Dr. Jessica Peck is prescribing hope for healthy families on American Family Radio

Hello, and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing hope for healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner, and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of the day, getting to spend time with you, prescribing hope for healthy families. And listen, that is what we do every single day here on this show is prescribing hope, pointing you to a source of hope that is unshakable, a hope that does not disappoint. That is a hope that is found in God, in his word, in Jesus Christ, in our faith. And we need that hope more than ever in a world that seems hopeless, in a world that is dominated by doom scrolling by bad news. And of course, the world has been rocked by the news of all of the events that have happened, I could go through the list. The assassination of Charlie Kirk, of course, being, very prominent in the public's mind and especially on the minds of young people. And I hope that you were able to listen in or that you will go back and listen into my show on Friday. Every Friday, I focus on a habit for healthy families. We've been doing that since January. Friday. Our habit was being hopeful. How do we find and share hope, especially with our children in a time of fear? I talked about walking alongside your children to process the trauma of the images they have seen, how the world has become much smaller and violence is now in the palm of their hand rather than curated and grainy and carefully presented, presented on the nightly news. These are things we do need to pay attention to. And in this world, we are having a youth mental health crisis. I have shared with you. I've seen that, I have experienced it. We have explored the many factors related to that. And I have a guest today. I'm joined by Dr. Carl Benzio, and he is the medical director of the American association of Christian Counselors and chief psychiatric officer at Honey Lake Clinic. And he is joining me today to continue this conversation that I had with you on Friday. We have millions of kids who are headed back to school, whether they're homeschooled, whether they're private school, Christian school, university, even kids who are entering out into the workforce. They're not just carrying their backpacks, their school supplies, their lunchboxes. They are carrying very heavy, invisible burdens. I know my own children who were in college told me how unsafe the world feels. Millennials are the generation born after that. Gen Z is the first, generation since the millennials to be born post 911 they are born with a feeling that the world is not safe. And we have got to engage with them, we have got to point them to sources of hope. Most common questions that I get are usually questions related to mental health and the intersection of social media, particularly with that. So today on this Mental Health Monday, we are so grateful to be joined by Dr. Benzio, who's going to talk to us about the challenges our kids face and the that faith plays in healing and hope, which is so important. Dr. Benzio, thank you so much for joining us.

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Hey, great to be with you, Jessica, and all your listeners today.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, why don't you just introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about your work and what you do. There is a lot of fear and anxiety and uncertainty about the role of mental health services even and how they play and for families of faith. And I would love for you just to tell us about you and what you do.

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: well, ever Since I was 5 years old, you know, obviously a little weird being a psychiatrist, but ever since 5 years old, I always, God, just laid decision making on my heart. That's all I ever wanted to do, is help people be better decision makers, be a better decision maker. Myself. I was at five years old, I was starting kindergarten at four and went to a third grade reading class and I had a bad stutter. And so people made fun of me and bullied me and I just wondered, why did they do that? And so I pursued, my, all that science about, you know, why people do what they do, why we make the decisions that we make. I later found out that that's psychiatry, the study of the mind. And as Christians we often think, well, science is one thing and faith is a different thing and boy, they shouldn't go together. but what I found is that, science is just the study of what God made. Understanding how he designed it to function and then learning how to maximally steward that understanding for his Glo and our abundant living. And so to me, obviously, as a psychiatrist, the coolest thing I think God ever created was the human mind. And it's impossible. We, we've tried to replicate it so many times that we just can't. And so there's this thing called our mind. And unfortunately our society doesn't understand how to use it very well and how God designed it to work. But especially the church oftentimes struggles with that because we're not as accepting about science or we're afraid about science because of Darwin or Freud, the father of modern psychiatry. But to Me. The Bible is the most incredible decision making textbook. And it has so many, unbelievable psychological principles in it. Obviously has a much bigger story about God, how God loves us and, you know, created us. But then we struggled, we sinned, and he sent Jesus to help us out of that as he continues to pursue us and love us. But within all that is the understanding of how God designed our mind to work. And for me, the Bible is the best instruction book for living every day. B I, B L, E. The best instruction book for living every day.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, now you're making that song in my head. That's the book for me.

