Suicide

MMGuardian will alert parents of potentially harmful situations based on the content of their child’s monitored messages. This page provides recommended actions for the alert type indicated above.

Learning your child may be at risk for suicide can be scary. You are not alone – approximately 20% of youth experience suicidal thoughts or self-harm. We have compiled mental health resources for you and your child, to help support your family during this time.

It may turn out that you received a Safety Alert in error, or that your child isn’t currently at risk. That said, we know that so many kids and teens think about suicide and try to hurt or kill themselves each year. It could still be helpful to talk to your child about what to do if they or a friend of theirs is thinking about suicide or about hurting themselves. In these cases, you can share with them that 988 is a FREE, CONFIDENTIAL, and 24/7 resource that anyone can text or call if they are feeling unsafe, suicidal, or like they need mental health support. They can also call/text 988 to get support for a friend or loved one. We encourage you and your child to save this number in your phones in the case you need it in the future.

For Immediate Help if you or your child are in crisis or feeling suicidal now:

Call or text 988 (National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) – free, confidential, 24/7
Text TALK to 741741 (Crisis Text Line) – free, confidential, 24/7
For LGBTQIA+ youth, text START to 678678 OR call 1-866-488-7386 (The Trevor Project) – free, confidential, 24/7
Go to your nearest Emergency Department

To Locate a Therapist near you

Call or visit your child’s pediatrician for referrals to recommended mental health care providers in your area
Contact your insurance provider for a list of mental health care providers in your area covered by your plan
Use Psychology Today’s Therapy Directory to search for mental health care providers in your area, including information about insurance and cost.
Review a longer list of mental health resources here

Looking towards the future at MMGuardian…

At MMGuardian, we are working to improve our services to provide even more resources and support to parents after they receive Suicide Safety Alerts. Because we care deeply about getting this right, we are partnering with child clinical psychologist researchers from Harvard Medical School, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the University of Denver with expertise in youth suicide and self-harm. Their ultimate goal is to develop a digital intervention to support parents through these moments and in turn, help to improve parent-child communication and reduce suicide and self-harm in youth. Together, we hope to deploy this tool within MMGuardian itself so that our parents can directly benefit from it in the future.