Helping Parents Navigate Child Suicide Risk
Receiving a digital alert suggesting their child may be at risk for suicide or self-harm can be alarming and difficult to navigate for parents. Digital monitoring tools increasingly provide parents with early signals about concerning online behavior, yet little research has examined how parents interpret these alerts or what actions they take immediately afterward. Understanding these real-time responses is essential for designing supports that help families respond constructively during a potentially critical moment.
In the MRI-funded project Helping Parents Navigate Child Suicide Risk, Dr. Kathryn Fox at the University of Denver, Dr. Taylor Burke at Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Alex Bettis examined how parents react when they receive suicide risk alerts generated by youth digital monitoring platforms. The study pursued four primary aims: to characterize parents’ emotional and behavioral responses to alerts, identify factors related to parent–child relationship quality in these moments, conduct a needs assessment for supportive resources, and develop intervention content that can guide parents toward effective responses.
The research team partnered with MMGuardian, a mobile monitoring application that alerts parents when their child’s digital activity may signal potential suicide or self-harm risk. Through this collaboration, 217 parents who had received a suicide risk alert completed surveys assessing their emotional reactions, cognitive responses, and subsequent interactions with their child.
Findings indicated that for roughly one-third of parents, the alert represented the first indication that their child might be experiencing suicidal thoughts or self-harm risk. Parents commonly reported moderate concern and a range of emotional reactions, with nervousness and sadness most frequently endorsed. Among cognitive responses, self-blame emerged as the most prominent reaction, whereas feelings of hopelessness, permanence, or skepticism were less prevalent but still arose for many parents.
Importantly, many parents reported engaging in supportive responses following the alert. These actions included expressing love and care, initiating conversations to better understand their child’s experience, validating emotions, encouraging coping strategies, and discussing mental health more openly. Nearly 72 percent of parents reported that the alert ultimately had a positive effect on their sense of closeness with their child; at the same time, many parents reported negative impacts, including a decline in their child’s trust in them.
These findings highlight a critical window for intervention: the period immediately after a risk alert arrives. Drawing on parent feedback and study data, the study team began developing an intervention designed to be delivered when parents first subscribe to MMGuardian and reinforced through follow-up resources after subsequent alerts. The goal is to equip parents with evidence-based strategies for validation, safety planning, and suicide prevention.
The project has already generated important translational momentum. Pilot data from the MRI-funded study supported a manuscript and helped secure an NIMH R34 grant to further develop and test the intervention in collaboration with parents. The next phase will evaluate whether the program improves parental validation, increases use of protective strategies such as means restriction, and ultimately reduces suicidal thoughts reported by youth.
By focusing on the moment when parents first learn of potential suicide risk, this work advances a systemic approach to suicide prevention—one that empowers families with practical tools for responding with care, clarity, and connection.