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Right, exactly. And so, you know, the short, the sort of, the short version of it is that our decisions, when we make decisions, alters our brain chemistry. When we make good decisions, our brain chemistry gets better, chemically balanced, rewired, or as the Bible says, renewed. The righteous mind, the obedient mind, the strong mind. but if we make poor decisions, our brain chemistry gets injured, chemically imbalanced, short circuited, or the Bible calls it the reprobate mind, the degenerate mind, the double minded person. So that's a concept called neuroplasticity. So we make decisions, our brain chemistry is affected, we make good decisions. I call decision making the exercise for the brain. We make good decisions, our brain chemistry gets stronger, we make poor decisions, our brain chemistry gets weaker. So the important question is, well, what determines decision quality or neuroplasticity? Direction. And that's our belief system. So our beliefs inform our decisions, our decisions inform our biology, both our brain chemistry, and as we're finding out, good friend Harold Koenig at Duke, doing a lot of research of how spiritual practices affect our heart, our gut, our immune system, our inflammatory system, all the, all the different systems of our body, that spirit, mind, body, connection. So our belief, everybody has a belief system. Whether you're Christian, Muslim, Jewish, atheist, you have a belief system. But what we're finding, and incredible research out of Harvard and Baylor, Tyler Vanderwil of Harvard, Byron Johnson of Baylor in the Human Flourishing Project, is the more our beliefs align or come into agreement with biblical beliefs and we're able to actually practice them in our lives as it pertains to our decision making, that affects our decision making in healthy ways, the way God designed us to function. And then that affects our brain chemistry and our body in powerful ways. And so to me, decision making is that superpower that God wants to unleash. And that's where working on our beliefs system. So our belief system comes More into alignment with God and the Bible. When our belief system deviates from that poor decision making and then poor brain chemistry, poor, we get disease, ill health in, so many different ways.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Amen to all the things. I think we're finished here. Thank you for joining us today. That is all that is your sermon for today. I agree with all the things Dr. Benzio, and it's so encouraging and I'm so grateful that you made the decision. Did it become a psychiatrist even at the age of five, even if you didn't know yet that's what that was going to be called. It's so encouraging to see people of faith who are devoted followers of Christ, who use their gifts that God has given them and the skills that God has given them to be able to apply science to our lives through a biblical lens. I'm very grateful for that.

How do you see smartphone impacting mental health of young people? Wow. And I want to explore more about this decision making concept

And I want to explore more about this decision making concept because you explained that so well. And what I see today is kids who have decision fatigue, decision overload, decision overwhelm. The world is moving at the speed of a smartphone and we have put a smartphone in their hands, which significantly increases the decisions that they make. And they have to make many more decisions about do I text someone, Do I not, do I respond, do I not, do I post, do I scroll? All of these decisions. When you think about, especially related to our smartphone, I really believe that this, that is contributing to a lot of anxiety, underlying anxiety for kids because it's also in the context of cultural chaos, diminishing biblical worldview, shifting views on what's celebrated today is canceled tomorrow. And they're trying desperately to hang on for a good life, for dear life, and make good decisions when their brains are not ready, mature yet. Right. Because of the underdevelopment of the prefrontal cortex and the overdevelopment of the amygdala. They're driven by emotions. How do you see decision making impacting mental health of young people?

