Saron Lutheran Church
Resources
Suicide and Crisis Lifeline:
call, text, or chat 988
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Mental Health & Addiction Connection line: 866-603-0016
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Minnesota Warmline, for a safe, anonymous, and confidential person to listen and help. Monday – Saturday 12 noon to 10pm: 651-288-0400 or text “support” to 85511
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Parent Email Warmline:
Find resources, answers to your questions, a support network, and you will know that you are not alone.
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First Call for Help:
800-543-7709 or
www.211unitedway.org, for questions about services, assistance, housing and other areas of need.
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Children and Divorce
https://www.milavetzlaw.com/children-and-divorce/
An extensive guide about helping children through a divorce, which is sadly a very common thing kids have to go through.
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Conversation Starters
https://seizetheawkward.org/conversation/starting-the-conversation
To help lead you through before, during, and after a conversation with someone that you are concerned about. It also has scenarios and self-care ideas.
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The mission of Saron's Mental Health Ministry is to encourage each other with support and compassion.
The goal: to provide mental health awareness information and resources to the Saron congregation and the community at large.
Saron’s Mental Health Ministry will explore
a different topic each month.
This month’s topic is:
How TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEEN.
​Communicating with your Teen is key to a Healthy relationship.
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Tips to help you:
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Lecture less, listen more- actively listening and attentively listening. “Is there anything I can do to help you feel better? ”By asking questions that engage your teen in a positive way. Listen to your teenagers without casting judgement, and avoid jumping in with unsolicited advice.
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Don’t shame or blame your teen -let your teen know it is OK to make mistakes be understanding and compassionate.
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Help your teen think thinks through-teens are impulsive and it takes time and experience to learn to think things through. Help them with this skill and check in with your teen to see what is going on let them know you care.
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Don’t let things escalate-when tension rises you can say “Let’s talk about this later, please. I need a bit of space to calm down”. This will show the teen that you care and want to have a calm conversation.
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Express empathy-many teens feel as no one understands what they’re going through. You can say “I know this seems unfair,” or “It must be frustrating to feel as if you don’t fit in.”
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Refrain from using threats-Instead give your teen choices, Say positive things to them.
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Be real with your teen- Tell them you love them, and show affection in the ways that they appreciate. Use I statements such as “I feel worried that you won’t do as well as you expect for the exam next week.”
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Focus on specific behaviors instead of making general statements. You can say, “I noticed you were on your phone for two hours straight after school. When you know they have a project due tomorrow. When you focus on specific behaviors, your teen will be less likely to turn defensive.
It definitely requires lots of effort and commitment on your part to be able to communicate effectively with your teens. But it is worth it.
Based on article From Daniel Wong - How to communicate with your Teens tips for Teens.
ABOUT 988
Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
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988 offers 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing mental health-related distress. That could be:
· Thoughts of suicide
· Mental health or substance use crisis, or
· Any other kind of emotion distress
People can call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for themselves or if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support. With 988, no matter where you live in the United States, you can reach a trained crisis counselor who can help.
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