CONVERSATIONS WITH SYDNEY

About CONVERSATIONS WITH SYDNEY

CONVERSATIONS WITH SYDNEY is a solutions-oriented podcast series exploring effective ways for parents, teens, schools, and communities to respond to the ongoing crises of teen mental health and suicide. Each episode is framed as an intimate conversation between a father (Micah) and his non-binary teenager (Sydney) as they search for real-world solutions by speaking with parents, doctors, and national leaders in the field of teen suicide prevention. Some of the questions we raise include: Should parents talk to their kids about suicide? How can parents begin to talk about mental health and suicide with their kids?What do we know about the signs of suicide and how can it be prevented? What is self-injury and how can parents help their kids find healthier ways to cope with their feeling? What role can schools and teachers play in addressing this unfolding national crisis? What role can teens play? Our hope is that these intimate and open-ended conversations will engage everyone who has a stake in helping young people lead healthy, happier lives – and encourage them to discuss these issues within their own families, schools and communities.Micah, a journalist and filmmaker, and Sydney, a musician and artist, live in New Jersey.The program is distributed by WBGO Studios, the podcasting arm of WBGO, the Public Radio Station in Newark, New Jersey, and is available for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app, Amazon Music and Overcast.CONVERSATIONS WITH SYDNEY was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, and produced in association with WBGO Studios. Listening guides for educators who would like to use these podcasts in their classrooms are available at www.pulitzercenter.org/conversationswithsydney (http://www.pulitzercenter.org/conversationswithsydney) If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat online at 988lifeline.org (http://988lifeline.org/)

Publisher

WBGO Studios

Category

education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Apr 2023

Latest episode

15 Sept 2025

Latest episodes

11 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Sept 2025

   Outed in 8th Grade

   This inaugural episode of Season 2 explores the social and psychological costs of being outed in middle school by school officials for being queer.

2. 

   15 Sept 2025

   Music and Mania

   CWS explores the connections between music, mania, and the creative process with Sparni, a talented young musician who lives with Bipolar Disorder.

3. 

   15 Sept 2025

   What’s in a Pronoun?

   In this Season 2 conclusion, CWS talks with three young college students about their use of personal pronouns, and how these terms relate to their sense of their own gender and place in the world.

4. 

   15 Sept 2025

   Resilience in Little Rock

   CWS explores resilience in the face of racial terror by speaking with Dr. Terry Roberts, a member of the Little Rock Nine, who at fifteen years old volunteered to help desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.

5. 

   15 Sept 2025

   Young People in Transition

   CWS speaks with two transgender people,Benjamin and Juliette, about their lives and how they have navigated the complex social, psychological, and familial consequences of living transgender lives.

6. 

   10 May 2023

   The Paradox of Self-Injury

   Self-Injury is the deliberate destruction of body tissue – often through cutting or burning. Paradoxically, says Dr. Janis Whitlock, director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injury and Recovery, this behavior typically emerges from a desire to feel better, not to end one’s life. This impulse is critical, explains Dr. Whitlock, and it can be built upon to find healthier coping mechanisms. The episode also features Rylee Rose, a teen living in Northern New Jersey who has struggled with self-injury, explaining her reasons for self-injuring – and how this behavior fit into her larger struggle with mental health. Two of the most powerful findings of Dr. Whitlock’s research are that parental involvement was the single most important factor in a young person’s recovery – and the majority of teens who self-injure say they wish they could talk to an adult about their experiences.

7. 

   10 May 2023

   Talking to Teens About Suicide

   Teens are already talking about suicide – they just might not be talking to you. One out of every five high school students in the United States seriously considered suicide in 2021, according to the CDC, and more than half of our country’s female students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. In this episode we speak with Dr. Laura Erickson-Schroth, Chief Medical Officer at the Jed Foundation, about starting a conversation with your teen and some ways to respond if your child says they are thinking about suicide.

8. 

   10 May 2023

   Should I Talk to My Teen About Suicide?

   Teen suicide is real and impacting young people in all of our communities. Ten percent of all high school students attempted suicide in 2021, according to the CDC’s most recent report, with the rate rising to twenty percent of LGBTQ+ students. This initial episode asks can talking about suicide with your children be dangerous? Tracy Klingener, Director of Suicide Prevention at the Mental Health Association, debunks this myth by explaining why parents should talk to their kids about suicide.

9. 

   10 May 2023

   How the New 988 Hotline Works

   Fifty years ago, most people believed that you could not prevent suicide, explains Dr. Madelyn Gould, Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Columbia University, but today, partly because of her ground-breaking research, we know that suicide IS preventable. And one of the most effective crisis responses is the new national 988 Hotline. The vast majority of people who call asking for help say that just twenty minutes of conversation, on average, stopped them from killing themselves. Dr. Gould explains why and how the 988 Hotline is so effective and urges young people (and their parents) to use this resource to keep them safe during a crisis.

10. 

    10 May 2023

    Shedding light on teen suicide and solutions for prevention in the Conversations with Sydney podcast

    CONVERSATIONS WITH SYDNEY is a solutions-oriented podcast series exploring effective ways for parents, teens, schools, and communities to respond to the ongoing crises of teen mental health and suicide.

11. 

    28 Apr 2023

    Conversations With Sydney Podcast Trailer

    CONVERSATIONS WITH SYDNEY is a solutions-oriented podcast series exploring effective ways for parents, teens, schools, and communities to respond to the ongoing crises of teen mental health and suicide.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

19 ratings

Contact CONVERSATIONS WITH SYDNEY

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.