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Wow. So, you know, when, Voltaire, a philosopher, French philosopher, said when people believe absurdities, they will commit atrocities. And so for me, people are dying because the truth is dying. The second leading cause of death after accidents for teenagers, and young adults is suicide. And we're seeing so much depression, anxiety. I think it's 18% of 13 to 18 year olds, have had a major depressive disorder. That's more than two weeks with, depression impacting their life. And so in significant way, over the past year, 23% have had major depressive disorder and substance abuse. About 20% have anxiety within the last month, disrupting them. And then in 23 there was a CDC put out a study and the amount of depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, needing medical attention, significantly elevated. But what we find is it's twice as elevated in girls than it is in guys. I think it's because of the anxiety and fear that our society is reaping at this point. You know, to me God's currency is trust, Satan's currency is fear. So Satan and all the world systems that conspire with him are trying to push fear. And so as you see, like you mentioned, you know, you're scrolling and there's so many anxiety related events that when I was a kid, you know, you never heard of, I mean if you watch the 6 o' clock news, maybe you heard of like one event and you know they often presented a lot of positive things that, that were going on or those things were so far away that you never really saw them in your, in your neighborhood or you thought that they were possible in your life. But now scrolling, there's so many different issues. Whether it's just cyberbullying, whether it's bullying at school that's taking place and in texting, or whether we see the, the death school shootings that occur or you have to go through the metal detectors. Just how that incites so much anxiety I think we're seeing, and Charlie Kirk was a great proponent of this, that if guys wanted successful life, they work hard, they have self discipline, they love God, but then they become a provider. You know, they have a job, they work a living, they have a provider, they make a commitment to the woman, commitment to take care of and to protect. And I think so many, and I think this is why we see twice as many girls anxious, depressed, suicidal and even more using more substances than guys is because of this fear and this anxiety that in this world that has, you know, we're in a postmodern world, there really is no truth. Everybody gets to believe what is right in their own eyes. And we know that the Bible says it never works out well, that eventually it's, it's by definition an unsustainable society because it pits one person against another. My need against your need. And if there's no, no absolute standard, if there's no arbiter determining well what is right and what is wrong, then we, we're going to fight against each other and there's conflict. And so that's why we see school shootings, domestic violence, sex Trafficking, sex, violence, the assassinations that we're seeing, the bullying that we see, abortion, you know, and it's in tragic numbers. All those elements are, a symptom of the anxiety and the fear and the mistrust that we have in society when we leave trut at the door and we sort of flush it and everybody gets to do what's right in their own eyes and it trickles down. Obviously it's impacting adults lives. But then all that is so contagious to our kids. So our kids are seeing that, picking it up. And as parents, we're caught up in our own anxiety and difficulties and fears and struggles that for us to oversee and to guide the minds and the hearts of our kids, that's being lost. Proverbs. Oh, wow, it's blanking from my head. 24, three. Guard your heart with all vigilance, for out of it flows the wellspring of life or above every command, keep your heart, guard your heart. it's an incredible verse. And we often, as Christians, I think, we look at it and we think, okay, well, I need to guard my heart. I need to put those walls up, put those defenses up to keep all the bad stuff out. Pornography, bad friends, horror movies, the occult, Ouija boards, palm readers, substances. I need to keep all that bad stuff out. But our defenses are to help us against attackers foreign, but also attackers domestic. So we all already have sort of spies or attackers that are already inside the castle walls, already inside our heart. And that's why we struck. That's why we have difficulties. That's why whenever Jesus said to me.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: I'm going to hold you right there. Because that is, we're up against our first break. That is a sobering statement, but I want you to hear me clearly. There is hope on the other side of this break. We are going to tell you and we'll pick up with those words that you were just about to share from scripture. Because we can take heart. We know that God has overcome the world. I'll be right back with more from Dr. Carl Benzio, the medical director from the American association of Christian Counselors. You don't want to miss it. See you in a minute. I want you to picture this. Her name is Kayla. She is 17, alone, terrified and pregnant, sitting in a clinic, tears blurring, thinking abortion is her only option until she was offered a few free ultrasound. Paid for by a hero just like you. The moment Kayla heard her baby's heartbeat, the decision was made. And today, her little Baby boy Gabrielle is thriving because preborn walked with Kayla every step of the way. Now multiply that by 38,000. That's how many babies preborn has helped save just this year. How many mothers preborn has come alongside with practical and spiritual resources to make motherhood possible. But here's the most important thing you will hear today. Their goal is to save 70,000 by the end of the year. And they can't do it without us. Every $28 provides that ultrasound. The moment everything changes, will you be the reason the next Kayla chooses life? The reason Gabrielle fulfills his destiny? To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250 baby. Or donate securely at preborn.com/AFR, that's preborn.com/AFR.

>> Give Me Jesus by Jeremy Camp: In the morning when I rise. In the morning when I rise. In the morning when I rise. Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. You can have all this world. Just give me Jesus.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Give me Jesus by Jeremy Camp. And I don't know about you, but that's about where I've been this whole last weekend, just thinking of all of the things that are going on in the world, just all of the trauma, all of the tragedies, all of the trials that we're going through. And sometimes we can just think it's just too much, Lord, it's just too much. But God has given us his son. God has given us a hope that doesn't disappoint. And today I'm talking to Dr. Carl Benzio, who is the medical director for the American association of Christian Counselors. We're talking on this Mental health Monday, particularly about helping young people. We have young people, as he just talked about and I talked about on the show on Friday, who have an up close and personal seat to violence on loop in high definition, in real time. And if they should click on anything, the algorithm feeds them more of the same, and it is shaping their worldview, causing anxiety and fear. And as Dr. Benzio just said, the currency of the enemy is fear and it is running rampant. And how do we as parents project hope in a world that seems so hopeless? And Dr. Benzio, I think that's just what you were about to answer, and I'll let you take it from there.

