Lesson Plan May 9, 2023
Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention: Listening Guide for Educators
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About the Podcast:
Conversations with Sydney is a solutions-oriented podcast series exploring effective ways for parents, teens, teachers, and communities to respond to the crisis of teen mental health and suicide. Each episode is hosted by non-binary teenager, musician, and artist Sydney, alongside their father, filmmaker and journalist Micah Fink. They discuss their personal experiences opening up conversations about mental health at home, and also interview teens, researchers, and leading mental health experts to explore important questions, including:
- How can parents begin to talk about mental health and suicide with their kids?
- What do we know about the signs of suicide, and how can it be prevented?
- What is self-injury and how can parents help their kids find healthier ways to cope with their feelings?
- What role can schools and teachers play in addressing this national crisis?
- What role can teens play when their friends talk about suicide?
Sydney and Micah hope that these intimate and open-ended conversations will engage everyone who has a stake in helping young people lead healthy, happier lives—and encourage them to discuss these issues within their own families, schools, and communities.
Conversations with Sydney is distributed by WBGO Studios, the podcasting arm of WBGO, the Public Radio Station in Newark, New Jersey. The production is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism and Media.
The podcast is now available on WBGO, Apple podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music.
How to Use This Guide:
This listening guide is designed to support you in undertaking reflection work that provides the essential basis for opening up conversations about mental health at home, in the classroom, in your school community, or wherever you work closely with youth.
The listening guides for each of the four episodes of Conversations with Sydney offer questions to consider before listening; themes, key quotes, and reflection questions for time-stamped sections; and questions to reflect on after listening. Some of the reflection questions will prompt you to complete a short activity, such as a journaling exercise or research into mental health resources.
We hope this podcast and accompanying listening guide offer concrete tips and reflection opportunities that help you feel more equipped to open up dialogues related to teen mental health in your communities, and to identify and respond to the signs of mental health crises young people in your life might experience. However, we expect that you have many questions on this complex issue that won’t be answered here, and that more questions will arise as you engage with this listening guide.
Please use these resources as a starting point to continue your inquiry into mental health, and the resources available to you and to young people on a local level. You can also share your questions, additional resources, and feedback on this guide by clicking here.
Episode 1: "Should I Talk to My Teen About Suicide?” (Runtime 5:10)
Teen suicide is real and impacting young people everywhere. According to the CDC, suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds in the United States. In this initial episode, Sydney and Micah reflect on their first time discussing suicide together. As Sydney was sharing their own and their friends’ struggles with suicidal thoughts, Micah wondered—was it okay that he was talking to Sydney about suicide? To help answer this question, he speaks with Tracy Klingener, Director of Suicide Prevention at the Mental Health Association, who explains why an open dialogue about suicide is essential.
Some questions to consider before listening:
- This podcast series talks about issues relating to mental health and suicide. What can you do to take care of yourself before and after engaging with this series?
- When you think about talking to young people in your life about mental health and suicide, how do you feel? Do you feel calm, safe, and relaxed? Do you feel anxious, worried, and tense? Without judgment, notice the emotions and physical sensations you experience.
| Theme | Key quotes | Questions to consider |
| It’s okay to talk about suicide | “One of the greatest myths when we’re talking about suicide is that people fear if they say that word suicide or if they ask that question about suicide that they are going to put that idea in that person’s head. And that’s not the case at all. Your kids are already talking about it. You actually give them a safe place to talk about some scary stuff.” –Tracy Klingener, Director of Suicide Prevention at the Mental Health Alliance Time stamp: 2:02–2:23 |
Can you think of a time when talking about a problem made that problem feel more manageable? What was that experience like? As a teen, did you have a safe space to talk about your mental health, or other difficult personal issues? > If so, what made that space feel safe? How was it valuable to you? > If not, what do you think a safe space would have looked, sounded, felt like? How would it have been valuable to you? |
| The dangers of ignoring suicidal thoughts | “One of the myths is that if a child talks about killing themselves, it’s just a cry for help and you should just ignore it. Because it’s attention seeking or they’re being dramatic. I always say, why would we ignore a cry for help? Whatever the situation may be, it’s important that if we hear anything about someone thinking about suicide, that we need to tell someone.” –Tracy Klingener Time stamp: 2:28–2:54 |
What can you do to make the people in your life, including your students, feel safe talking to you about mental health? Klingener says that “we need to tell someone” when young people share suicidal thoughts with us. Think about the different contexts in which you work with youth. Is there an established protocol for what you should do under these circumstances? > Who would be safe and helpful people for you to tell? > If you’re not sure, who can you ask or brainstorm with? |
Questions to reflect on after listening:
- Micah explains that, despite having a transparent relationship with his child Sydney, he felt great discomfort talking about suicide with them. Can you relate to his experience? What can you do to work through your discomfort when you are called on to have a difficult conversation?
