Community Mental Health

Over the past decade, children’s mental health challenges have reached epidemic levels—stress, anxiety, childhood depression, and suicide are at unprecedented high rates. Amid high-stakes pressure for kids to succeed, parents and teachers have never needed a road map to healthy child development more urgently. And as psychologist and educator Doug Bolton explains in this eye-opening guide, underlying our modern-day stresses is an even more pervasive problem: We’re relying on practices that are not in line with what science tells us about how to truly motivate children and help them thrive.

The tragedy of large-scale trauma has etched the names of cities on a national monument of heartbreak and senseless loss. First responders, caregivers, and civic leaders are often left with the daunting task of navigating the emotional and physical aftermath and stitching their communities back together, a trajectory of healing that can take months and years.

It is easy to be depressed if you live in a neighborhood that has few supportive resources available or is marred by gun violence. We are able to diagnose people with depression, but how does one heal a neighborhood? This City Is Killing Me brings policy and psychology together. Through case studies, Jonathan Foiles opens up his therapy door to allow us to overhear the stories of individual poor Chicagoans. Through statistics and the example of Chicago, he teaches us how policy decisions have contributed to these individuals’ suffering.

Everyone needs advice, and everyone gives advice. In a world of dysfunctional families, churches, and societies, professional counseling is in great demand as a solution to our problems. The weak link in this solution is the inability to determine a counselor’s qualifications apart from his professional accreditation. Academics can give you knowledge, but no learning or books can give you wisdom. There are no graduate degrees in love or compassion. You cannot get a PhD in virtue. However, these things are available to everyone freely through Christ.

Hope is a promise of God. Anxiety is a lie of Satan. When we are anxious, we become immobilized. We cannot make decisions; we cannot get things done; we cannot sleep. What can we do to be free from this constant worry? “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10).