Ask Dr. Jill: The AFSP 2026 Research Awards Dinner Special
Ask Dr. Jill: The AFSP 2026 Research Awards Dinner Special

Strong Talk Podcast

Two award-winning researchers, Dr. Jane Pearson and Dr. Holly Wilcox, discuss advances in suicide prevention research, ethics, and policy with Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman. Their conversation highlights youth-focused, community-based strategies and the importance of culturally aware, evidence-driven approaches to reducing suicide risk.

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52:13•4 May 2026

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Strong Talk: Honouring Suicide Prevention Pioneers and Rethinking Youth Safety

Episode Overview

High-quality suicide prevention research requires ethical frameworks, clear informed consent, and evidence-based safety planning, rather than avoiding people at risk.
Youth suicide prevention works best when it starts early and upstream, with school-based programmes that build resilience and practical coping skills.
Institutional review boards often fear suicide-related studies, so researchers must educate them about risks, safeguards, and the importance of including people with suicidal thoughts.
Community-based and culturally adapted interventions are crucial, especially for historically marginalised groups and populations with higher-than-expected suicide rates.
Addressing access to firearms through policies and lethal means counselling can significantly reduce suicide deaths, especially during periods of acute distress.

“Are you going to tell us that U.S. tax dollars can't be used to help people who have thoughts of suicide or have attempted suicide?”

Gain insights from experts and survivors on how suicide prevention research has changed over the past few decades and where it’s heading next. This special Strong Talk x Ask Dr. Jill episode focuses on two leaders being honoured at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s 2026 Research Awards Dinner: Dr. Jane Pearson and Dr. Holly Wilcox.

Across the conversation, you’ll hear how national suicide prevention strategies were first built, how they’ve evolved, and why teamwork across government, researchers, advocates and communities is so essential. Dr.

Pearson shares the early battles to make suicide research possible at all, including convincing institutional review boards that, as she puts it, “asking about suicide doesn’t cause harm in the context of a trial or a study.” Her push for clear ethics, informed consent and safety planning shows how careful research can genuinely protect people at risk. Dr.

Wilcox brings the focus to young people, explaining how youth suicide has become a growing concern and why “we really need to be doing” more work upstream, long before a crisis hits. She talks through school-based programmes that build resilience and practical skills, and why so many good interventions never reach classrooms due to funding and implementation gaps.

Together they unpack social determinants like inequality, race and economic stress, the role of social media, and the hard but vital conversations about firearms and lethal means counselling. As Dr. Pearson notes, progress depends on community involvement and cultural relevance, from youth advisory boards to locally adapted education programmes. Anyone interested in mental health, suicide prevention policy, or ethical research will find plenty to think about here. It’s a candid, hopeful conversation that balances scientific rigour with real-world compassion.

What small upstream steps could your own community start taking today?

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