Who better to give support to teens than other teens?

Another Santa Rosa teenager recently tried to commit suicide, this time by jumping off a 30-foot bridge on Fountain Grove Parkway. A government report says teen suicides have taken the biggest jump in 15 years. As the girl was about to join the statistics, adults below paced in circles wondering, "What in God's name could have gone so wrong?" It feels like no one is listening.

Most adults have no clue how their high expectations, school pressures, social rejection and drama are enough to make any teenager look for the nearest ledge out.

Parents tell us we should "try harder" so we can be their image of us. At school, if you're not funny, skinny or "hot," you don't exist. The pressure to have sex is crazy. Born gay and that's who you are, you'd better not tell anyone. Don't drink or do drugs, you're not "in." Confide in your best friend and she may tell the world. So you trust no one.

A senior at our high school was popular and had everything. Straight A's, already accepted into college and great parents. He looked so happy on the outside. But something was killing him on the inside. He hanged himself in his garage. The girl on the bridge is expected to attempt suicide until she succeeds, say police. She has scars on her wrists, no family support and mental health for teens isn't available.

We can't let her or any more of us go. There is an answer. It's called Teen Media Broadcasting, and it's right here in Santa Rosa.

My mom is a network news correspondent, but her passion is kids. When she noticed my longtime friends were acting angry a lot, she checked out their MySpace profiles. She was shocked by how openly teens write about things like being abused and feeling left out. We knew we had to do something. Teen years are a time when, like it or not, teenagers are more influenced by peers than by adults.

So I suggested we create shows hosted by teenagers we could train to be young "Dr. Phil's," who could counsel peers. We passed out hundreds of teen surveys that told us which topics teens care about and we started shooting our shows.

The phone rang. It was My-Space's director of marketing and content. He wanted to buy our first show. Though it didn't work out, we now knew we had something great.

Chop's Teen Center became TMB's home base. They were awesome. Soon, they got their partner agencies to send teens over to try out as show hosts.

Southwest Community Health Center teen educators trained us. Every week for more than a year, TMB teens from Elsie Allen, Maria Carrillo, Montgomery, Piner, Santa Rosa, Ursuline and Roseland Prep studied topics like addictions, sex, suicide, safe driving and good money handling.

We hired a top counselor to start a weekly teen/parent conflict resolution group. The Santa Rosa School District started exploring letting TMB host an elective course on topics that apply to teens' real lives next year.

The MIX 104.9 FM radio station signed us to host a show on Sunday nights. KRCB-TV Channel 22 committed to our pilot TV show. Local papers may run our advice columns. Five local car dealers and three financial companies want to sponsor us.

We hope to turn Santa Rosa into the nation's capital of trusted teen support and information by inspiring open and honest talk across the country.

It will take more community support to slow the teen suicide rate that's still on the rise. TMB has the voices teens will listen to in the language they speak.

We need listeners, viewers and encouragement to convince teens who live secret lives on MySpace that it's safe to live in the open. When teens speak up, parents will speak up and a new level of communication and caring will happen.

Parents will know that if your teen ever gets down enough to consider suicide, they will have someone to talk to that they trust, and in their own language, before ever thinking of a rope, a gun, a pill or a bridge.

You can find TMB's Web site at www.tmbteen.com.