If you’ve ever wondered why some mental health programs actually stick while others fade after a single event, this conversation is for you and your organization. We’re joined by Fran Frazier of the Black Girl Rising Research Project and Rebecca Jones, Child and Adolescent Services Director with the Mental Health Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County. This episode is centered on what it takes to support African American girls with honesty, rigor, and care.

We start with the reality many Black girls face in Ohio: higher exposure to trauma, community violence, instability, and chronic stress. Then we move to what doesn’t get enough airtime in suicide prevention and youth mental health work: resilience, leadership, and the power of being taken seriously. Fran shares how decades of research and listening shaped a girl-led model that replaces lectures with facilitation.

Rebecca walks us through what it looks like to bring Black Girl Rising into a new community with fidelity, including Love Letters to Black Girls, mother-daughter conversations, and the long-game goal of growing girls grow into ambassadors.

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Autistic people are at higher risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, yet too many support systems still treat autism and mental health as separate worlds. Stepanie and Scott sit down with Lisa Morgan, an autistic adult and founder of the Autism and Suicide Prevention Work Group, and Dr. Brenna Maddox, a clinical psychologist and co-chair of the work group, to talk about what that gap looks like in real life and how to close it.

We unpack how language preferences differ, why a strengths-based view of autism matters, and how the social model and neurodiversity-affirming care can replace the harmful idea that autistic people need to be 'fixed'. Then we go straight at the misconceptions that can increase suicide risk, including the dangerous habit of skipping suicide risk questions just because someone is autistic. We also explore a theme we hear again and again: invalidation. Not being believed can be constant, and it can push suicidal ideation higher.

Our conversation is very practical too. Some warning signs can look different for autistic people, including intense internal crisis paired with a calm exterior, and alexithymia that makes emotions hard to name. We point listeners to autism-specific crisis support resources, including guidance for using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and tools like a reasons-for-living worksheet that can help even when therapy is hard to access. If you care about autism suicide prevention, share this conversation, subscribe for more, and leave a review so more people can find these resources when they need them most.

Overnight personality changes are every parent’s nightmare, especially when the symptoms don’t fit a neat box. Scott and Stephanie are joined by Gabriella True, President and founding Board Member of Aspire, to explain PANS and PANDAS in plain language and with hard-earned honesty. Gabriella brings professional advocacy plus lived experience as a mom of twins impacted by PANS and as someone who has dealt with PANS/PANDAS symptoms herself.

We dig into what makes pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome so alarming: sudden OCD, restricted eating, and complex tics that can arrive with severe separation anxiety, rage, urinary changes, and mood swings. We talk about why some kids don’t show “typical” infection signs, how strep and other triggers can set off a neuroimmune response, and why calling these shifts “symptoms” instead of “behavior” can change how families and clinicians respond.

Gabriella also walks us through today’s treatment framework including infectious triggers and reducing inflammation alongside careful psychiatric support. The conversation doesn’t skip the hardest part: suicide risk, the reality of hospitalization, and the urgent need for coordinated medical and mental health care.

If this helps you put words to what you’re seeing at home, share it with someone who needs it, subscribe for more conversations like this, and leave a review so more families can find these resources when time matters most.