Cutting, Internet pornography, Anorexia, Bulimia … the list goes on and on. To be honest, much of what’s on the list wasn’t even a part of my vocabulary when I was a teen. Yes, kids had problems back then. But the depth, frequency and type of problems kids faced were all very different from what fills the landscape of adolescence in today’s world.

In an effort to help parents and youth workers better serve kids by helping them through this growing mountain of adolescent problems, veteran youth worker and youth ministry educator Marv Penner has written a wonderful new counseling guide, Help—My Kids Are Hurting: A Survival Guide To Working With Students In Pain (Zondervan/Youth Specialties, 2005, ISBN 0-310-26708-0). Written to answer the question “What do I do now?” this book equips readers to first listen wisely, and then to take the next necessary step.

A veteran counselor himself, Penner takes readers on a practical and helpful introductory tour of adolescent problems and basic counseling techniques. Beginning with the counselor, Penner lays out what it takes to help hurting kids, both in who we are and in how we approach them, along with critical mistakes to avoid. He also offers helpful advice on how to know when a problem exceeds one’s counseling ability, with steps for how to refer a student for additional help. The book’s overview of 10 topics readers must understand serves as a helpful basic guide to a variety of teen problems including eating disorders, suicide, rape, substance abuse, self-injury, depression and more.

This book should be no longer than an arm’s length away on every youth worker’s shelf. Not only is it one you will find yourself referring to regularly, but one you could use to teach your youth ministry staff the basics on counseling teens.

—Walt Mueller

This book is available in the CPYU Resource Center.

The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding grants permission for this article to be copied in its entirety, provided the copies are distributed free of charge and the copies indicate the source as the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.

For more information on resources to help you understand today's rapidly changing youth culture, contact the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding.

                ©2006, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding