shuts down. DYSFUNCTION means just that: unable [...]
2nd Annual Abbey’s Walk
Posted: June 23, 2010 in Addiction, Drug Abuse, Grief, Mental Health, Substance Abuse, TeensTags: Addiction
In March of 2009, our community lost one of our young people, Abbey, to a drug addiction. The loss has been disheartening. Since this loss, it has become our goal to prevent other friends and families from suffering a similar loss. Abbey’s family and friends have put together a walk to raise funds to be [...]
