Rich Van Pelt, Jim Hancock
Zondervan, 2012, 207 pp., 4-Session DVD, $22
The Volunteer’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis by Rich Van Pelt and Jim Hancock is a practical resource for anyone working with youth. Along with the accompanying DVD, this ministry tool could be useful for newcomers to youth work and seasoned youth workers in need of a refresher course on crisis management. If you work with youth for any length of time, sooner or later you will deal with a teenager or young person in trouble or crisis. This resource should be shared with the whole church because you never know who might encounter a teen in crisis. They could then seek assistance from the pastoral or youth ministry team if needed. This curriculum offers a wide variety of material, which ultimately could help you identify and help a teen in crisis, maybe preventing a senseless tragedy. If there is one area in the resource I would say is most important, it would be the focus on listening. Too often we are quick to want to judge, talk or solve problems when we really need to be listening. It is during that time we most likely will discover what the teen is facing or how to best help, even if it means referral.
—Rev. David C. Lannan, Youth Pastor, Speedway General Baptist Church, Indianapolis, Indiana
The Volunteer Guide for Helping Teenagers in Crisis is a great resource that gives volunteers some practical ways to help students who come to them with a problem or crisis. This is a great tool for volunteers who may feel inadequate or not knowledgeable about what to do or where to go when a student comes to them with problems. This resource provides great insight into how to listen, how to respond and how to recognize when a student might need help.
—Dr. Scott Newton, Pastor North Fork Baptist
The Volunteer’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis just might be the best resource available to train adults in handling all the stuff teenagers go through. Not only does it have great videos to go through during each of the four sessions, but the participant’s guide is filled with valuable resources. One downfall to this resource is there is almost too much information to process adequately in a short period of time, and adults could become overwhelmed. Whoever leads these training sessions needs to make sure there are just a few major take-aways that can be implemented by the volunteers. If your ministry has students who struggle with eating disorders, sexual abuse, cutting or experience tragedies, you need to get this resource and train your volunteers to be able to spot and respond to the crisis.
—Mike Kupferer has been involved with youth ministry for more than 13 years and currently is serving in Northwest Ohio. He married his high school sweetheart, and they have three children. One of his favorite parts of ministry is working with junior high students.
###
