September is Suicide Prevention Month, and it is important to think and talk about this difficult subject with our kids this month. Today I share ideas about having such a conversation along with a link to a section of Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER that is dear to my heart and really touches those adults and youth who see it.

Kids ten and up need to know that the brain is a very wonderful but complicated organ in our body — and just as the heart can suddenly stop beating (called cardiac arrest), a person’s brain can do something similar. The part of the brain that gives a sense of hope can go into arrest mode, and the person no longer wants to live.

For so long, our society believed the dangerous myth that talking about suicide and suicidal thoughts would put the idea into someone’s head. That is not the case! Just talking about suicide does not provoke the loss of will to live.

Tween and teen years are incredibly complicated times filled with challenging emotions and thoughts. Screenagers and Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER both touch on the new science of understanding our youth’s emotions.

Today I give you ideas for how to talk to your kids about suicide to help them if thoughts were to emerge or so they have that information to help their friends.

I also share a clip from Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER.