Beneath the Surface: A Teen’s Guide to Reaching Out When You or Your Friend Is in Crisis

While growing up has never been easy, today’s teens face a landscape that might be unrecognizable to their parents. In addition to cliques and peer pressure they live in a fast-changing social media world — Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook — that exposes and makes vulnerable as much as it shares and connects. Factor in high school and mass shootings, terrorism, daily reports about climate change, and the prospect of life-changing college loan debt and it’s no wonder that rates of teen depression, anxiety, and, tragically, suicide are soaring. Kristi Hugstad writes in a way that talks with, rather than down to, teens. The issues covered, including depression, eating disorders, PTSD, anxiety, and substance abuse, are accompanied by the stories of real teens who have experienced and come through these challenges. Testimonials from teens who have been depressed, attempted suicide, and survived highlight ways that kids can recognize danger signs in their own lives, help a friend in trouble, and find nonjudgmental, empathic help. While Hugstad is an adult and a mental health professional, she powerfully connects with kids by sharing the story of her husband, Bill, whose depression and substance abuse ultimately led to suicide. A fellow survivor of grief and trauma, Hugstad is able to show the hopeless that there is hope, the lonely that they aren’t alone, and that life can be much, much easier than seems possible in moments of crisis.