Spiritual First Aid: Youth Mental Health Fact Sheets

It’s not always easy to recognize when a young person is experiencing mental health challenges. Some signs, like changes in sleep, focus, behavior, or school performance, can be easy to miss or misinterpret.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of MENTAL HEALTH ]

The ministry Spiritual First Aid^™ offers the free downloadable PDF resource, Common Youth Mental Health Challenges Fact Sheets, a packet of 5 quick-reference pages to help you identify common challenges children and teens face—so you can better understand, support, and respond with care to their acting-out behavior.

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To help you recognize common mental health struggles among today’s youth, each sheet defines a key challenge and outlines common signs to look for. Topics include:

• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: What to notice when children have persistent difficulties with attention, hyperactivity, or impulsivity.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder: Be able to identify common social, communication, and behavioral signs that may point to autism in youth.
• Attachment Disorder: Understand how disrupted early relationships can impact a child’s behavior, emotions, and trust.
• Learning Specific Disorders: Spot warning signs that a child may be struggling with reading, writing, or math.
• Adjustment Disorder: Gain insight into how stressful life changes can trigger emotional or behavioral symptoms in children and teens.
• Childhood Trauma: Gain key signs that a child may be affected by past traumatic experiences.

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For example, the fact sheet on Attachment Disorder says it “is a mental health condition in children characterized by difficulties in forming emotional bonds with caregivers, leading to issues in social, emotional, and behavioral development. It often results from early neglect, abuse, or inconsistent caregiving, and symptoms include difficulty trusting others, seeking comfort, and managing emotions.”

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The resource offers the following observable symptoms using the CHILD acronym:

• Clinginess to caregivers, reluctance to explore
• Hostility or aggression towards others
• Inability to self-soothe, frequent tantrums
• Lack of trust in caregivers and loved ones
• Difficulty forming or maintaining relationships

Download the packet here.

Read Related SemperVerus Articles on Spiritual First Aid

•  Breathing and Mental Techniques to Reduce Anxiety

•  Spiritual First Aid Self-Aid Fact Sheets

•  Mental Health Toolkit: A Free Resource for Self-Defense and Church Security

•  How to Identify 25 Common Mental Health Behaviors

•  Church Security: Church Crisis Response Checklist

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