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: So I think that, you know, we really need to help our kids guard, you know, if you talked about the heart in that, verse in Proverbs, guard your heart with all vigilance, because we already have some lies, some distortions, some enemies, some spies, some attackers, whatever term. You know the Bible use the term strongholds. Things that have a stronghold over our mind that are already inside our heart. So we really want to help our kids understand decision making a lot better. And so whether that's, as a parent, being able to help your children, by you just thinking out loud. So a lot of times our kids think, well, I'll just, I'll turn 18 and I'll be able to be a good decision maker. nobody ever has decision making classes in school. But as adults, if we can talk through a situation, oh, here's a situation, here's how I see it, here's the different perspectives I have of it. Well, here's my initial flesh centered perspective. And then, well, here's a godly perspective of it. And then here's the emotions that came from that perspective. And anger or worry, fear, concern, excitement. and then here's the option that bubbled up and the pros and cons of those options. And then here's the option that I chose, and here's the reason why I chose it, because here's what would happen positively or negatively with that option. Just to be able to think those things out loud. Boy, that really allows our children to sort of see into that whole decision making process and our mindset. It. Or we can ask them those prompts. Hey, you know, let's take a look at that decision you made. What was the situation? How did you look at it? What was your view of it? Would there be another way to look at that? Let me. Can I tell you how I would have viewed that situation? What were some of the emotions that bubbled up from that? What were the options that were available to you? Why did you choose the option that you picked? So I, have this thing called spears. S P E A R S Stimuli perception, emotions, assessment, response and summary. Thought. There's nothing magical to it. But in my struggles, that's sort of what God taught me as I married my science and my faith together. But it allows the mind to slow down and our kids need that, help from us to slow their mind down. So instead of making a mistake and thinking 10 minutes later, why did I say that? Or why did I do that? They can be in the moment, starting to take in the data, sort it through, and then you can help them identify, well, what in their heart is good, what is, is truth, what is factual, and then what are lies or what are misperceptions or misinterpretations of situations? Because we Know, as you said, the, prefrontal cortex is, takes a while develop. It takes about 25 or 28 to develop. But our limbic area, that amygdala, that emotional center, boy, that's highly developed and not in, not controlled. Because we need the prefrontal cortex to help control that, to be those first responders, to dampen that emotional firing. But we can bring them that with this sort of lending them some prefrontal cortex from ourselves, both in the kindness that we express, the care, the compassion, the empathy, the coming alongside, putting our arm around them, figuratively and metaphorically, as we sort of come alongside to help them sort out some of the struggles that they have. And we help them know what's going on in their mind so they can become better at understanding how God designed their mind to work and how they can start to steward that in a much stronger, more healthy kind of way.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: I think that's really important and something that I've talked to my listeners about, you mentioned earlier neuroplasticity. And we have unique opportunity for resilience in childhood. And so many times parents think, you know, that those gestures of comfort that they have, those comforting words, that supportive presence, that putting their arm around them there, that walking them through their feelings, that really they can't fix the situation, so what good is that? But what we, what we can take encouragement from science is that that's the very building blocks of resilience. You literally turn off a faucet of sludge chemicals, of stress chemicals in a child's brain, give them a moment to breathe, give them a moment to have that recovery. And we're building in resilience, so what they do really matters. And I really appreciate how you're framing this from a decision making perspective. That seems to be the theme of what we're talking about. And you know, Dr. Benzio, there are a lot of times where kids experience the consequences of someone else's decision that's not their fault at all. Their parents get divorced, they move, they experience financial difficulty, they experience cyberbullying, they witness violence in person, in their school, on, on the Internet. And then there's sometimes where there are. They're victims of their own poor decision making. How do you recover when other people's decision making and your own decision making is destructive and manifests itself as anxiety, depression, self harm, those kinds of things.

Resiliency usually has four parts that most people look at

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Yeah, so you mentioned the word resilience. So resilience is so important, helping our, you know, adults. But then adults, you know, certainly role model resiliency, Skills for our kids. And resiliency usually has four major parts that most people look at. One is, to help a clearer perspective. What's a good attitude, but a clear perspective. How do we see ourselves, see God, and see the situation more clearly or more accurately? You know, Jesus is the wonderful counselor and the great physician. So if we put those two professionals together, that's a psychiatrist. So Jesus is the perfect psychiatrist. And he says in Matthew 13:15, he says, if they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand in their heart and turn, I, would heal them and so see with their eyes. Meaning we see the situation, we see God, and we see ourselves accurately. We see the truth, we see from a godly perspective. Then we hear God's answer with our ears. Step three, we understand how to connect the answer to the situation. And four, it's, not enough just to understand, but we need to turn. Meaning we put. Put it, we trust that answer strongly enough that we want to put it into action in the form of a decision. And then that's where healing happens, or that neuroplasticity part of healing the brain. And so that first step of seeing things clearly, if we can help our kids see themselves and who they are, their value, their worth, their identity in Christ, how God loves them, how God pursues them, they're incredibly valuable and unconditionally loved by Him. That's hard for our kids to see in this world of, of so many atrocities and hate, anxiety and fear. They're just looking for survival, let alone, oh my gosh, the, the one who created the universe actually loves me. Loves me specifically and, and had gifted me and created me for good works that he wants me to walk into, and he'll prepare that way. So the first thing is a clear perspective how to see themselves clearly. So like you said, being able to just come alongside, just adds value to that person and shows that they have an identity that's valued. The second thing, emotion management skills. So again, our limbic is firing without prefrontal cortex for a lot of our young people. And so we want to be able to help them understand their emotions and see their emotions as a great warning system that God gave them. So, you know, if our kids are angry, if they're sad, if they're lonely, that's fine, that's okay. We want them to understand that as the warning sign that lets them know, hey, there's something not right, there's potential danger, or they're not seeing things clearly. A lot of times we sort of look at the emotion as the bad thing. Oh, you're a failure, you're a loser, you're a wish you can't handle, handle things. You're sinning if you have those emotions. Well, God, half the Old Testament is angry and jealous. Jesus wept. The Holy Spirit grieves. Jesus felt abandoned, he felt forsaken. he felt anxious in the garden and he's sweating blood. So those feelings that we often call negative or bad, they really aren't bad. They're just our warning system. Now we have to look behind the warning system, behind that red light on the dashboard. Okay, well, what am I getting warned about and what do I need to do about that? How do I apply biblical truth, biblical wisdom, proverbs, life management skills God shows us in the Bible and good psychology, you know, understands to be able to implement in those situations. So being able to not let our emotions be our decision maker, that's where we get in trouble. And we see it certainly in teenagers. They let their emotions, you know, they, they run king in their life and they make a lot of poor decisions based on their emotions. But they're a great warning system. Warning system, but not decision making system. Then the third element of resiliency is connection. Action is relationship. Satan is very good at trying to isolate people and it's easy to pick them off when they're isolated. But to be able to come alongside, hey, look, you've been wronged or you made a mistake. I'm, not sure how to fix it. I don't know if I can make it better, but I know I can walk with you through it. So good friend John Townsend wrote Boundaries. he gives the analogy that, hey, there's, you know, a kid at the bottom of the well and the parents up top and say, hey, I'm going to go get help.

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Well, that's a nice thing to do. But what really needs to happen is the parent needs to go down into the well with the kid and say, hey, I'll be here with you. As we manage this adversity, that's what the kid really needs. They, you know, when there's a storm and you know they're afraid of the lightning and you walk through the door, if you haven't shown any power in their life they want, they'll say, hey, go back and get somebody else who has more power over that lightning or who has power that can manage things better than at least I can. So that connection is such an important thing. And a lot of times, times as parents we know we love our kids, we care for them, we do anything for them. The reason why we correct them is because we want them to avoid the mistakes that we made and the trauma, the difficulty and the struggles that, you know, our mistakes led to. but we often then push. Hey, did you get your backpack? Did you put your shoes away? Did you do your homework? Did you eat all your beans? You know, we're more task oriented than relationship oriented. And our kids need to see that we're more relationship oriented with them rather than task oriented. Now, that doesn't mean we ignore the task, but we weave in that relational connection with them of just hanging out, asking them, what are they thinking, what's going on, how are they feeling? Show a real interest in what's going on inside them. And that third, that fourth element is understanding the why of the adversity. And so we get very immediately fixed that, hey, this thing happens to me. And the right now is the only element of the situation, as opposed to, well, no. God sees incredible potential in us, has gifted us, and wants to draw out that potential. And there's certain things that he's going to allow in our life or bring into our life to help us train, get stronger, become refined, become purified, to be able to walk into those incredible good works that are ahead of us. I know in my life there were some difficulties, there were some struggles, some that were, you know, I was a victim of, and then some that I perpetrated on others. But I ended up in jail for six counts of aggravated assault, in fact. And those elements that God brought into my life and allowed me to experience because of the consequences I needed to bear for some of my struggles and some of my decisions, they were used. He had an incredible comeback story. He had an incredible plan for my life, but I needed to strengthen, I needed to train. I was trying to do things on my own instead of bringing him in and applying his word in that process. And so that training process for our kids to understand, hey, this is training. Just like homework, just like tests allow us to know, well, here's. Here's what we're good at. And then here's what we need to work on for this. Whether graduating high school, going to college, working as an electrician or whatever, the trade, the craft, the skill that we're going to do, we need to train in that process. Instead of saying, oh, this game, this is for all the marbles, and that's it. I'm a failure. I'm a winner. well, no, this is just part of a long growth process to be able to help our kids understand that both as we role model in our life, how we handle adversity and see this while God refining me, showing me, growing me, training me for this incredible, work that he's, created ahead of time for me to walk into. We also need to help our kids understand this sort of longer, bigger timeline so that they don't quit at the end of the first act or at the end of the first quarter. Even though it might not be going well for them that, hey, wow, there's an incredible comeback story that God has for them.

Dr. Karl Benzio is the Medical Director of the American association of Christian Counselors

