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

Show Guest: Kristi Hugstad

Ever since author Kristi Hugstad’s husband, after years of struggling with clinical depression, completed suicide in 2012 by running in front of a train, she has dedicated her life to helping to abolish the stigma of mental illness and suicide. That mission is what inspired her to write Beneath the Surface: A Teen’s Guide to Reaching Out When You or Your Friend Is in Crisis, which speaks candidly to today’s youth — and the parents, teachers, and coaches who love them — about the anxiety, depression, and suicide attempts that far too often accompany the unique challenges that face their generation.

Writes Kristi, “This book also offers information on eating disorders, anxiety, substance abuse, self-harm, bullying, technology addiction, peer and academic pressures, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).”

Beneath the Surface includes real-life examples of young people who have suffered depression firsthand to help readers recognize the risk factors and warning signs and offers practical exercises to help them quickly and confidently identify whether they or someone they know are in need of help, and if so, what to do and where to go for it. Depression can strike anyone and does not discriminate. This book can save lives.