Hi Jane I just wanted to thank you for your heartfelt comments @disarrangedjane

I want to assure you that all is not lost and there is so much more that we can be doing for children who are at risk. I was a youth pastor for more than 25 years and I've pretty much seen and heard it all. It doesn't change the fact that many kids lose their battle and give in to suicidal thoughts. But I just want to let you know that it doesn't have to be an inevitability. I am honestly too new to know whether or not this is permissible but I'm going to share a link that I shared with a friend of mine who's having great difficulty with her teenage daughter at this time and I'm doing what I can to support her.

As to the medication, I can't really speak to that because I'm not a doctor but I do know that one thing that is natural and completely not harmful is niacin. I would start with a very small dose like maybe 50 MCG I think is the measurement. Whatever you do don't use the 500’s that are common from the drugstore which can end up giving you a total epidermal flush. Niacin really helps with blood flow especially to the brain and can just give you a happier outlook on life and it's a lot healthier than a Red Bull. It's actually recommended by several mental health professionals as a way to just take the edge off of anxiety and depression. Nobody talks about it because there is no profit in it. Perhaps it's an orphaned substance and the drug companies can't make money on it.

The biggest takeaway from the article I'm sharing with you is that we need to help those who are at risk to distance themselves somewhat from their electronics and use some of the coping methods outlined in the article. We could all use a little distancing from our electronics, but especially for teens, you can implement things like teaching them to charge their phone in another room other than their bedroom and learning to tell their friends they won't be available at certain times because they're playing a game with the family. More often than not, teenagers who do this with their friends will create their own self-powered freedom that their friends will become envious of and wish that they could have the same type of relationship with their families as well.

If Steve Jobs ever knew what would have become of our children with the advent of the iPhone, he would have smashed it into a million pieces and sent the plans into space in ashes. As always my heart goes out to those in need and I wish you the very best.

Handsfreemama