Leesburg, Va (WUSA9) — A local mom who helped rescue her teenage daughter from a mental health crisis is now using that same strategy to help others.
It's a suicide prevention program with a different approach.
“My daughter attempted suicide on three separate occasions. The first was shortly after her 14th birthday," explained Danielle Renken.
Her daughter Madi is now 16 and has been sharing her story publicly, which has not only helped her recover but has also helped others.
“The issue of mental health and suicide came and smacked me in the face. And I was ill-prepared," said Renken.
She discovered she was not alone.
“The more I sort of was talking about it, the more I realized, 'oh my, we are all, like half drowning in this pool that doesn’t seem to be any lifeguards there for us,'” said Renken.
Madi’s recovery had a lot to do with her mom‘s involvement. Now, mom and daughter are using that same approach to help others.
“Truthfully it was was my daughter who said 'mom, why don’t you just do what you did for me,'” she recalled.
Renken learned that suicide prevention can include having healthy and strong relationships with family. So she and her daughter decided to start going on dates together as a way to rebuild their relationship.
“We had started doing things together, just me and her, little dates that provided us an opportunity to kind of talk in a way that have not presented itself before,” said Renken.
They started the non-profit organization "12 Great Dates." They set up a fun event each month and invite teen girls and their mom or another trusted adult to attend.
Each event will include at least 12 teens. Both first events are sold out. The first is at B Beauty, a custom makeup studio in Leesburg, Va. where topics to be discussed will be anything about makeup and skin, plus any other subject that comes up.
“No one wants to say they want time with their mom or their favorite adult, but they really do," Renken said. "So when you bring it back to, I'm going to look you in the eye, have this conversation, while getting our hair done, while getting our nails done, while getting our makeup done, then all of a sudden their guard is down. We’re doing something that they’re enjoying and then real conversation is happening. Then you, kind of, get the real backstory about what’s going on at school in class or with a boy."
The whole idea behind the strategy is to build confidence and self-esteem in teenage girls and open up lines of communication.
"12 Great Dates" is open to every teenage girl in Loudoun County, but Danielle Renken is hoping to expand to other counties and also include separate events for boys.