- Tracy Klingener debunks several myths about teen suicide prevention in this episode. Were you surprised to hear that any of these ideas are myths? Do you know of any other myths related to teen suicide or mental health that need to be debunked?
- Klingener emphasizes the importance of destigmatizing conversations about teen mental health and suicide. Take some time to free-write our draw in response to the following prompt:
- Envision a world in which talking openly about teen mental health and suicide is normalized. What would this world look, sound, and feel like? What would happen as a result?
Episode 2: “Talking to Teens About Suicide” (Runtime 9:24)
Teens are already talking about suicide—they just might not be talking to you. Sydney and Micah discuss how parents should talk to their kids about suicide. To help with this, they speak to Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, Chief Medical Officer at the Jed Foundation. Dr. Erickson-Schroth offers advice on starting this conversation with teens and some ways to respond if your child says they are thinking about suicide.
Some questions to consider before listening:
- This podcast series talks about issues relating to mental health and suicide. What can you do to take care of yourself before and after engaging with this series?
- In this episode, Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth offers advice on how parents should talk to their teens about suicide. What are some of the similarities and differences between your relationship and interactions with teens and those of a parent?
- Have you received any training on what to do if a students shares that they are experiencing suicidal thoughts? What would you like to learn about this topic?
| Theme | Key quotes | Questions to consider |
| Youth suicide rates | “Nineteen percent of teens have seriously considered suicide in the last year…Suicide is the third leading cause of death for young people 15-24.” –Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, Chief Medical Officer at the Jed Foundation Time stamp: 1:13–1:34 |
Do these statistics on youth suicide and suicidal ideation surprise you? Why or why not? |
| Understanding gradations of suicidal thoughts | “Parents often go either one direction or the other: they either minimize, or they go into full action mode, even if certain things aren’t needed at the moment…One thing you want to figure out, if [your teen is] willing to talk to you about it is—there are gradations of suicidal thoughts—where are they right now?” –Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth Time stamp: 4:25–4:58 |
What ideas or feelings do you think would lead someone to minimize a situation? What are the effects of minimizing? What ideas or feelings do you think would lead someone to go into full action mode prematurely? What are the effects? Listen to Dr. Erickson-Schroth’s description of the gradations of suicidal thoughts. How might you respond to these gradations differently? (Keep listening for some suggestions.) |
| Counseling as a first step | “If you’re hearing from a young person that they are having those kind of thoughts, like ‘I wish I didn’t exist,’ but that they don’t have any thoughts to do anything to hurt themselves, absolutely the first step is thinking about a counselor or therapist, someone that they can start meeting with.” –Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth Time stamp: 5:50–6:07 |
What access to counselors, therapists, and other mental health professionals do students have through your school or organization? What barriers—practical or perceived—might young people you work with encounter in accessing support from a mental health professional? How might you be able to support them in accessing the services they need? |
| Suicide and crisis lifelines | “If you’re hearing things that are more concerning…if you’re hearing that the young person is having thoughts of doing something to hurt themselves, but maybe they don’t know exactly what, you…want to go into a little more action mode. There’s the new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. That’s a good place to turn if you’re not really sure what to do.” –Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth Time stamp: 6:08–6:33 |
Have you had any experiences with crisis hotlines in the past? Are you familiar with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline? What questions do you have about crisis hotlines? What questions do you expect young people you work with might have? (Listen to Episode 3 for more information about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.) |
Questions to reflect on after listening:
- What tips from this episode are resonating with you?
- Sydney highlights how many teens feel a desire to have their pain acknowledged and understood, while at the same time not wanting or feeling able to talk about it. How could that insight inform how you approach talking to young people about mental health and suicide?
