Sign up to get updates from us
Jackie Simmons, the Director of the Teen Suicide Prevention Society, joins Heather in this week’s episode. Jackie shares her story that drives her passion to make teen suicide a thing of the past. She also discusses the impact we can have just by having simple conversations with our "Power 20" that can help teens and adults alike to start thinking differently about their lives.
Do not miss these highlights:
02:47 - Jackie discusses the awakening she had with her daughter at age 37 opened up about her own story during a speech.
09:30 - With over 3000 teen suicide attempts a day, could these be stopped just by opening up to have conversations?
12:23 - Jackie and Heather roleplay the script of 4 questions to ask your teen when beginning the conversation.
15:33 - These straightforward questions begin to build a new neural network that causes one to start looking at reasons for staying.
17:37 - Suicidal thoughts are normal and part of the brain’s worst-case scenario
19:35 - How the script builds a buffer to help people not go from helpless to hopeless
21:38 - Jackie talks about the Power of 20 and being powerfully proactive.
23:28 - A look at the impact the Society has had in Nairobi, Kenya
25:32 - The reasons why teens do not want to talk to others about suicidal thoughts
28:20 - The Double Down effect that happens to the brain when you try not to think about something and Jackie explains the law of attraction in action.
35:11 - The pre-covid rate of suicide thoughts in teens and when you need to get an intervention specialist in place
39:32 - A look at the Positivity Quotient - the number of positive thoughts to negative
44:18 - Open up the conversation because we should assume that everybody is at risk
About Our Guest:
"TEDx speaker, Radio Show Host, International Best-selling Author, Resilience Master, and co-founder of the Teen Suicide Prevention Society, Jackie Simmons is best known for her mission to “Wake Up The World.”
In 1995, blindsided by her 14-year-old daughter’s suicide attempt, Jackie entered a world of depression, addictions, medical mysteries, and deadly silences.
The journey into the world of mental health services and cultural taboos left Jackie feeling lost and alone.
“OK” on the outside, with “really, I’m fine,” her most frequent response to inquiries about how she was doing. Jackie hid her deep, psychic wounds from the world behind a façade of frantic entrepreneurial activity.
Then on August 3, 2019, Jackie’s now 37-year-old daughter, broke the silence. Jackie wasn’t ready. She calls August 3, 2019 the day her “purpose tapped her on the shoulder.”
Please join Jackie on her mission to make teen suicide a thing of the past. You may never know whose life you’ll save. www.TeenSuicidePreventionSociety.com
The Teen Suicide Prevention Society is a registered 501c3 – to make a donation visit: www.TeenSuicidePrevnetionSociety.org"