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, talk about an incredible comeback story. I mean. Well, first of all, I have to say I appreciate resilience so much and the concept of that when it's married to a biblical worldview, you. Because it's a strengths based perspective. But most of those strengths come from God and we find those strengths that God has given us, the ways that God has given the things that God has given us in this world. We know that in this world we will have trouble, but we can be a good cheer, we can take heart because he's overcome the world. But Dr. Benzio, Hugh just said, you know, really quickly in the middle there, you went to jail. You went to jail. So I want to go back to that for just a second because I think people are obviously listening to you speak and and radio is so rud. My, my team here is telling me we're up against our next break. So we'll hold this story for the next break. but Dr. Benzio, I'm, I know that people are listening to you, hear you articulate the concepts that are really difficult, but breaking them down, making them very simple, all of the things that you have done, Going to Washington and directing now the American association of Christian Counselors. I think these kinds of stories are so encouraging. And we see the Bible is full of them. The Bible is full of characters who either experience the consequences of other people's poor decisions or they make poor decisions themselves. But God, But God in the middle of that. And so if you are listening to that, I encourage today, I encourage you to go to the American association of Christian Counselors website. You can go to aacc.net now. A lot of times what I hear from families is, hey, I know we have a problem. I know we need some help. But I'm just not sure where to go. Start with this website. Start at aacc.net you'll see right on their, the front of their webpage they have II Corinthians 1:3-4. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. And if you are feeling uncomfortable, discomforted by all of the things that are going on in the world, make sure you come back on the other side of this break, because we will be sharing hope from the God of all comfort with Dr. Carl Benzio when we come back. And my father, your great grandfather, fought in World War II. Really? He was a, gunner on the big ship out in the Pacific Ocean. Wow. Your great grandmother did her part too. Was she on a ship? Oh, no, she stayed back home. She and a lot of, her friends worked really hard in a factory because the men had gone off to war and they held scrap metal drives to help in the war effort. The folks back home were heroes, too.

>> Jeff Chamblee: Here at the American Family association, we consider you the heroes back home as you fulfill your responsibility of caring for your family day to day. Your partnership with us is crucial as we fight the enemies of freedom in America. Thank you for your commitment to the American Family Association. Grandpa, what's a scrap metal drive? Let's get some cookies and I'll tell you all about it.

>> Then Christ Came by MercyMe: Like a soldier with no armor. In the middle of the battle I was broken I was broken it was only getting darker in the valley of the shadow I was hopeless I was hopeless I never thought that I would ever see the day when every single chain would break or hear the voice of heaven call all my name Then Christ came changing everything he took my sin and shame away now every song I sing will be for him Ever since the moment he walked in Then Christ came.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is Then Christ came by MercyMe And I know, I have seen all over social media. I've seen from the pulpit, I've seen from my friends, and quite frankly, I have seen from my own heart. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. We look at the things that are happening in this world and I know there are a lot of parents out there and millennial generation and Gen X and baby boomers and grandparents raising grand kids in Greatest Generation, who are looking at the world today and thinking, how do we find hope in a world that is continually seeming so hostile, so dark, so hopeless? Well, I'm talking today about that with Dr. Carl Benzio. He is the medical director for the American association of Christian Counselors, a group of counselors who are working to provide light in the dark world. And there is light, there is hope. Hope, there is healing, there is freedom. And I do believe that God has gifted and, ah. And called some really incredible healthcare professionals for such a time as this, to speak with courage and clarity. And just as God loves to do, he loves to take broken people, broken lives, broken stories, and redeem that. Redeem them. Make beauty from ashes.

Knowing the redemptive work of Christ in your life changes everything

And Dr. Benzio, right before the break, we were going to talk a little bit more about your own personal story, because as you said, I'm sure people look you through the lens of your accomplishments, but knowing the redemptive work of Christ in your life changes everything.