- Dr. Erickson-Schroth says that “90 percent of people who have serious suicide attempts do not go on to die by suicide afterwards” (7:55–8:04). What does this statistic tell you about the nature of suicidal thoughts and the possibilities of suicide prevention?
Episode 3: “How the New 988 Hotline Works” (Runtime 13:07)
Sydney and Micah speak with Dr. Madelyn Gould, Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry at Columbia University, whose groundbreaking work proved that telephone hotlines could save lives. She explains the importance of crisis counselors and the new national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The vast majority of people who call asking for help say that just twenty minutes of conversation, on average, stopped them from killing themselves. Dr. Gould explains why the 988 hotline is so effective and urges young people (and their parents) to use this resource.
Some questions to consider before listening:
- This podcast series talks about issues relating to mental health and suicide. What can you do to take care of yourself before and after engaging with this series?
- Have you had any experiences with crisis hotlines in the past? Are you familiar with the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the resources they offer?
- What questions do you have about crisis hotlines? What questions do you expect young people you work with might have?
| Theme | Key quotes | Questions to consider |
| Responding to teens who disclose mental health crises | “We try to teach parents and mental health professionals to listen so that the response isn’t shock or overreaction. They’ve learned to say, ‘We’re here for you, we’re sorry that you’re in so much pain…There’s nothing that you can’t share with us.’” –Dr. Madelyn Gould, Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry at Columbia University Time stamp: 2:43–3:13 |
Think about a time when you had to share difficult information with someone else. How did they respond? How did their response make you feel? What would have been an ideal response? What do you think of Dr. Gould’s suggested response to teens in crisis? How would you adapt or extend it, based on your role and relationship to youth? |
| Finding support outside of the home | “If the young person doesn’t feel as if there is support in the home, or if some of the unbearable stress is occurring in the home, they need to know resources outside of the home.” –Dr. Madelyn Gould Time stamp: 5:42–6:02 |
How can you be mindful of different levels of support and stressors young people may experience in the home when discussing mental health with them? |
| How crisis hotlines and counselors can interrupt mental health crises | “The one phone call or the one text is not going to cure anybody, absolutely not. But what it can do is defuse, deescalate the situation.” –Dr. Madelyn Gould Time stamp: 9:45–9:55 |
From Dr. Gould’s description, what can a caller expect from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline? What can the hotline and crisis counselors offer? |
| The role of crisis hotlines in a larger system of mental health care | “I don’t want to make it seem that [the crisis hotline] is the only thing that’s needed…When we talk about 988, it’s one piece of a larger behavioral crisis care system.” –Dr. Madelyn Gould Time stamp: 11:14–11:44 |
What are some of the additional elements of the larger system of mental health care that Dr. Gould describes, beyond the crisis hotline? Can you think of other elements you consider essential? |
Questions to reflect on after listening:
- Take some time to explore information about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Also take some time to familiarize yourself with at least two additional mental health hotlines. (Many hotlines are established to offer specially trained or peer support to specific populations, such as LGBTQ+ youth or veterans, or for specific circumstances, such as panic attacks.) While you explore, try to answer these questions for each hotline:
- Who is encouraged to call, and under what circumstances?
- Does the hotline offer text, instant message, or forms of crisis support other than phone calls?
- What will happen when a person calls? Who will answer?
- What data collection and/or reporting processes does the hotline follow? Could a caller’s information ever be shared with police, parents, or third parties?
- Create your own question: What else do you want to know, or what questions can you anticipate a young person in your life having?
Episode 4: “The Paradox of Self-Injury” (Runtime 17:18)
Non-suicidal self-injury is the deliberate destruction of one’s own body tissue in order to feel better. Sydney and Micah speak with Dr. Janis Whitlock, Director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery, who explains the paradox of self-injury and how parents can begin to address it. The episode also features Rylee Rose, a teen living in New Jersey who shares her personal experiences with self-injury. Rylee explains her reasons for self-injuring, and how this behavior fits into her larger struggle with depression and anxiety.
Some questions to consider before listening:
- This podcast series talks about issues relating to mental health and suicide. What can you do to take care of yourself before and after engaging with this series?
