Kay Warren

Kay Warren is the co-founder of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California (with her husband Rick), an international speaker, Bible teacher, and one of the most prominent evangelical advocates for people living with mental illness. After her son Matthew took his life in 2013, she founded the Hope for Mental Health Initiative at Saddleback in 2014 and the BREATHE ministry in 2019 to support parents of children with serious mental illness.

Warren writes and speaks on mental health, suffering, joy, and the privilege of pastoral life. Her work has helped shift evangelical conversation about mental illness away from stigma and toward a posture that combines biblical hope, clinical care, and church community.