A week of prayer for young people
All this week, the organisers of next Saturday’s Youth Work Summit event (which include Premier Youthwork) are inviting you to join them in praying for the young people of the UK. You can find out a bit more about the idea here. Each day, we’ll be posting a few prayer pointers on here, as well as suggesting some of the people and organisations that you might like to join us in praying for who work in that area.
Today, our focus is on young people and mental health. We’re praying for young people who we know who struggle with mental health issues, for specialists and health care professionals, and for all organisations seeking to educate and equip youth workers, teachers and parents in this area.
Suggested prayer points:
- Pray for young people you know who are currently struggling with mental health issues
- Pray for the children and young people’s mental health service at the NHS (CAHMS), which is often overstretched and struggling to meet demand
- Pray for Christians working in this area – either through their youth work, church or schools – for wisdom and access to the right resources
- Pray for the stigma of mental health within the Church and society as a whole to be removed, and for the Church to be a place of refuge, compassion, understanding and healing for people of all mental health conditions
Some organisations and individuals working in this area, who you could join us in praying for today:
- YoungMinds is the UK’s leading charity committed to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people and empowering their parents and carers.
- Selfharm.co.uk provides resources and support for those struggling with self-harm, and youth workers who want to educate themselves in this area.
- Beat is a National organisation dedicated to helping anyone experiencing difficulties with food. Formerly known as the Eating Disorder Association.
- Think Twice runs awareness and training events, aimed at educating young adults about current mental health issues within our society.
If you tweet, why not share your reflections, prayers and prayer requests using the hashtag #prayforyouth. Just don’t do it instead of actually praying…