Topic
Helping Someone in Need
If you or someone you know is in danger or thinking about suicide, call your local emergency number now or, in the U.S., call or text 988. Biblical counseling is not a substitute for medical or clinical care.
Start here
- Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love · Resource
Friends are the best helpers: a short guide for ordinary Christians. - Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change · Resource
How believers in need of change help others change. - Truth in Love (ACBC) · Podcast
Includes ‘Talking to a Friend Who’s Depressed’ (episode 50).
Editorial suggestions from reformededucation.org. They describe and do not endorse.
All 12 resources in Helping Someone in Need
Educational Resources11
Harvest USA
Ministry begun in 1983 that helps churches and individuals affected by sexual sin, including pornography, with discipleship, support groups and resources.
Depression: Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness
257-page book offering the comfort and hope of Christ rather than quick fixes, for people with depression and those alongside them. It includes a chapter on medical treatments and one for families and friends.
Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love
171-page introduction to biblical counseling for ordinary Christians, written on the conviction that friends are the best helpers.
Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change
362-page treatment of how God uses ordinary believers, who themselves need changing, to help others change, following Jesus’s example.
Someone I Know Is Grieving: Responding with Humility and Compassion
Compact book from the ‘Ask the Christian Counselor’ series on how to respond to grieving people without giving advice or trying to fix it.
How can I help my teen struggling with pornography addiction?
Video (14 February 2024) for parents with three strategies: reinforce the teen’s battle, widen it beyond this one struggle, and limit the battlefield with practical measures.
Is It Abuse? A Biblical Guide to Identifying Domestic Abuse and Helping Victims
360-page guide for pastors, counselors and friends: how to recognize physical, sexual, emotional, spiritual and financial abuse, its effect on victims and children, with case studies, worksheets and a safety action plan.
A Suicide Care Plan: One Church’s Model
Journal of Biblical Counseling 36:3 (2022): how one congregation trains staff and volunteers in suicide prevention and uses a triage team for crises and care teams for longer-term support.
Truth in Love 176: Suicide
ACBC podcast (15 October 2018) on how churches can support people with suicidal thoughts and families after a suicide: warning signs, a team approach, immediate safety and removing means of harm, and the ministry of presence.
Mental Health Grace Alliance
Christian mental-health recovery ministry (since 2011) offering peer- and lay-led support groups and free training for group leaders, in English, Spanish and Chinese; it reports serving over 30,000 participants in 58+ countries.
Scrupulosity and OCD Information Packet for Faith Leaders
20-page packet for clergy compiled from IOCDF, ADAA and AnxietyCanada material: what OCD and scrupulosity are, ERP, how accommodating and giving reassurance can feed OCD, and questions for clergy.