BipolarBrave Awards Exclusive Interview: Kay Warren
Kay cofounded Saddleback Church with her husband Rick in Lake Forest, CA in 1980 where they served until Rick’s retirement in September 2022. After the death of her son, Matthew, who lived with serious mental illness for most of his life, she founded Saddleback’s Hope for Mental Health Initiative as a way to support individuals and family members of loved ones with mental illness and suicidal ideation. In 2019, Kay started BREATHE, a ministry to support parents of children with serious mental illness. BREATHE events include weekend respite retreats, online retreats, and free Zoom calls with mental health professionals.
Kay was a board member of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention and is active in mental health/suicide prevention efforts in Orange County, CA. Kay is the author of Sacred Privilege: Your Life and Ministry as a Pastor’s Wife, Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough, Say Yes to God: A Call to Courageous Surrender, and the coauthor of Foundations, a popular systematic theology course used by churches worldwide. Her children are Amy, Josh, and Matthew (who is in Heaven), and she has five grandchildren.
Why did you start your ministry?
In a few sentences, share your ministry’s measurable achievements.
Hope for Mental Health Community initiative at Saddleback Church has held two global conferences. We’ve held monthly Hope for Mental Health Community gatherings since 2018. Through Covid we went online and still met monthly. We’ve been back in person since 2022. Since then, we’ve started multiple support groups at the church for families living with a variety of diagnoses. We’ve put on six BREATHE retreats and held several monthly calls through the years reaching hundreds of families.
What are your future plans for your ministry? Anything noteworthy to give us a heads-up about?
In January of 2024, I started a nonprofit called Hope for Brighter Tomorrows that will take the BREATHE Ministry and expand it. We plan on respite retreats, free monthly Zoom calls, a private Facebook page for parents, and the development of private local chapters around the country. From there we will have curriculum and leadership with alumni moms. We’ll expand our website so we can have more families participate in it.
We are thrilled God has provided this way to bring beauty from the ashes of Matthew’s death. They’re not equivalent, to be clear. Matthew died, and I will miss him every day of my life. At the same time, God is true to His Word, brings beauty out of our most horrendous losses. That speaks to His goodness and mercy, and I am grateful for that. We don’t want others to walk through adversity alone.
Saddleback will continue to run Hope For Mental Health and I’m a volunteer for that.
Where do we find out more about your ministry and how can we support you?
To support our ministry, go to KayWarren.com. If you want information about BREATHE, visit KayWarren.com/breathe.
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