The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Suicide Prevention Youth Leadership Group (YLG) is a national advisory group of teens who partner with AAP to strengthen youth suicide prevention efforts. The YLG is made up of young people ages 14-18 from communities across the US, bringing a range of perspectives, insights, and experiences to this work.
The Youth Leadership Group (YLG) infuses youth voice and lived expertise into AAP suicide prevention programming. Through their review of suicide prevention materials, collaboration with other experts, and participation in external meetings and conferences, members are shaping how youth suicide prevention is discussed, understood, and advanced in pediatrics.
The AAP Suicide Prevention Youth Leadership Group helps advance implementation of the AAP Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention, an educational resource to support pediatric health clinicians and other health professionals. The blueprint provides an evidence-based framework for advancing youth suicide prevention through clinical care, community engagement, education, and policy. By translating research into practical guidance, it equips professionals with tools to create safer, more supportive environments for all young people.
Impact Stories
The stories below are written by YLG members and share what it’s like to be a teen in today’s world. By speaking openly about their own experiences, these young people help create more compassionate, effective, and youth-centered approaches to supporting suicide prevention and mental health.
Collaborate With Us
The Youth Leadership Group welcomes opportunities to collaborate with other groups seeking youth perspectives and insights on suicide prevention or youth mental health. Submit your request below.
Resources
The Youth Leadership Group plays an important role in translating evidence-based practices described in the AAP Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention into multimodal tools for a broad audience of pediatricians, other clinicians, youth, and families. Members collaborate with pediatricians, behavioral health professionals, youth advisory groups, and other experts to provide strategic direction for new educational materials and communication approaches. Every resource is informed by both clinical expertise and youth voice, ensuring that evidence-based guidance is translated into language and materials that teens recognize, trust, and are more likely to use.
Below is a collection of resources created by the Youth Leadership Group or developed in close partnership with its members.
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Funder acknowledgement
The development of this information was made possible through support from Kenvue.
Last Updated
07/28/2026
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics