What Every Parent & Coach Needs to Know About Teen Depression with Brian Monday

In this episode, I interview Brian Monday, who shares the story of his son, Eric. We discuss teen depression, suicide, grief, and the lessons Brian learned through losing his son—and how those lessons can help us better support young people living with depression while reducing the stigma surrounding mental health.

Brian Monday is the Founder and President of the Eric Monday Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming the culture of athletics through mental health awareness, education, suicide prevention, and support. Following the loss of his son, Eric, Brian has made it his mission to help parents, coaches, student athletes, and families recognize the signs of depression, reduce stigma, and create environments where young people feel safe asking for help.

Through the Foundation's free Coaches Guide to Mental Health Training, Brian teaches the evidence-based LASRR framework—Listen, Accept, Support, Refer, and Report—to help coaches identify and respond compassionately to athletes who may be struggling. A sought-after keynote speaker, Brian has presented on mental health in sports to schools, universities, government organizations, and athletic programs across the country.

**Disclaimer: This episode includes a discussion of depression, suicide, and the loss of a loved one. If these topics are difficult for you, please use your discretion and take care of yourself while listening. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or is in crisis, please seek immediate support. In the United States and Canada, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If you are outside the U.S., contact your local emergency services or crisis support resources.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How Brian found his inner calling–helping child and teen athletes through mental health challenges

• Losing his son to suicide & turning tragedy into purpose 

• Eric’s early signs of depression 

• How sports can help teach you resilience and the skill of working through inevitable failures  

• Why athletes are more likely to follow through on suicidal ideation 

• The role coaches play; as the main adult figures (outside of parents) for competitors, how they can contribute to their mental health challenges, and what role they can play in intervention

• Perspective on parenting, how Brian’s parenting has changed over time, and how his grief and healing process has informed his parenting now

• Advice for parents whose teens are managing depression

• The importance of staying close to your child through the process of managing and supporting them through their mental health struggles

• Knowing you can only exist as a support–you can’t solve things for your child or teen & how to manage that as a parent 

• Breaking down your own parental stigma or shame regarding mental health when your child or teen is managing depression or other mental health issues 

• How the foundation has created the support Eric needed 

• Advice for parents who have lost their child 

• How the Eric Foundation helps athletes 

• Warning signs coaches should know 

• A message to those who may be struggling 

• Healing shame & finding hope

Brian Monday: One of the things that wrestling, even better than many other sports, but all sports can teach you is, is how to build resiliency. Wrestling has that nice combination of it's not always the best athlete who's winning, in fact, it's the person who works the hardest, builds the skills, builds the quick awareness of what to do, feeling of the body–and that's built over time and work. One of the things I love about wrestling, and love about all sports, but in particular in wrestling, is that the ones who succeed are the ones who put the dedication in. 

And similarly the incredible life lesson that many sports build helps build his resilience. There's a gentleman named Bill Curran, who helped us in the foundation early on, said one of the things you're guaranteed in sports is that you will fail. You will absolutely fail at some point. It's endemic in every sport, no matter how good an athlete the person is. You're going to fail, and from that builds those cores of resiliency. How do you stand yourself back up? How do you work through? How do you motivate yourself through? And we think, we believe–I believe that's an incredible life lesson.

Listen to the full conversation on the innercalling podcast here. 

For those who prefer a visual experience, you can check out the conversation on YouTube here.

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