youth suicide

During this interview we meet with Brendan Kwiatkowski, local teacher turned international PhD Student, to talk about the research surrounding emotional issues in boys related to education. What is toxic or restrictive masculinity? How can we parent and teach boys in a way that supports healthy emotional development? Tune in and join the conversation!

About Brendan Kwiatkowski
Brendan Kwiatkowski grew up in British Columbia and worked as a public secondary school teacher for five years there. He has his masters in special education and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh in the school of education. His research looks closely at the relationships between adolescent males' school experiences, masculinity and emotionality. He is particularly interested in helping schools better support the social and emotional needs of all their students.

Find Brendan Kwiatkowski’s website at www.remasculate.org, on Instagram @re.masculate and on Twitter @rethinkmasculin.

Find the American Psychological Association at www.apa.org for the new practice guidelines for treating men and boys. 

Find out about a new men’s mental health movement in the UK at www.wearehumen.org and @humen. 

For interesting feminist discussion and to find where Gillian first encountered Brendan on Social Media find Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach at @glennondoyle and @abbywambach respectively. Together they run the non-profit organization Together Rising (togetherrising.org).

Find Susannah Steers at www.movingspirit.ca and on social media @themovingspirit.

Find Gillian McCormick at https://physiogillian.com/ and on social media @physiogillian. 

This week on The Sci-Files, Chelsie and Danny interview Corbin J. Standley.

Corbin is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in the Ecological-Community Psychology program at MSU. His research interests lie at the intersection of community psychology, public health, and policy. Broadly, he is interested in equitable community and systems change through the use of data, evaluation, and intervention. Moreover, he is interested in the application of community psychology in studying suicide and its prevention, particularly in terms of policy change and community-level approaches to prevention.

Suicide is currently the tenth leading cause of death overall, and the second leading cause of death among youth. Despite these numbers, however, suicide is still relatively under-researched. Given this and his interdisciplinary lens, Corbin’s most recent research has focused on how the intersection of multiple marginalized identities contributes to suicide risk among youth. In addition to this, his Master’s Thesis examined the role of social support as a protective factor across the family, school, and community contexts. Corbin has used this research to inform his policy work at the state and federal levels in providing testimony, helping to draft legislation, and working with legislators to prevent suicide.

For more information about suicide and what you can do to prevent it, visit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at www.afsp.org. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741. Both resources offer free, 24/7 confidential support.

If you’re interested in talking about your MSU research on the radio or nominating a student, please email Chelsie and Danny at scifiles@impact89fm.org. Check The Sci-Files out on Twitter @SciFiles89FM and on Facebook!

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By any standards, Leilani Darwin’s childhood was difficult – she dealt with violence, alcoholism, neglect and worse. Yet with fierce strength, empathy, respect and intelligence she has turned her experience into a force to dramatically reduce youth suicide statistics and help develop ground breaking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention programs. The joy she gets from her work has also given her a reason to feel hope again