Speaking of Teens
#73: A Teenager’s Mental Health Journey That Culminated in a Podcast For Other Teens (With Sadie Sutton of She Persisted)
Do you have a teenager dealing with a mental health issue? Maybe you have a teen who’s cutting or self-harming in some way or one who’s depressed or anxious or just can’t seem to cope with daily life. Maybe you’re just hoping and praying they hang in there until they reach adulthood. It can be so hard to imagine they’ll ever be okay again when you’re in the middle of this battle. If you’re feeling the weight of your teen’s mental health struggle, Sadie’s story will not only give you hope, but will also provide you with guideposts for the journey.
Access TRANSCRIPT here.
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Sources, Resources and Mentions:
Sadie Sutton's podcast, She Persisted
More about Sadie
She Persisted on Instagram, on TikTok, YouTube
McLean Hospital's Child and Adolescent Mental Health
NOTE: I checked in with McLean about the scholarships and aid Sadie mentioned in the show and this was the information I received from their administrative coordinator, Brinna Durney (bdurney@mgb.org) 617-855-2820:
"Thank you for your voicemail! Our 3East Continuum offers 3 different self-pay levels of care: 6-week minimum residential, 4-week partial/day, and 20-week (4 hours/week) hybrid outpatient. We do offer a partial income-based scholarship for the two non-residential programs but not for the residential program." My most recent information on their adult residential BPD program was that it is $1,700 per day, so their adolescent residential program is likely comparable.
McLean's FREE webinar series on various mental health issues
McLean's FREE educational resources for parents and teens on various mental health and other teen issues, including videos, articles and their past webinars.
Selena Gomez' Rare Impact Fund
Join the Speaking of Teens Facebook Group
Hello! I’ve been listening to your podcast and generally find it full of wisdom and helpful to listen to. I just listened to #73 with Sadie Sutton. It was wonderful to hear her story and the many things she has learned along the way. However, at the end she mentioned several things that she warned were overall bad, for lack of a better word. While it is true that there have been many poor programs, many of them for “troubled teens” and many of them calling themselves “wilderness,” there is a whole slew of wonderful wilderness programs out there and those few comments at the end of the podcast were quite disturbing. It’s true that more research is needed. (Sadie, who is a student, is in a great position to advocate for research on wilderness therapy.) I am disturbed because those few comments might turn families away from a program that could work very well for their teen. Personally, I am researching wilderness programs for my son, and I see many out there that have highly professional staff out in the field with the teens, and I have heard so many stories from parents about how wilderness programs were a lifesaver for their child. I would love to see you balance those comments with an interview with someone who knows more about wilderness programs (perhaps an educational consultant). Thanks for letting me share my view!
Hi Kate – First of all, thank you so much for listening to the show – I really hope you’ve gotten some value out of it because I do work hard to bring you solid information. And I agree that all wilderness programs are not “bad” – I actually would have sent my son to one in North Carolina had I thought his anxiety would have not sent him over the edge and had we been able to afford the lump sum $25,000 payment. It’s a good program according to many parents and the teens who attended and I, like you, have been very impressed with many of the wilderness programs I’ve researched. But it’s really hard to invite a guest on and then filter their opinions. I actually was concerned about those statements but as a guest, I’ve invited her to share what she thinks and struggled with editing that out (ultimately choosing to let parents decide for themselves.) I really feel most parents are like you and are doing their own research and making sure they choose a place that’s right for their kid. I’ve had many guests that say things that don’t totally jibe with how I feel about things but again – I let the audience decide as I don’t always feel right deciding if someone’s opinion is right or wrong or even jumping in to present my own opinion (maybe I should?) There are so many opinions out there about the “troubled teen” industry and I have really been meaning to do a solo episode on the topic to do a deep dive into the variety of opinions and see if there is any actual scientific research on the various types of programs and look at the statistics regarding those out there. I just haven’t been able to get to it yet. Unfortunately, I think in this case, public opinion tends to skew negative because anything in the news about these places is not going to be positive but negative (because negativity sells.) However, Aaron Huey, the guest in episode 81 did do a fabulous job of countering Sadie’s opinion with his own. He actually had wonderful things to say both about wilderness programs and therapeutic boarding schools. I actually would also love to speak with a totally independent educational consultant that can give an opinion (off on on air, depending) so if you know someone I’m totally open to that. And actually, if you’d like to share your own research to help me with an episode I’ll love it: My email address is acoleman@speakingofteens.com. I hope you’ll keep listening and following the show and please do share your opinion on any episode as I’m still learning as a podcaster and really value your input and advice for the show! Thank you so much!