When youth work becomes crisis managers.Anyone who stays in youth ministry for a while will encounter significant crises. Family break-ups, substance abuse, sexual assault, eating disorders, cutting, suicide, gun violence.But without proper and immediate care, crises like these can cause years of emotional pain and spiritual scarring in students.Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock want to help you prevent that from happening.Through their experience and expertise, you1ll learn how to:-Respond quickly and effectively to crisis -Balance legal, ethical, and spiritual outcomes -Forge preventive partnerships with parents, schools, and students -Bring healing when damage is doneWhen crises happen‹and they will, ready or not‹there are practical steps you can take. Van Pelt and Hancock provide field-tested counsel and specific, biblical advice for each stage of crisis. Keep this book on hand as your go-to resource when you need it most.Because when it comes to crisis, it1s not a matter of if, but when.

You’ve seen it on the news too many times to count. School shootings, adolescent addictions, bullying, eating disorders, depression and suicide, cutting, pregnancy. There is no lack of bad news to be told about teenagers today. Maybe you believe that will never happen to “my child.” And maybe it won’t. But crises aren’t always the stories that make the evening news. The spectrum of crises an adolescent may face can range from something as (seemingly harmless) as getting caught cheating on a test to dealing with the breakdown of the family, to acting out and getting in trouble with the law. And the reality is that someone they know will likely experience some kind of crisis—and that can affect your teen significantly. Either way, when a crisis affects your teen, wouldn’t you want to be prepared?Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock, both of whom have raised teenagers into adulthood and have spent decades in youth ministry and crisis management, bring together their expertise and insight to help you identify and understand what a crisis is and how you can help your teen live and grow through it. Inside, you’ll find practical responses for issues like: • Suicidal thoughts or behavior• Accidents• Cheating• Death (of a friend or loved one)• Divorce• Eating disorders• Hazing• Pregnancy• Sexual abuse• Sexual identity confusion• Substance abuse or addiction• And more...In addition to learning appropriate responses to crises, you’ll learn how to prevent some of these issues, and how to get professionals involved when necessary.Whatever it is your teen is dealing with, your influence in their life is still the most important one. So be prepared to walk them through their crisis with wisdom, compassion, and the tools to help them heal.

Crises will happen in life. Train yourself and your youth volunteers to respond biblically to a crisis when it occurs in your youth group. This practical training covers the continuum of crisis involving Jr. Highers and High Schoolers. Pack includes one Volunteer's Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis Participant's Guide and one DVD.

Teenagers now face a different world than they would have even ten years ago. Confronted with new choices and challenges, they grow up exposed to influences that can arise in high school such as fights, sexual abuse, eating disorders. These can be overwhelming, and, when teens look for advice, volunteers need to know how to help.

Get a copy of The Youth Worker's Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis for $5 with every purchase over $100.

Thank you for making the decision to be a volunteer youth worker—you give the gospel a flesh and blood presence and show God’s compassion for students in a way no one else does. Being a youth worker can be exciting, intimidating, fulfilling and challenging, and until now there was no “manual” on how to be a volunteer in a youth ministry. After more than twenty years as a paid youth worker, Jim Hancock left and became a volunteer in a student ministry. That experience taught him things he may never have learned as a youth ministry professional, and now he wants to empower others who are passionate about being volunteer youth workers. Inside this book you’ll find practical help, like: • tips about what to do on the first day • ideas on how to build and develop relationships with students • ways to combat youth “culture shock” • how to prepare students for life after youth group • how to say goodbye when it is time to leave …and many more indispensable insights that will make your experience as a volunteer youth worker valuable and rewarding for you and your students.