Every family has a story others never witness. For LaShay Smith-Young, a mother, nurse, entrepreneur, and mental health advocate, that story became the cornerstone of a movement that’s transforming lives.
After over 25 years in healthcare and a deeply personal journey with her son, she transformed her pain into purpose. She created the Just Listen Campaign, an initiative encouraging families to foster honest conversations about youth mental health. Through faith, compassion, and lived experience, she reminds parents they don’t need all the answers. Sometimes, simply listening is the most powerful thing they can do.
In this heartfelt conversation with FEMI Magazine, she shares the campaign’s inspiration, lessons learned as both a nurse and mother, and why listening might be the first step toward healing for children and families worldwide.
FEMI: As a nurse, entrepreneur, and mental health advocate, what inspired you to launch the Just Listen Campaign, and what message do you hope families take away from it?
LaShay: The Just Listen Campaign was born from both my professional journey and a deeply personal experience.
I’ve worked in healthcare for over 25 years, and as a registered nurse for the past 12, those experiences have shaped me professionally. However, my greatest titles are wife and mother. Through motherhood, I discovered my true purpose, as God had planned for me.
In 2017, I founded the Young & Striving Foundation with a broad mission to serve and empower youth. At the time, I had no idea what its true purpose would become. It wasn’t until 2025, after walking alongside my son through his mental health journey, that God revealed the foundation’s intended direction. This transformative experience not only changed me as a mother but also our entire organization. We shifted our focus exclusively to youth mental health awareness, realizing many families were silently facing similar challenges.
I firmly believe this mission is guided by God. Every opportunity, connection, and door that has opened has been by His grace. None of this would be possible without Him, and I simply consider myself a vessel helping families find hope and healing.
I am incredibly proud to be a Florida A&M University alumna. As a FAMU Rattler, I learned the importance of excellence, service, leadership, and lifting each other up as we climb. I’m equally proud of my upbringing on the South Side of Chicago, where I developed resilience, perseverance, and the value of community.
Much of my strength and determination comes from my late mother, my best friend. Five years ago, she bravely battled breast cancer. She taught me what unconditional love, faith, compassion, and perseverance truly mean. Even though she’s no longer physically present, her spirit continues to guide me daily. I often reflect on how proud she would be to see this mission flourish, carrying her legacy with me in everything I do.
If there’s one message I hope families take away, it’s this: you don’t have to have all the answers. Sometimes, your greatest gift to a child is simply listening. Feeling heard can be the first step toward healing.
FEMI: Many young people struggle to express their feelings. In your experience, what are some signs parents often overlook, and how can they create a safe space for their children to be heard?
LaShay: Mental health doesn’t always manifest in tears or obvious sadness. It can sometimes show up as irritability, isolation, changes in sleep or appetite, declining grades, loss of interest in activities they once loved, or simply becoming unusually quiet.
As parents, we often mistake these changes for “typical teenage behaviour,” when they might actually be silent cries for help.
Creating a safe space begins with making our children feel emotionally safe and not judged. Put away distractions, ask open-ended questions, and resist the urge to immediately solve the problem. Sometimes, they don’t need advice, they need reassurance that it’s okay to be honest.
A simple question like, “How are you really doing?” can make a difference. Then give them the space to answer without interruption.
FEMI: Your campaign encourages parents to “Just Listen.” Why do you believe listening is one of the most powerful tools in supporting a child’s mental well-being?
LaShay: Listening communicates something words alone can’t: “You matter, and your feelings matter.”
As parents, our natural instinct is to fix things and protect our children from pain. However, healing often begins before solutions—it starts with connection.
As both a nurse and a mother, I’ve learned that understanding someone always comes before helping them. When children feel heard without judgment, they begin to trust. That trust opens the door to honest conversations, emotional healing, and seeking help when needed.
The Just Listen Campaign isn’t asking parents to be mental health experts. It’s reminding us that being fully present can be one of the most powerful forms of support we can offer.
FEMI: Your upcoming book will be released in October. What can readers expect from it, and how does it expand on the mission of the Just Listen Campaign?
LaShay: Our upcoming book, Black Boy Joy: What Happened When He Finally Spoke and Someone Listened, is deeply personal.
It’s told through both my son’s perspective and my own as his mother, allowing readers to experience our journey from two different viewpoints. It shares the fear, uncertainty, love, healing, and hope that unfolded when honest conversations replaced silence.
This isn’t just our family’s story. It’s a story that reflects what so many families experience behind closed doors.
In addition to the book, we’ve also created a Workbook for Teens and a free Parent Guide to help families continue these conversations in practical, supportive ways. These resources are designed to give both young people and caregivers tools to better understand emotions, communicate openly, and build stronger connections.
My hope is that readers will see themselves in these pages, feel less alone, and find the courage to begin conversations they may have been avoiding. The book expands the mission of the Just Listen Campaign by showing that healing often begins when someone feels safe enough to speak—and someone else chooses to truly listen.
FEMI: If you could leave parents, educators, and communities with one message about supporting youth mental health, what would it be, and what action would you encourage them to take today?
LaShay: My message is simple: don’t wait for a crisis to start talking about mental health.
We check on our children’s grades, physical health, and future goals. We should be just as intentional about checking on their emotional well-being.
Today, I encourage every parent, educator, faith leader, and community member to have one meaningful conversation with a young person. Put away your phone. Make eye contact. Ask how they’re really doing and be prepared to listen with an open heart.
This movement began in Atlanta, but my vision reaches far beyond one city. I look forward to bringing the Just Listen Campaign home to the South Side of Chicago, back to my beloved Florida A&M University, and into communities across the country. One of my greatest dreams is to one day share this message at the Obama Presidential Center, inspiring conversations that help families heal. From there, I hope to take the Just Listen Campaign around the world, because every child, regardless of where they live or what they look like, deserves to be heard, valued, and reminded that they are never alone.
If sharing our family’s story encourages just one parent to pause, listen, and truly hear their child, then every step of this journey will have been worth it.
One suggestion that could make this even more memorable is to end the interview with a signature line that people associate with you and the campaign, such as:
“Healing begins when someone feels safe enough to speak and someone else chooses to just listen.”
That has the potential to become the defining message people remember from both you and the Just Listen Campaign.
As our conversation comes to a close, one message stands above all the rest. Supporting a child’s mental health does not begin with having the perfect words or the right solutions. It begins with creating a space where they feel safe, seen, and heard.
Through the Just Listen Campaign, her upcoming book, and her unwavering commitment to families, she is inspiring communities to replace silence with meaningful conversations and fear with hope. Her story is a powerful reminder that healing often starts with one person who is willing to listen with an open heart.
As she continues to take this message across the country and eventually around the world, her mission remains beautifully simple and deeply needed.
Healing begins when someone feels safe enough to speak and someone else chooses to just listen.
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