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Yeah. Ah. So, you know, as I said, I was a stutterer as a kid. Got bullied a lot. we moved around a lot. also as a kid, went to a bunch of different schools. So I ended up having some anxiety, some depression. I did really well in sports. Did things at the national level at like, 12, 13 years old. That allows me to have some friends. But you're never quite in that inner circle, so you always feel left out. Out. And, end up having anxiety, depression, end up using a lot of alcohol, some other substances, some gambling. college, I lost a chance of baseball scholarship, lost to Air Force ROTC scholarship at Duke. and I was a biomedical engineering major. Cheated on a math test, almost had to go in front of the academic review board. Got put on probation, almost got kicked out of school. God gave me the gift of test taking. I applied to medical school, only got on the waiting list at my home school in New Jersey. And a couple days before the semester started. Started, I'm not in. I'm on the waiting list at the registrar's office. Called and says, carl, it's a miracle. I'm like, what do you mean? You've been giving me bad news all summer. She goes, well, we never got this low on the waiting list before, but we got to your number. Do you still want to come? I was like, yeah, I want to come. Can you afford it? It's like, well, just hook me up with the student loan office and I'll get loans. So it's like, all right, boy. Everything I was doing, all my inappropriate activities, got me to where I wanted to be a psychiatrist. So, all right, I can keep on doing that, which I did. And, unfortunately, I ended up with a dui. And then I got arrested for six counts of felony, aggravated assault and was in jail. I was in jail that God spoke to me. And I didn't hear his audible voice, but deep in my spirit, he said, carl, you made me your savior when you were a little kid, which I did. I entered many an al. An altar call, you know, didn't want to burn in hell forever. Said, but you never made me the savior of your life if you make. I mean, you never made me the Lord of your life. If you make me the Lord of your life. I'm going to teach you things about decision making, which was what I was studying, what I wanted to be an expert at. I'm going to teach you things about decision making that will renew your mind, transform your life, and help you transform other people's lives as well. So when I heard Lord, I heard authority. When I heard authority, I heard author. And when I heard author, I realized that I had lived life up to that point, thinking I was the one most qualified to write the hottest car, I'll get the most out of life instruction manual. I know me, I love me, I care for me. I know my sins, I know my weaknesses. I know my strengths, I know my desires, I know my goals. I know my future way better than anybody else. So I'm obviously the one most qualified to write that book. But when I heard Lord, authority, author, I realized he's the one most qualified to write that book. And he did. The B I B L E. The best instruction book for living every day. And so as I said, well, boy, in order to turn my life around here, I need to understand his instruction manual and start to follow it instead of just ripping out a chapter of mine and trying to rewrite a new chapter. That really hasn't worked well for the last 15 years. Let me try this new, this new, strategy of looking in the Word. And so I looked at Jesus decisions. And so as I married that to my psychiatric, education, that's where that spears process, that's where decision making. And now I'm a decision making sciences expert. Who would, who would have thought back then, right? And so I could teach this all over the country, all over the world. I've been to Iraq, Kenya, Uganda. I went to Poland after the outbreak of the Ukrainian war. You know, so usually in conflict or trauma, riddled situations is sort of what I thrive in or what I do best, helping bring that calm help. Let's manage the amygdala and bring sort of prefrontal cortex. And with that let's bring God's truth, the word of the Bible and, and that understanding into that space so we can see clearly ourselves, the situation in God to be able to be resilient and to be able to grow in those situations.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: I appreciate your transparency and authenticity and courage and sharing that as part of your story. And it's through our weaknesses that God is made strong. And God writes the best stories in those kinds of, redemptive arc. I mean that's just the whole story of the Gospel is redemption. And now you're at a place called Honey Lake Clinic to do some really innovative ways to provide comfort for which you were provided comfort. Like I quoted from Second Corinthians. Tell us about that work.

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Yeah, so in 2017, I had the opportunity. So I'd been a consultant to many different treatment centers to how do we infuse Bible into the treatment, into the healing of people? We know that that works, that that's powerful, that that releases the superpower that every believer has that Satan wants to keep. you know, under, I was given the opportunity with a couple of partners to be able to develop Honey Lake Clinic. It's a nonprofit organization, a residential treatment facility, a beautiful hunting, fishing, retreat lodge area that we turn into a treatment center. So we have cutting edge, leading edge psychiatric science, but married to the Bible. So it's. Everything is Bible based, Jesus centered. our staff is Christian. We have about 70 beds. We provide incredible treatment to patients there that help them with depression, anxiety, addictions, ptsd, all the different mental health struggles that we talk about. But we help them understand God, grow their relationship and connection with God and then understand, well, how to apply his instruction manual, the bi B L E to their daily activities and their daily decision making. And usual, length to stay is about 40, 45 days. And I just came back from there the other, the other last, week I was down and we have graduation at the end. And just to hear six patients graduating after their treatment. Treatment, just the impact that our facility, that the community of their fellow patients and believers have in encouraging each other, smiling with each other, helping each other understand, perspective, God, relationship with God better. So, you know, to me, you know, we're all patience, we all need unbinding, as you know, as Jesus said to Lazarus friends, hey, unbind him. Because we all have death wrappings. You know, we all have psychological baggage. You know, there's enemies in our heart, there's attackers, there's strongholds. We're all on this side of glory. We're all in the process of, of sanctification, of transformation. And so that community that we have at Honey Lake is just so powerful. And then we bring good cutting edge science, whether it's psychiatric medications, ah, tms, emdr, equine therapy. We have wonderful horses there to really help a person, use those tools that God's given us to understand how to connect with him more, how to trust in him and trust in him strongly enough that they're willing to apply his instructions in their everyday decision decisions.

American association of Christian counselors has been helping Christians in mental health since 1990s

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, tell us more about the resources available from the American association of Christian Counselors. I know there will be some listeners who will think that's new to me. Does such a thing exist? What is that? What kind of resources can listeners find from this organization?

