Teen Suicide Prevention Society Membership

The rate of suicide attempts is rising, especially among our teens. Programs that focus on stopping suicide are needed now more than ever, but there's an elephant in the room . . .

What we've found is that most suicide prevention programs only kick-in once a teen's known to be "at risk."

This means that the teen is engaging in high-risk activities, like drug and alcohol use; they have a mental health diagnosis; they've shared that they're struggling with suicidal thoughts; or they've made an attempt to take their own lives.

The "prevention" portion of the programs often focuses on watching for signs and asking about "plans."

At Teaspoons, we believe that watching for signs is looking for trouble.

Constant watchfulness is both exhausting and useless. Suicidal thoughts are invisible.

A parent's brain is hardwired to believe that their child's OK. Your Reticular Activating System, ("RAS") the filter in your brain, screens out what you don't believe is there.

Even parents whose children have a known mental illness are often blind-sided by a suicide attempt. Not all mental health practitioners clearly explain the risk of suicidal ideation, and your RAS makes it hard to remember if they do.

Your child may see the constant watchfulness as a sign that you don't trust them. This could lead to them not trusting themselves, or you, eroding your relationship with them.

In this day and age, often the first sign that a teen's in trouble is an attempt, and they don't all survive.

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What we've found is that programs built around intervention and watchfulness are attempting to answer the question: "How do we stop suicide?"

As clear as that question is, once we learned that suicide prevention hotlines judge their effectiveness by how many calls they receive, we decided that there had to be another way to stop the rising tide of teen suicide.

We realized that the challenge wasn't the act of taking their life that was the problem. The problem was the thinking that led to feelings of hopelessness.

Once we realized that, we stopped asking: "How do we stop suicide?" and started asking: "How do we stop suicidal thinking from getting stuck inside someone's head?"

That one small shift led us down a very different path . . .

Instead of waiting for known risk factors to show up or watching for signs that a kid's in trouble we started looking upstream.

The first thing we found is that, according to the Center for Disease Control, not talking about suicide is, in and of itself, a risk factor for suicide.

That led to our #BreakTheSilence program in high schools.

The second thing we found is that suicidal thoughts are normal. According to Sigmund Freud, suicidal thinking is part of our brain's natural worst-case scenario, problem-solving mechanism.

That led to our #YouCantDoItWrong program for practical problem solving.

The third thing we found is that the fear of saying the wrong thing prevents many parents from saying anything.

That led to our writing guides on how to #HaveTheTalk about suicide.

The fourth, and most important, thing we found is that suicide prevention is a team sport.

That led to our how to #SuicideProofYourFriends program that we call: "'The Talks' That Save Lives."

We call this approach: "Say something before you see something" a.k.a.: "Pure Prevention."

Supporting the programs and outreach efforts of the Teen Suicide Prevention Society helps ensure that tomorrow's adults have the mental and emotional resilience to handle what's coming.

Nobody was prepared for the pandemic. The world that our teens are living in is very different from the one we grew up in.

The efforts are felt around the world. Our partners include centers in the poorest regions of Nairobi. Together we're changing the story for children everywhere.

Your becoming a member of Teaspoons goes a long way towards achieving the vision of a world where teen suicide is a thing of the past.

$27/month allows us to increase our efforts to suicide-proof a generation.

Your membership includes an engraved Teaspoon* and . . .

Access to the most powerful vision board platform on the planet ($ priceless) ~ You will have permanent access to two sessions on the platform and a free 30-day all-access pass to explore everything they offer.

The Advocates for Living 4-week course at only $47 one time purchase ($497 value)

In-person Presentation on Mental and Emotional Fitness for your group or organization (1 per year, $2,500 value)

Anonymous mental health screenings for depression and anxiety ($1,200 value)

Society Members-only Mindset Virtual Retreat with Jackie ($2,500 value, each held every three months)

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Want to do a little more?

Please add a one-time donation to the Teen Suicide Prevention Scholarship fund.

Thank you for being willing to support our mission. Together we can make teen suicide a thing of the past.