As director of pediatric computational health in the Center for Precision Psychiatry and associate director of suicide research in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Mass General Brigham (MGB), Taylor Burke, PhD, is an expert in the assessment of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors among youth. She shares how her current research, in partnership with external psychologists Kathryn Fox, PhD (University of Denver), and Alex Bettis, PhD, uses technology and goes beyond just risk assessment to ensure children — and their parents — are supported.
How did you first become interested in youth mental health and what inspired you to integrate digital tools into youth risk assessment?
I’ve always been interested in mental health. In fact, my family has a video of me as a 10-year-old saying I wanted to be a pediatric psychologist. My first full-time research assistant position was on a study treating adolescents who had recently attempted suicide. I was struck by how little research existed on accurately identifying youth at greatest risk and how deeply parents were affected, with little support for them.
Later, I became interested in leveraging technology, like smartphones, to meet patients where they are — both to better identify youth at risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors and to deliver on-demand interventions and support.
Tell us about your current research. What’s the core focus of your project?
Most of my previous work has focused on identifying suicide risk in young people and figuring out who is at risk and when. This project takes a critical next step by asking what happens after a parent learns their child may be at risk.
Today, there are several smartphone applications that monitor kids’ digital activity and send alerts to parents about potentially concerning behaviors or language — such as texts about feeling hopeless or online searches related to self-harm. But those alerts often arrive without clear guidance, leaving parents unsure about what to do next.
“It’s hopeful that parents are eager to receive research-informed guidance about how to effectively manage their children’s suicide risk — and with the right support, they can.”
Our research focuses on addressing that gap. We’re working with parents who already use digital monitoring apps and co-developing evidence-based, self-guided tools to help them navigate these difficult moments. Our goal is to equip parents with practical skills and strategies to communicate effectively and compassionately with their child — right when they need it most. This project, led in collaboration with Drs. Fox and Bettis, is designed to develop and rigorously test an intervention for parents who receive suicide risk alerts for their children. We ultimately want to make sure the intervention is not only effective but also widely accessible.
What skills do parents need to help if their kids are at risk for suicide?
When a child shares thoughts of suicide, it can be overwhelming for any parent. A common misconception is talking with your child about suicide puts them at greater risk. That is not true; however, there are key skills parents should have that can make a real difference to both the parent and child. And the good news is, parents are eager to learn them.
First, emotional regulation is essential. When parents can stay calm and grounded, it helps their child feel safe about opening up. Second, validating a child’s feelings — letting them know their emotions are real and heard — can be incredibly powerful. And third, consistently monitoring their child’s risk, where they are and who they’re spending time with, and making the home environment safe, can also mitigate risk. It’s hopeful that parents are eager to receive research-informed guidance about how to effectively manage their children’s suicide risk — and with the right support, they can.
What type of intervention approach will you be using to help parents communicate better with their child when they have expressed self-injurious thoughts or behaviors?
One promising approach is the use of single-session interventions (SSIs) — brief, self-guided programs that help parents build essential skills in just 15-30 minutes. SSIs incorporate core elements of evidence-based therapies and are designed to be accessible, making them especially valuable for parents who feel unprepared to assess and/or address their child’s suicide risk.
To reinforce the skills parents learn through the SSIs, we plan to use short, targeted brief booster sessions or reminders about learned skills that can be delivered via mobile devices at moments when parents are most receptive — such as immediately after receiving a digital suicide risk alert. We think that these timely reminders will help parents apply what they’ve learned in real time, improving retention and effectiveness. Together, digital SSIs and brief boosters offer a scalable, impactful way to support parents in assessing child suicide risk, navigating difficult conversations and promoting their child’s mental health.
How can philanthropy support your work now or in the future?
Philanthropy plays an important role in helping us move from research to real-world impact. While we’re making exciting progress in developing effective interventions, the journey from identifying interventions to implementation can take years — and often faces funding gaps. Support from philanthropic partners can accelerate this process by funding larger-scale studies and helping us bring these tools directly to families who need them. With uncertainty around future federal funding for intervention research, philanthropic investment is more important than ever. It ensures that promising solutions don’t sit on a shelf — they reach parents and children faster, when it matters most.
Why is MGB the best place to work for you?
What I value most about Mass General Brigham is the culture of collaboration. It brings together exceptionally dedicated researchers who are enthusiastic about working across disciplines, which is critical for team science and technology projects. The proximity to MIT, Harvard University and so many other academic institutions in Boston is invaluable. I feel very lucky to have access to so many resources and collaborators, and support from psychiatry leadership to pursue this work and fulfill my passion as a scientist and researcher.
To learn more about youth mental health research at Mass General Brigham, contact us.
