MHM Magazine

of 275 valid parent/caregiver post-talk evaluation responses were recorded from this largely female (76%) and materially disadvantaged group, where just under half were unemployed (44%). Across an age diverse sample of caregivers ranging from 19-88 years of age (with two child headed homes were noted and excluded), a total of 63% were found to be single parents. It is clear this is a materially disadvantaged setting, and these teen suicide prevention talks are thus presented by the SADAG at no cost to the community. Analysis of the post-talk evaluation forms suggests the awareness aspect of this intervention was a resounding success. All attendees (100%) felt that being present at this talk would help them to be better parents/caregivers than they had been beforehand. In terms of gains around concrete mechanisms to support the youth, 93% of attendees emerged with new knowledge regarding the contents of a Suicide Safety Plan, while 97% reported having learnt about counselling. With 97% feeling that they were empowered to notice signs of depression amongst youths as a result of being exposed to the SADAG presentation, 96% they felt far more capable of supporting a teen in crisis. No matter the gender identification of the talk attendees, the gains were the same, with men and women finding the mental health topics and suicide prevention mechanisms to be equally helpful. From analysis of monitoring and evaluation data, it seems both women and men are equivalently plagued by family problems, romantic relationship issues, general financial concerns, as well as worries about unemployment and youth mental health. Where a marked difference is noted is in the details of parenting, and in the worry attached to these details. There is a statistically significant difference between male and female caregivers when it comes to worrying about organising school transport and paying school fees. While this could be explained by the fact that two thirds of single parents were women, single parenthood, at large, was not statistically associated with concerns around the logistical minutiae of family life. Employment status was, similarly, not numerically linked to concerns about paying school fees and arranging school transport, underlining the gendered nature of these worries as the defining feature. This is not to suggest that the single or partnered fathers in the sample did not pay school fees nor arrange transport. Rather it is to suggest that male caregivers did not report allowing these issues to take up mental space, as compared to the women who did. Contemporary understandings of the gendered mental load remind us that there is a disproportionate cognitive toll carried by female caregivers in a family unit. This load may extend beyond the nuclear family and across generations. As a 60-year-old female caregiver of at least three children said: “I’ve got two mental cases and my elderly uncle” indicating a significant set of worries occupying her mind. Is it any wonder that a 30-year-old mother of two lamented feeling “always tired”? On the other hand, a 45- year-old father of three children asked for the SADAG to return and teach him how to become: “Able to listen and pay attention to details”. From this albeit fledgling evidence, the gendered mental load is clearly far from a first world problem. Rather it is a compounded developing world dilemma that seems to be emerging, where the mental load and material deprivation intersect, creating a conundrum for female and male parents alike. How can teen suicide prevention be enacted effectively under these conditions? While it is crucial to retain the focus on teen suicide prevention, it may be useful to consider the mental resources required of female caregivers, in particular, when presenting future talks. When indicating their preference for future topics, parents and caregivers only differed on the subject of teen anxiety. This difference was accounted for by gender, with women making up a larger proportion of those favouring this topic when compared to the male workshop attendees. Given that female parents and caregivers are generally worrying to a greater degree and more often carrying the mental load of concerns around detailed family life planning, their stronger interest in anxiety as a topic seems justified. Anxious individuals occupy a future orientation at the cognitive level, and this orientation is the province of family logistics by necessity. Potentially struggling with their own propensity to worry, a sensitivity to teen anxiety is the next logical step. Future workshops could be enhanced by adding the concept of the mental load to the discussion, allowing parents and caregivers across both sexes to grapple with the application of this complex concept to their daily lives. This is crucial to any teen suicide prevention initiative, as mental space and mental energy are required to effectively support teens in the creation of a supportive mental health and wellness eco-system. The old adage: “it takes a village” is as true today as it has been historically. Nonetheless, it is important to remember that women have often staffed “the village” in ways seen and unseen while engaging in unpaid social reproduction work. It is in the exploration of the mental load that unseen emotion work becomes visible, and can be both harnessed, and enhanced to ensure that teen suicide prevention becomes an ongoing reality. Making the mental load matter allows us to make men matter in the realm of mental health and teen suicide prevention eco-systems creation. References available on request. MHM | 2025 | Volume 12 | Issue 4 | Making the ‘Mental Load’ Matter in Teen Suicide Prevention MHM 6 | MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS | 2025 | Issue 4 H