This article was originally published on Thu, 04 Nov 2021.

The Holy Spirit Mental Health Ministry is currently running the Family Grace small group program created by The Grace Alliance. If you are a family member, spouse, or friend of someone who is experiencing a mental health difficulty, Family Grace is for you. The program is about sharing your story - the experience, the confusion, the pain, and the loneliness. Family Grace is an empowering, grace-filled discipleship experience for personal and community growth. The Grace Alliance has only one vision and one value … “To love them well.”  This past week in our small group we worked on “Handling Problems”. We started the session reading Genesis 41:29-40, 46-49 and discussing how Joseph, instead of focusing on what seemed impossible, focused on gleaning wisdom from the Lord to execute a problem solving plan. We then learned a problem-solving technique with the acronym – IDEAS I dentify (Dissect & Decide) – What is the problem? Dissect by identifying smaller issues and choose one issue to focus on at the moment.

Outcomes (Prayer) – Determine the desired outcome to the problem and pray! Brainstorm different ways to address the problem, possible solutions, and the people who can help carry out these solutions. What are the potential roadblocks and how can you navigate around them? (Pray & Implement) Pray again for the process. Determine the first tangible step and set a realistic time frame for this to take place.  For more information on the Mental Health Ministry and our current programs, please contact Holly Salkeld at [email protected]