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Yeah, so the American association of Christian counselors, the AACC has been around since about the mid-90s. When I started off in the, in the mid-80s, there really wasn't very much as far as cross Christian psychology, Christian psychiatry. But AACC has been a forerunner over the last 30 years of really helping, Christians in the mental health space. Whether that's psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, psychologists, master's level therapist. Most of us have had secular education. And so in that secular education we've had. I went to Duke, I went to New Jersey Medical School, I went to UC Irvine for a residency. I didn't have Christian mentors in those programs. So I had to figure out almost my own how to integrate my, my beliefs, my understanding of the Bible with my understanding of science. And you know, God thankfully is, you know, to me, I, I think that's where Bible and our world intersect the most, is in the space of our mind and psychiatry. but most people have to learn that sort of on their own. So what the AACC does is we create, resources, conferences. We have a big conference coming up next week in Nashville. We'll have like about 7,500 Christian therapists and pastors and people in the mental health space space all assembled together to hear, people from, you know, incredible places around the country come and speak on these kind of principles. How we integrate faith and science so that people are, that practitioners are clinically excellent but also biblically grounded. So we really, have the excellence of God portrayed in our ability to practice our craft. The other thing that we do at the AACC is we create resources to help people that are in the helping space. They're either in church, volunteer at the youth group, youth pastors, pastoral people, or they work in Parachurch ministries, like maybe crisis pregnancy centers or things like that. And so they're in that space of helping people, they're coming in contact, they're sort of the first responders to people that are struggling. They're not going to go and get a master's or get an md. That's going to take a long time and some finances for them to do that. But they want to help people today. So we've produced resources that help people deal with come alongside to be that coach, to be that first responder, to deal with youth, to be able to run a marriage ministry at their church or a support group of grief or those kind of things. So we develop a lot of resources. And so if they go to aacc.net and look at Lighthouse or I'm sorry Light University, or the education or the resources, they'll find a whole bunch of different things. Whether it's suicide prevention, building resilient and mentally healthy kids, the mental health coach, youth version. So you can coach kids, not sports coaching, but life coaching and how to bring both good psychological principles and Bible at the same time into our kids lives. There's just a zillion resources there for those people that really want to be equipped both in their own personal walk to be able to understand a little bit more psychologically how God wired them and how to move forward in their own personal walk, but then how to extend some of that comfort to others. like we talked about, you know.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Just Recently I had Dr. Eric Scalise on the show. He's a licensed professional counselor and a licensed marriage and family therapist. And this was exactly what we talked about the whole hour, was that the need is so great that even if everyone who needed mental health services were to say okay, I'm ready, the availability of Christ centered therapy that's accessible, that's affordable, it's, it's just impossible ah, at this point in time. And so we talked about how do we equip lay leaders, how do we equip the church to stand in the gap, to walk alongside, to say things that help and not harm, to know the best practices from science to, to be supportive in that journey. It's so, so, so important. So I'm really grateful to hear about the work of AACC on that.

Dr. Benzio writes a devotional specifically for people struggling with anxiety

Another resource that you have, Dr. Benzio, is a devotional book. You've written one called Transformed by His promises. It's a 12 week devotional and specifically for people who are struggling with anxiety, depression, destructive behaviors. What, what was Your heart in sharing this message.

>> Dr. Karl Benzio: Yeah. So Transformed by His Promises is a great book I wrote with co author, Rose Ann Forte And, she's recovering alcoholic who at age 60, gave up alcohol. So it's never too late. When people say, hey, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. It's never too late. I stopped mine when I was 27, and she, stopped hers when she's 60. But even though people stop substances, there's still life interfering. Thoughts, emotions, or behaviors that we have that interfere with our life, that trip us up, that are those strongholds. And so we developed a book that that is very easy. It has a scriptural passage, just sort of a quick minute, of, of a concept that we teach, and then a prayer. And then there's a space on the flip side, you know, on the other page, to write your gratitude, like, what are you thankful for? Write 10 things that you're grateful for just to get your mind thinking of what you have, not what you don't have to have sort of a positive framework of life and seeing God, who He is, as a provider as opposed to a withholder, and that you're always sort of looking at things from a negative side. And then there's a place for reflections. So it' 12 weeks, 84 days with a short devotional each day that starts to rewire your brain as you take part in these practices. You're rewiring, you're laying down new pathways, and those old pathways are starting to get pruned away. And so we try to marry that. You know, here's biblical principles, here's, psychiatric science, and then here's that neuroplasticity part. Beliefs inform decisions, and then decisions inform our brain chemistry and our rest of our biology. And if you can commit to that for these 12 weeks of walking through that, you' be amazed at how transformed your life will be. So transformed by his promises as we not just hear his promises, we don't want to just be hearers of the Word, but doers of the Word. So these are just very small baby incremental steps to help you take what you hear and apply it, trust it to put it into practice, you know, and that, you know, see, hear, understand, turn. Here's how you turn just this little small step to trust His Word and trust put it into application as far of a decision that day.

>> Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, I think that's part of God's grace, is that these things are simple. And people have a lot of misconceptions about counseling. But if you go to a great counselor for anxiety or depression, gratitude is so important and it's so powerful. I actually call it vitamin G, but that comes from Scripture. Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. That's your physical heart and your spiritual and emotional heart. Thanks for joining us today. Wherever you are, I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

>> Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Mental Health Monday. Dr. Karl Benzio, Medical Director for the American Association of Christian Counselors, joins Jessica to talk about the youth mental health crisis.

Rx for Hope: Find Hope in the God of All Comfort

https://drkarlbenzio.com/