Personal Loss Leads to Crusade Combating Teen Suicide
by Jim Brown
November 11, 2003
(AgapePress) - A Tennessee-based organization is promoting awareness about the "silent epidemic" of youth suicide.Shortly after Clark Flatt lost his youngest son Jason to suicide, he started The Jason Foundation, Inc. in an effort to educate the public about the third-leading cause of death among young people. Despite that discouraging statistic, Flatt sees reason to push ahead to prevent others from suffering the same fate as his son.
"The American Psychiatric Association says that four out of five people who commit suicide have given clear warning signs beforehand," he explains. "That means 80% of the time, we have an opportunity to intervene."
Flatt says the Foundation's school-based curriculum for middle and high schools is being used in 47 states and five foreign countries. He explains that it is "a very positive, peer-support" type of curriculum that is done in the third person.
'It's not asking a young person to look deep inside themselves," he says. "It's saying 'Here is something you can use -- a tool to see if a friend might be having some difficulty' -- and how to address that friend. And then all importantly, where you can help that friend find some local help."
According to Flatt, the stigma associated with mental health disorders has hindered schools and churches for years from promoting awareness about youth suicide. But he believes that is starting to change.
"Just by equipping young people, parents, educators, youth workers, [and] church people that work with young people ... with the awareness, the tools, and the resources necessary for identifying at-risk behavior -- and then giving them the resources of where to turn to for help, to help that young person -- we can make a big difference in this tragedy," he says.
The Foundation offers teacher in-service programs and parent seminars that train individuals to recognize and respond to suicidal threats and attempts. The group also has enlisted the help of several football coaches from the Southeastern Conference to serve as state spokespersons. National spokesman for the Jason Foundation is Phillip Fulmer, head football coach at the University of Tennessee.
