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“One thing that kids think is, I don't want to burden my parents with this, this is too much for them. And when we're willing to say, ‘Are you struggling with suicide, do you have a plan, do you want to die by suicide,’ that opens the door for them to say, Wow, maybe I'm not going to burden them. Maybe this isn't that bad. They brought it up to me, so it must be okay.”
I'm Dr. Shelly Mahon, your host, and in today's episode we talk about how most parents can feel when something is off with their kid, but freeze right at the moment it matters most. Do you ask the hard question, or do you wait and hope it passes? Jenna Candreia has spent years helping families move past that fear. As executive director of The Liv Project, Jenna works to bring youth mental health and suicide prevention “out of the shadows” and give parents real, practical language for the conversations they're most afraid to start.
About Our Guest
Jenna Candreia is the Executive Director of The Liv Project, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit focused on turning the conversation about youth mental health and suicide prevention “out of the shadows.” Jenna leads the organization's work from Colorado. The Liv Project was created in memory of Liv, a 19-year-old who died by suicide in 2019 after struggling with anxiety, depression and a non-verbal learning disorder. Her family transformed their grief into a mission centered on connection, fearless communication, and giving people practical ways to talk about mental health.
The organization's work includes The Game That Goes There, creative workshops, digital discussion guides, the My Sister Liv documentary, and the L.I.V. framework (Listen, Identify, Vocalize) for recognizing and responding to mental health struggles.
In This Episode, We Cover
- Liv's story, and how her family turned their grief into a mission built on connection and fearless conversation
- What “fearless conversations” actually means in practice, and why asking a teen directly about suicidal thoughts doesn't plant the idea
- The subtle changes parents should watch for when a teen may be struggling, and how to tell ordinary teenage behavior from something that needs more attention
- The L.I.V. framework, Listen, Identify, Vocalize, and how a parent can put it to use at home
- Why kids often stay quiet because they don't want to “burden” a parent, and how being asked directly can actually be a relief
- Moving out of problem-solving mode and learning what it looks like to really listen when a teen opens up
- How social media shapes belonging, comparison and self-worth, and the “compare/despair” trap Jenna sees in the kids she works with
- What to say, and what to avoid saying, when a child finally tells a parent “I'm not okay”
- How to tell when a situation has moved beyond what a parent can manage alone, and how to bring in outside support
- Approaching a teen's changed behavior with curiosity and “protective mode” instead of “attack mode”
- Why it's progress, not perfection, and how kids forgive parents who keep showing up
- The one skill Jenna believes every parent needs to help protect a child's mental health
Other Lines Worth Remembering
“As parents we get so scared when behavior changes. Our kids see us as coming in with attack mode, but it's really protective mode. Breathe through that, and ask questions.”
“It's not perfection, it's progress. Our kids forgive us.”
“One of the things I always tell kids is, with social media, you are comparing your insides to everyone else's outsides. You're seeing a snapshot, a picture, that seems so happy and so wonderful, and you're comparing that to how you feel on the inside. That is not apples to apples.”
Resources Mentioned & Related Reading
- The Liv Project: Resources, programs and tools designed to help families and communities have more open conversations about youth mental health and suicide prevention
- Fearless Conversation Guides: Two action-oriented guides, one for someone worried about themselves and one for someone worried about another person
- The L.I.V. Framework: Listen, Identify, Vocalize — a simple framework for helping young people recognize what's happening internally and find language to ask for help
- My Sister Liv: A documentary telling the story of Liv, her sister Tess, and their family's experience with youth mental health, suicide and grief; also used as a catalyst for community conversations
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 for immediate crisis support in the United States
- Crisis Text Line: Text LIV to 741741 for crisis text support
