Elysia Butler: Raising Hope Heroes: Teaching Kids They Matter Before They Break

What if we stopped waiting for a crisis to talk about mental health?In this episode of Mental Health Momentum, host Dr. David Morgan, licensed psychologist and Director of Mental Health Awareness at Silicon Slopes, talks with Elysia Butler, founder of the Hope Hero Foundation, TEDx speaker, published author, and one of the most compelling voices in youth suicide prevention today.Elysia speaks from lived experience when she opens up about the moment everything changed: parenting a seven-year-old who didn’t want to live… and later, losing her sister-in-law to suicide. Those defining moments became the catalyst for a movement centered on proactive mental well-being, resilience, and teaching kids—before a crisis—that they matter.Drawing from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and her years as an educator, Elysia explains how the Hope Hero Foundation equips children and teens with the emotional tools most adults never learned:How to check in on someone and mean itHow to recognize warning signs earlyHow to move through anxiety instead of running from itHow to believe you are the hero of your own storyYou’ll hear the story behind the now-iconic red Converse high tops—a symbol worn by Hope Hero ambassadors nationwide—and how teens are being certified in suicide prevention and empowered to teach these life-saving skills in their own communities.If you care about youth mental health, suicide prevention, emotional intelligence, or building resilient communities, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss.Listen. Share. And start asking, “How are you really doing?”