In the challenging episode of Ask Alice up on the youth ministry side of the blog today, we hear from licensed professional counselor Alice Churnock on the topic of suicide.
Suicide affects millions of Americans; it will affect nearly all of us directly or indirectly through the course of our lifetime. Our teens desperately for need for the adults in their lives to be equipped to share Biblical truth and hope whenever the topic comes up. We highly recommend Randy Alcorn’s beautiful piece, Suicide, Heaven, and Jesus- the Final Answer to Our Sorrow. Prompted by the recent suicide of beloved young pastor Jarrid Wilson, this article offers biblical consolation and hope for those grieving a suicide as well as those suffering from suicidal thoughts. Alcorn also links other resources you may find helpful, including biblical counselor Dave Powlison’s helpful booklet, Grieving a Suicide: Help for the Aftershock.
In the podcast Alice recommends the resources at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; click here.
We also encourage you to check out youth ministry leader Walt Mueller’s articles: Adolescent Suicide: Number, Prayer, and a Helpful Handout… as well as Responding to Kids Who “Can’t Handle This Sucky World Any Longer.”
Resources from Rooted:
Alice Churnock’s extremely helpful article: If My Dad Loved Me, Why Did He Commit Suicide?
Articles about Thirteen Reasons Why, the Netflix series Alice references on the podcast.
Thirteen Reasons Why We Need to Have Conversations With Our Kids by Kristen Hatton
Hope This Helps: Responding to Thirteen Reasons Why by Charlotte Getz
For the issue of self-harm, which Alice discusses but differentiates from the desire to commit suicide, please see:
Understanding Self-Injury by Liz Edrington
A Call to Incarnational Ministry in the Face of Teen Self-Harm by Taylor Mendoza
