Mental Health

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (BP) – Sheriff’s deputies Clayton Osteen and Victoria Pacheco were smiling during the pre-Thanksgiving dinner celebrating the upcoming birth of their son Jayce. Weeks later the parents committed suicide.

ROCKWELL, Texas (BP) – Lauren Coats has seen firsthand the impact of a growing mental health crisis among young people. The number of calls from parents of teens and children looking for help to her three metro Dallas counseling centers has nearly doubled in less than two years.

SALISBURY, Md. (BP) – The importance of time carries a particular weight for Richard Pope, pastor of Canvas Church. It’s not something to be taken lightly, and not something he has a whole lot of.

PLEASANT VIEW, Tenn. (BP) – Approaching the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Evan Owens knew the trauma care network he co-founded to help soldiers returning from the war on terrorism would be busier than ever. In the 10 years since establishing REBOOT Recovery alongside his wife, Jenny, he’s learned that memories can remain raw, regardless of that saying about time and wounds.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The vast majority of pastors say they feel support from other ministers in their communities, but that encouragement is less prevalent in some places.

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) – When Julie Busler returned to America with her family after serving as missionaries, everything seemed great from the outside. No one would have guessed she had returned due to a mental health crisis.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Attention to mental health across the country increased over the last year due to the potential effects brought on by the coronavirus shutdown. It’s a touch point, though, that has been gathering steam across the Southern Baptist Convention since 2013.

NASHVILLE (BP) – “Too fast!” my wife Lynley screamed as I drove down a steep hill caked in snow. The vehicle picked up speed like a roller coaster on first fall.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) – Brian Croft jokes that masks are the new "color of the carpet argument" in churches, with similarly poor outcomes. Pastors are resigning from the stress "kind of in a way I've never really seen."

LEXINGTON, Tenn. (BP) – For the second time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Rock Hill Baptist Church in rural west Tennessee was resuming onsite worship. Then, Pastor Richard Bray was exposed to the virus and the church had to transition once again to remote worship while Bray waited weeks for his test results.