- What do you think about when you hear “self-injury”? Who do you think self-injures, how, and why?
| Topic | Key quotes | Questions to consider |
| The paradox of self-injury: hurting oneself in order to feel better | "Is self injury the same thing as suicidal behavior?" -Micah “No, not at all. It’s actually paradoxically very different. But that’s the thing that makes it kind of confusing for everybody, sometimes even people who use it…It is not meant to end life at all. It is the opposite. It is intended to feel better.” –Dr. Janis Whitlock, Director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery Time stamp: 3:22–3:43 |
What is a “coping mechanism,” and how is self-injury used as a coping mechanism? Why is it important to understand the paradox of self-injury, and how it differs from suicidal behaviors? |
| Talking about self-injury | “When we did interviews with people with self-injury experience and we asked them what they wanted their parents to know, that was the dominant request: They just wanted their parents to ask why.” –Dr. Janis Whitlock Time stamp: 10:24–10:35 “I think that a lot of the time, adults have a hard time understanding that children can feel very dark feelings and have very dark thoughts…If those thoughts are just left to fester…it gets much worse.” –Rylee Rose, teenager 11:11–11:36 |
If you suspected a young person in your life was engaging in self-injury, would you have any reservations about reaching out to them and asking why? What would you need to feel comfortable asking this question? Dr. Whitlock shares that children are engaging in self-injury at progressively younger ages. Would there be any differences in how you would respond to a young person you suspected was self-injuring based on their age? What do you think of Rylee’s observation that adults don’t always recognize children’s capacity for dark thoughts? How can being open to young people’s wide emotional range help you support them? |
| Responding to self-injury | “The overarching message you want to give as a parent is ‘I love you. I am not leaving you alone in this. I don’t necessarily know how to fix this or how to fix your life but I am going to be here and we are just going to keep working on it and please share.’” –Dr. Janis Whitlock Time stamp: 15:55–16:08 |
Why is it important to acknowledge uncertainty in how to “fix” or work through a young person’s mental health crisis? How can you apply Dr. Whitlock’s advice for parents to your work with youth? |
Questions to reflect on after listening:
- Did any of the information about who self-injures, how, and why provided by Dr. Janis Whitlock, Rylee Rose, and/or Sydney surprise you or expand your understanding?
- Dr. Whitlock emphasizes the need for parents supporting young people with ongoing mental health crises to have a support system of their own. She poses these questions: “Do you have support? Who do you talk to? Do you have a therapist?” (15:15–15:22) Reflect on Dr. Whitlock’s questions.
- What support systems and self-care practices are already working well for you?
- Where could you use more support?
1. Share your questions and further resources about teen mental health and suicide prevention.
We hope this podcast and this listening guide have offered concrete tips and reflection opportunities that help you feel more equipped to open up dialogues related to teen mental health in your communities, and to identify and respond to the signs of mental health crises young people in your life might experience. However, we expect that you have many questions on this complex issue that couldn’t be covered in four short episodes.
What else do you want to know about teen mental health and suicide prevention? What questions do you have for Micah, Sydney, and mental health experts across the country? What resources related to teen mental health would you like to share with others working to support youth?
Your questions could be answered as part of a virtual dialogue on youth mental health on Tuesday, May 30, 6:30-7:30pm EDT. (You’re invited!) Some questions may even inspire future episodes of Conversations with Sydney. And the resources you share will be accessible other educators engaging with this content.
2. Join a virtual dialogue on mental health for educators, and all those working with youth.
We welcome you to join a virtual conversation on youth mental health with Micah, Sydney, and mental health professionals including Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, Chief Medical Officer at the Jed Foundation. Join us live on Tuesday, May 30, 6:30-7:30pm EDT. Presenters will share their perspectives (including those of parent, teen, mental health professional, and journalist) on the importance of normalizing conversations about teen mental health and suicide prevention, and will engage in conversation about the questions, challenges, and experiences of attendees.
3. Request a virtual journalist visit to extend conversations about mental health in your classroom.
Classroom teachers, out-of-school-time professionals, and others working with youth in group settings can request a free virtual visit with a Pulitzer Center journalist-grantee who has reported on topics related to mental health around the world. Inviting a journalist to speak about stories related to mental health is one way to normalize talking about mental health and open the door to more conversations among your students.
Please note: Our journalists are not counselors or mental health professionals, and cannot share medical advice of any kind.
REPORTING FEATURED IN THIS LESSON PLAN
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Project
Conversations With Sydney
This podcast explores ways for families, schools, and communities to respond to teen mental health...
