Blessed Youth

Through vivid and powerful storytelling, Blessed Youth: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness with Children and Teens will remove the barriers of stigma and shame associated with mental illness in children and teens. Readers will know they are not alone and be reminded of God’s grace and loving presence in the midst of the heartache and struggle of mental illness. In addition to stories of children and youth experiencing mental health challenges, Blessed Youth includes practical resources such as prayers and a guide for having age-appropriate talks with children about warning signs and how to get help for themselves and friends. Ultimately, this important resource offers hope and help for everyone who loves a child or youth with mental health challenges. Also available is Blessed Youth Survival Guide, a pocket-size companion guide for youth.

Today's youth need to hear the message "It’s okay to not be okay." They need to know hope and help are always available. A companion to the book Blessed Youth (9780827203204), Blessed Youth Survival Guide offers the tools youth need to survive when they are feeling disconnected, confused, and alone. This survival guide is specifically for youth and covers topics that today's youth will undoubtedly face such as anxiety, sadness, depression, phobias, OCD, panic attacks, PTSD, trauma, and therapy. Blessed Youth Survival Guide helps youth recognize when they are experiencing an issue and encourages them to tell a parent, doctor, or another adult who can help them receive the appropriate care. Youth are encouraged to be proactive with their mental health by developing good overall health practices and taking a Safety Pledge — a pledge to promise to identify three people who they can contact if they begin having thoughts of self-harm and/or suicide.

OUR DEAR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN, we have great confidence in you. You are beloved sons and daughters of God and He is mindful of you. You have come to earth at a time of great opportunities and also of great challenges. The standards in this booklet will help you with the important choices you are making now and will yet make in the future. We promise that as you keep the covenants you have made and these standards, you will be blessed with the companionship of the Holy Ghost, your faith and testimony will grow stronger, and you will enjoy increasing happiness.

Over 10,000 copies sold in Canada! The 20th-anniversary edition of Richard Van Camp’s best-selling coming-of-age story, with a new introduction and story by the author Larry is a Dogrib Indian growing up in the small northern town of Fort Simmer. His tongue, his hallucinations and his fantasies are hotter than the center of the sun. At sixteen, he loves Iron Maiden, the North and Juliet Hope, the high school “tramp.” In this powerful and very funny first novel, Richard Van Camp gives us one of the most original teenage characters in Canadian fiction. Skinny as spaghetti, nervy and self-deprecating, Larry is an appealing mixture of bravado and vulnerability. His past holds many terrors: an abusive father, blackouts from sniffing gasoline, an accident that killed several of his cousins and he’s now being hunted and haunted by a pack of blue monkeys. But through his new friendship with Johnny, a Metis who just moved to town, he’s now ready to face his memories—and his future. The Lesser Blessed is an eye-opening depiction of what it is to be a young Dogrib man in the age of AIDS, disillusionment with Catholicism and a growing world consciousness.

When do you learn that "normal" doesn't include lots of yelling, lots of sleep, lots of beating? In Blessed Are the Crazy: Breaking the Silence about Mental Illness, Family, and Church, Sarah Griffith Lund looks back at her father's battle with bipolar disorder, and the helpless sense of déjà vu as her brother and cousin endure mental illness, as well. With a small group study guide and "Ten Steps for Developing a Mental Health Ministry in Your Congregation," Blessed Are the Crazy is more than memoir-it's a resource for churches and other faith-based groups to provide healing and comfort. Part of The Young Clergy Women Project.

Only 2 in 10 Americans under 30 believe attending a church is important or worthwhile. Well over half of young adults raised in the Church have dropped out with many having a strong anti-Church stance, many even believing the Church does more harm than good.Fr. Josh Johnson was one of these people. In Broken and Blessed he tackles the harsh realities facing the Church in the 21st century. With charity and courage he speaks to his own generation of Catholic “Millennials,” who often feel their needs and concerns are not being addressed by the Church, or who simply do not believe the Catholic Faith has any relevance to their lives. Using his own experiences, both as a former struggling young Catholic and as a priest, Fr. Josh offers an inspiring witness of how he came to know God, rather than just knowing about him—and presents practical ways for us to truly know God as well. Broken and Blessed: Addresses head-on Millennials’ most pressing issues with the Catholic Faith Presents powerful and inspiring stories from Fr. Josh’s own faith journey Shows how one can truly encounter Jesus in a personal way Offers practical insights on how to overcome habitual sins Discusses the nature of prayer, as well as the challenges to prayer and how to overcome them