For LaShay Smith-Young, listening is more than hearing someone speak. It means creating enough space for young people to be honest about what they feel, what they experience, and what they may not yet know how to say.
That message takes on special meaning this October as LaShay releases her new book, Black Boy Joy, on World Mental Health Day, Oct. 10.
For an author whose work is closely connected to youth mental health and emotional well-being, the timing is significant. But LaShay’s mission goes far beyond a single day of awareness.
As a healthcare leader, author, youth mental health advocate, and founder of the Young & Striving Foundation, LaShay has spent years bringing service, advocacy, and community impact together. Her professional career spans more than 25 years in health care, but some of the most personal inspiration for her work has come from her experience as a mother.
Through the Young & Striving Foundation’s Just Listen Campaign, LaShay encourages parents, educators, and community leaders to create spaces where young people can speak openly and feel heard, supported, and valued.
The idea sounds simple. Listen. Yet for many young people, being genuinely heard can make a meaningful difference.
Children and teenagers are constantly navigating school, friendships, family dynamics, expectations, social pressures, and the process of figuring out who they are. Sometimes what they need most is not an immediate solution or another lecture. They need an adult willing to slow down, ask questions, and actually hear the answer.
That is the heart of LaShay’s advocacy. Her approach also recognizes that conversations about mental health should not begin only when something has gone seriously wrong. Checking in with a young person, noticing changes in behavior, asking how they are doing, and allowing them to talk without fear of judgment can all become part of a healthier relationship.
This message carries particular weight when discussing Black boys and the importance of making room for the full range of their emotions and experiences.
With Black Boy Joy, LaShay brings that conversation into the literary space while celebrating Black boys and the joy, possibility, and humanity that deserve recognition in their lives.
The book’s release on World Mental Health Day creates a natural connection between celebrating Black boyhood and a larger conversation about emotional wellness. It is an opportunity to remind families and communities that mental health is not simply about responding to difficult moments. It is also about creating environments where young people can develop, express themselves, and know they have people in their corner.
For LaShay, that work is personal. Her path has allowed her to see advocacy from multiple perspectives. Her healthcare background has given her years of experience serving others, while motherhood has given her a personal understanding of the responsibility and vulnerability that come with raising a child.
Those experiences now intersect through her work with the foundation and her writing. The result is a mission centered on connection.
The Just Listen Campaign encourages adults to become more intentional about how they communicate with young people. That can mean putting down the phone, making eye contact, asking a different question, or simply allowing a child to finish expressing themselves before responding. It can also mean learning to hear what is not being said.
A young person who suddenly becomes quiet, withdraws from activities, or seems different from their usual self may be communicating something without having the words to explain it. Paying attention does not mean assuming something is wrong. It means being present enough to notice and caring enough to ask.
That kind of presence is at the center of the conversation LaShay is helping to create.
Her work also reflects a broader belief in community. Youth mental health does not belong to one person or one profession. Parents, educators, counselors, healthcare professionals, mentors, faith communities, and other trusted adults all have opportunities to help young people feel supported. LaShay’s own life reflects that spirit of service.
In addition to her work in health care and youth advocacy, she is a wife, mother, and woman of faith. She has also been recognized as one of the 100 Women of Excellence in Washington, D.C., an honor celebrating women making an impact through their work and service.
Now, Black Boy Joy adds another dimension to that impact.
The book’s launch will bring together family, friends, supporters, community leaders, and advocates to celebrate its release and the message behind it. The gathering is also an opportunity to bring people together around a conversation that deserves attention long after World Mental Health Day passes.
Because awareness is only the beginning.
The real work happens in the everyday moments — when a parent asks a child how they are really doing, when a teacher notices a student needs extra support, when a mentor creates a safe place to talk, or when an adult chooses to listen instead of immediately judging or correcting.
Those moments matter. So does joy.
Young people deserve to be recognized for more than their challenges. They deserve room to laugh, dream, express themselves, celebrate who they are, and experience the simple, everyday moments that make childhood meaningful.
That is part of what makes the release of Black Boy Joy especially fitting for a day dedicated to mental health awareness.
LaShay Smith-Young is opening another door to a conversation about young people — one that makes room for their emotions, their experiences, and their joy.
And perhaps the starting point is one of the simplest things adults can give them: A safe place to be heard.
Connect on Instagram @mrslashayyoung
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