Talk

Let's Talk about Suicide Prevention with Wayne Holdsworth from SmackTalk

Oct 2025 🇦🇺 Your Parent Coach by Mel White (iHeartRadio)

Suicide and self-harm are complex and never caused by one factor alone. Problematic screen use, cyberbullying, harmful content, and online exploitation may increase risk or intensify existing distress. If someone is in immediate danger or emotional crisis in the United States, call or text 988.

Outside the U.S.? Find your local helpline at findahelpline.com.

In this 32-minute episode of the Australian parenting podcast Your Parent Coach, host Mel White interviews Wayne Holdsworth, founder of the charity SmackTalk, about turning grief into advocacy after his son Mac's death by suicide following an online sextortion scam. Holdsworth discusses what he describes as effective listening during a young person's crisis, the rising rate of sextortion targeting minors and its association with youth mental-health strain, and obstacles he says he has encountered spreading suicide-prevention education in schools. He also previews SmackTalk's Unplug24 campaign, a 24-hour break from social media held on October 24, 2025, meant to raise funds and awareness for the charity's programs. TechKids Foundation includes this interview as a documented, dated public account of Holdsworth's advocacy message aimed at parents.

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CITATION

White, Mel (host). "Let's Talk About Suicide Prevention with Wayne Holdsworth from SmackTalk." Your Parent Coach by Mel White, iHeartRadio, Oct. 11, 2025.

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