Giving Voice to Depression: Real Stories & Expert Support for Depression and Mental Health
Giving Voice To Depression unites lived experience and expert insight to shine a spotlight on depression and mental health. Each week, we bring you honest personal stories, evidence-based strategies, and compassionate conversations to help you understand, cope with, and recover from depression. Whether you’re navigating your own journey, supporting a loved one, or simply seeking to better understand mental-health challenges, this podcast offers real voices, trusted guidance, and a path toward hope. Subscribe now for new episodes every week and join a community where depression isn’t silenced—it’s voiced, understood and overcome.
Giving Voice to Depression: Real Stories & Expert Support for Depression and Mental Health
What to Do If Your Friend Is Suicidal: A Teen's Guide to Getting Help and Saving a Life
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What would you do if your best friend told you they were thinking about suicide—and begged you not to tell anyone?
For many teenagers, this isn't a hypothetical question.
In the final episode of our three-part Suicide Prevention Month series, suicide prevention expert Dr. Stacey Freedenthal explains why keeping suicidal thoughts secret can place an overwhelming burden on another young person—and why telling a trusted adult is an act of courage, not betrayal.
She offers practical guidance for recognizing the difference between an immediate emergency and a situation that still requires adult support, while reminding listeners that no teenager should carry this responsibility alone.
We also hear from Dr. Jennifer Shavina, a Wisconsin school psychologist and mental health coordinator, whose district has spent nearly two decades building a culture where students learn how to recognize warning signs, support one another, and confidently seek help from trusted adults.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- What to do if a friend tells you they're having suicidal thoughts
- Why keeping suicidal thoughts secret can be dangerous
- When to seek immediate help—and when to involve a trusted adult
- How schools can teach students to recognize warning signs
- Why social media posts can be important cries for help
- How suicide prevention programs encourage students to speak up
- Why parents and schools both play critical roles in prevention
- The importance of helping young people feel connected instead of alone
Whether you're a teenager, parent, educator, coach, or school counselor, this conversation offers practical, compassionate guidance on one of the most difficult situations a young person can face.
One message comes through clearly: It's always better to risk losing a friendship than to lose a friend.
Primary Topics Covered:
- Teen suicide prevention
- Helping a suicidal friend
- Suicide warning signs
- Trusted adults and crisis intervention
- School mental health programs
- Peer support
- Social media warning signs
- Youth depression
- Suicide prevention education
- Building emotionally safe school communities
Timestamps:
00:01:12 Why teens often tell friends instead of parents
00:02:41 "Better mad than dead": the difficult choice friends sometimes face
00:03:30 Why teens ask friends to keep suicidal thoughts secret
00:05:09 What to do if a friend is in immediate danger
00:06:21 Meet Dr. Jennifer Shavina and a school district's prevention efforts
00:07:02 How suicide prevention screening opens family conversations
00:07:54 Following up with students identified as at risk
00:08:12 Teaching students to recognize warning signs in friends
00:09:18 Creating a school culture where asking for help is normal
00:09:47 Warning signs aren't always direct statements about suicide
00:10:25 How parents have responded to the school's program
00:11:23 The long-term goals of mental health education
00:11:46 Overcoming barriers to school-based suicide prevention
00:12:49 Why collaboration between schools saves lives
00:13:25 If a parent isn't a safe option, find another trusted adult
Additional Resources:
Link to Menasha Wisconsin Joint School District Website
Explore mental health and addiction treatment options at recovery.com
Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/GivingVoiceToDepression/
Terry's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/givingvoicetodepression/
