mom next door
Dr. Rosalynn Thyssen
BY AMANDA MILLER
B y day, Dr. Rosalynn Thyssen is a four children while honoring the memory of her son, Traeh, through her passionate work in youth mental health and suicide preven- tion. Rosalynn shares how grace, hope, and meaningful connection have shaped both her family and her life’s purpose. SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT YOU? ROSALYNN: I’m very active, not only at work, but in every part of my life. At work, I play an active role as a nurse, educator, and mentor. At home, I’m a mom and a singing competi- tion judge. At church, I’m the mental health education resource coordinator. In my friend group, I’m just Ros. professor, mentor, and educator. At home, she’s a devoted mom raising WHAT ARE SOME THINGS PEOPLE WOULD BE ROSALYNN: I usually wake up to Chloe singing. She wakes up singing every sin- gle morning. Then I take the animals out. We have an American bully, a cat, and six chickens. In the summertime, it’s me coming to Southern University. I decompress [in the morning] because once the students get here, it’s non-stop until I leave. I listen to Pandora and then my day starts with meeting with students. Then we go into the classroom. I love teaching. I say that I like to “edutain.” My class is very interactive. Then I go home and it’s either helping with homework, taking them to a modeling event, or taking them to dance practice. I become the mom taxi. WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
Occupation: Nursing Professor at Southern University Children: Theodore Jr., 23; Traeh; Trinitee, 18; Tiva, 14; and Chloe, 10 Hobbies: Movie nights with the kids, karaoke, and playing Finish the Lyric
DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITE MEMO- RIES OR TRADITIONS YOU’VE CREATED WITH YOUR FAMILY OVER THE YEARS? ROSALYNN: We love celebrations. We believe birthdays are a blessing, because not everybody gets to celebrate them. So, whenever we can, we make the most out of birthdays. We also love Christmas time. When Traeh died, Christmas was hard, so we created a new tradition. We go to the Smoky Mountains, just me and the kids, because sometimes we don’t know what would trigger grief. So, we get a cabin high in the mountains. We say it’s kind of close to heaven, so we can include Traeh, and we just enjoy nature and we welcome whatever emotions we’ll have without being worried about being a burden to somebody else or worried about how other people may see us. YOUR JOURNEY HAS LED YOU TO BECOME A PASSIONATE ADVOCATE FOR YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION. HOW HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE SHAPED THE WAY YOU SHOW UP FOR OTHER FAMILIES? ROSALYNN: When Traeh died, it was a big shock because I’m a nurse. I’ve always taught about suicide awareness in class. When Traeh died, it wasn’t the typical—he’s supposed to leave a note, he’s supposed to show all these different signs; so now I tell parents that sometimes things are very subtle, espe- cially now because kids are so resilient that whenever they are feeling upset, they hide it so well, so we have to create those moments of vulnerability even when we don’t believe something is going on. When we go to the doctor’s office, they check our blood pressure
every single time we go. We may not have high blood pressure, but they check it just in case. So, we have to do those check-ins for mental health the same way. I always encourage parents to do what we call the 13-minute challenge. Traeh was 13 when he died on October 3, and 10 plus 3 is 13. Thirteen is considered an unlucky number, but we wanted to turn that into something more purposeful. I tell parents to take 13 uninterrupted minutes to talk with your kids or youth. When I say uninterrupted, it means, put the phone down. Don’t finish the email. A lot of times as parents, we’re so busy and we’re trying to multitask. The kid may say, “Well, mom is busy, so I can’t put this burden on her because she’s so busy.” So, if we create that safe space where everything else is on pause and I’m totally focused on you, then it’s the hope that those conversations could come out. WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WISH EVERY PARENT UNDERSTOOD ABOUT THEIR CHILD’S MENTAL HEALTH? ROSALYNN: You know how they say hind- sight is 20/20? I want my hindsight to be somebody’s prevention. So, just knowing that there are a lot of triggers in the world now. There are so many things happening on social media. There’s so much going on at school, in the world, and they may not verbal- ize what they’re feeling. So, we have to take
WHAT HAS MOTHERHOOD TAUGHT YOU ABOUT YOURSELF THAT YOU DIDN’T
EXPECT BEFORE BECOMING A MOM? ROSALYNN: To give myself grace. There’s no true book on how to be a mom or how to be a parent, especially with the different person- alities of kids and with some of the distrac- tions of the world. There’s no true handbook, so I have to give myself grace.
16 SEPTEMBER 2026 | BRPARENTS.COM
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