“Today’s kids are so soft.” Jonathan Singer hears it online and from adults, and he thinks it costs them something: when you wave off what a young person is going through, they stop telling you about it.

Jonathan is a professor at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Social Work and a past president of the American Association of Suicidology. He co-authored Suicide in Schools and started The Social Work Podcast in 2007, before most people knew what a podcast was. His interest in suicide prevention began with a high school production of Ordinary People. In this conversation with Dr. Kevin White, he explains why a kid who seems to have everything can still be in real trouble, and what parents and physicians can do about it.

What would change if you believed a young person the first time they told you something was hard? Kevin asks Jonathan what he’d say to a young man who feels lost, and the answer is that struggling after doing everything right means you’re on track. Along the way you’ll hear why tight-knit, high-achieving communities can make it harder for kids to ask for help, what formerly suicidal people said kept them alive (including spite and a video game release), why every primary care practice needs a screening protocol, and the question to ask a young person who has been talking to a chatbot.

“When you’re dismissive of somebody’s experience, they’re not going to want to share with you.”

• Jonathan Singer

If a young person tells you something is hard, it is hard for them. Start there.

Jonathan hosts The Social Work Podcast: https://www.socialworkpodcast.com
The free screener Jonathan recommends, the ASQ: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/ASQ

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 in the US, or chat at 988lifeline.org.

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Instagram: @KevinWhiteMD
YouTube: @KevinWhiteMD

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Your inbox interrupts you all day. So does your phone. Sachin Patel thinks every one of those interruptions is a free chance to calm your nervous system, and that you can use them without adding a single thing to your schedule.

Sachin is a chiropractor and breathwork facilitator who started in a kiddie pool of ice water with no towels waiting afterward. Almost seven years later he trains other practitioners, speaks at medical conferences, and has written Breathe Balance Burn. In this conversation with Dr. Kevin White, he argues that the ten minutes you spend on breathwork in the morning matter less than how you breathe the rest of the day.

What would your afternoon feel like if you checked your breath every time you checked your email? Kevin asks Sachin for the one breathing habit he’d keep if he could only keep one, and the answer needs no ice and no free hour. Along the way you’ll hear where your tongue should rest, why he wants you breathing through your nose, and what to do the next time someone says something that makes you want to snap back.

“If you check your email, let’s check our breath too.”

• Sachin Patel

Your day already has the reminders built in. This episode gives each one a job.

Sachin is leading a breathwork retreat in Costa Rica from April 4 to 10, 2027. Free guided sessions and tools are at breathworkwithsachin.com, and you can find him on Facebook.

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Most people want anxiety gone. Suzanne Ferree, MD, says it showed up to protect you from something, and that taking it away is where the real work starts.

Dr. Ferree runs Vine Medical in Roswell, Georgia, and was using peptides before most doctors had heard of them. Dr. Kevin White sits down with her to talk about neural therapy, a century-old technique that uses small injections of a numbing agent to shut off the nerve signals keeping the body on alert. Her view is that a lot of chronic illness comes from a body stuck in fight or flight, with the calm, recovery side of the nervous system never getting a turn.

They get into how an old scar or a hidden infection in a tooth can keep the alarm ringing, and a patient whose high blood pressure cleared up once an infected root canal was treated. Ferree tells the story of a woman in her sixties with agoraphobia who hadn’t driven herself anywhere in 15 years and was behind the wheel after about three treatments. She also covers what a visit looks like, why she asks patients to commit to at least three weekly sessions (PTSD can take up to 18), why she stays with patients for a conversation afterward, the patient who didn’t respond to four treatments, and who shouldn’t have it: pregnant patients and people with active cancer.

“How am I supposed to be if I’m not anxious?”
- Patients, as relayed by Suzanne J. Ferree, MD

If you’ve lived on high alert for years, this conversation shows what can happen when the alarm finally lets go.

Ferree teaches neural therapy to other providers every quarter, and her book on the method, The Reset Method, is slated for March. Find her on Instagram at @SuzanneFerreeMD.

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If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who’s committed to living a longer, healthier life.

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Instagram: @KevinWhiteMD
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