A Berkeley Researcher Works with Teens to Prevent Suicide in Black Youth
Suicide rates among Black youth have risen over the last few decades while dropping for adolescents overall. A Berkeley researcher is partnering with teenagers to build support programs that focus on community strengths and prevent crises before they start.
In short: Suicide rates among Black youth have risen over the last few decades while dropping for adolescents overall. A Berkeley researcher is partnering with teenagers to build support programs that focus on community strengths and prevent crises before they start.
While suicide rates for teenagers in the United States are generally going down, they are climbing higher for Black youth. Now, one university researcher is turning to the young people themselves to find new ways to help kids want to live.
What happened, in plain words
Jasmin Brooks Stephens, an assistant professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, teamed up with teenagers from the Jabali Youth Advocacy organization and the Homeless Children’s Network. Over eight weeks, these teens worked together to design programs that support the mental health of Black youth. Brooks Stephens studies how racism and other daily stresses impact Black young adults and focuses on building upstream resilience, which means helping children thrive before a crisis happens. She recently helped create the Black Youth Thriving Framework for Suicide Prevention, which looks at protective factors like self-acceptance and family support.
Key points
- Rising suicide rates in Black youth: For kids and teens between 10 and 17 years old, the suicide rate rose by 144% from 2007 to 2020.
- Teens as research partners: Four teenagers worked with Brooks Stephens over eight weeks to help design mental health programs and visited the UC Berkeley campus.
- Focusing on strengths instead of only crises: Traditional suicide programs often wait until a child reaches a hospital, but Brooks Stephens wants to understand what helps youth feel hope and thrive early on.
- The Black Youth Thriving Framework: Brooks Stephens and her colleagues created this framework using a literature review that found six protective factors, including family support and community ties, which can lower suicide risk.
Terms explained
- Participatory research — A way of studying a topic where the people affected by the issue work directly with scientists to design the project and solutions. Example: Teens joining researchers at a whiteboard to help build a mental health program.
- Upstream resilience — Focusing on building happiness, well-being, and strength in children before a mental health crisis ever begins. Example: Teaching kids coping skills and self-acceptance when they are calm and healthy, rather than waiting until they feel very depressed.
- Protective factors — Conditions or traits in a person's life that make them less likely to experience harm or negative health outcomes. Example: Having strong family support or a deep sense of self-acceptance.
Why it matters
Understanding how racism and stress impact mental health helps communities build better support systems for young people. By listening directly to teenagers, researchers can create tools that help kids feel more grounded in their identity and hopeful about their future.
What we still don't know
The source notes that researchers cannot single-handedly eliminate systemic injustice, poverty, or racial trauma. This work is an early-stage approach and research project, not an established medical treatment or a cure for mental health crises.
Based on reporting from UC Berkeley. This is an independent explainer, written in our own words with AI assistance; UC Berkeley has not reviewed or endorsed it. Read the original for the full details.