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February 16, 2024 • 30 mins
The Jason Foundation is dedicated to the prevention of the "silent epidemic" of youth suicide. Recent data shows Tennessee ranks among the top for child suicide rates nationwide and the issue was addressed in the State of the Child report from the TN Commission on Children & Youth. The Jason Foundation has programs and events to equip educators, young people, parents, and youth workers with the tools and resources they need to help identify and assist at risk youth. Joining John Clark to talk about the work of The Jason Foundation is Deputy Exec. Dir and Chief Communications Officer.
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(00:00):
It's Tennessee Matters on the Tennessee RadioNetwork. Welcome to Tennessee Matters. I'm
John Clark on the Tennessee Radio Network. The Jason Foundation is dedicated to the
prevention of the silent epidemic of youthsuicide through educational and awareness programs that equip
young people, educators, and youthworkers and parents with the tools and resources

(00:25):
to help identify and assist at riskyouth. Here today talk about the work
of the Jason Foundation is Brett Marcielof the Foundation. Well, Brett,
nice to talk to you today.It's good to have you on. Thank
you for having me. First ofall, talk about Jason title, about
the joy, how the organization gotits foundation got its name through Jason.

(00:48):
But there's a Jason involved in JasonFoundation. Talk about him absolutely so.
Jason Flat was your average sixteen yearold young man in Hinderson Inville, Tennessee,
just outside of Nashville. He hadseemingly everything going for him in life.
He had several friends, was activein his church youth group, and

(01:14):
you know, had recently started datingagain. From the outside point of view,
everything in his life looked like hehad everything going for him. He
made a decision on July sixteenth,nineteen ninety seven, to end his life.
On that date, he made adecision that would have changed the course

(01:36):
of his family, friends, andcountless numbers of the individuals across the nation.
After his his tragic death, Jason'sfather, his family, and some
of their family friends got together anddecided to form a foundation in his memory.
Initially, the mission really was spurredby Jason's father. He wanted to

(02:04):
go out and do whatever he couldto make sure that another parent didn't have
to go through what he did,and that initially started with speaking to groups
of parents, whether it be PTOmeetings, PTA groups. He had been
to these kinds of groups and thesekinds of trainings previously. They had done
seminars on alcohol abuse, substance abuse, even the form of bullying back in

(02:30):
the day, but nobody had evergiven a presentation or a seminar on suicide
prevention. So his intention was togo out and talk to other groups of
parents to let them know what tolook out for, to let them know
how prevalent the issue really was.And really that is where we started.

(02:53):
The Jason Foundation is dedicated to theprevention of the silent e the day of
youth and young adults through educational andawareness programs that equip young people, educators,
youth workers, and parents with thetools and resources to help identify and

(03:14):
assist at risk youth. We startedwith those programs and those seminars for parents,
and we have moved on now toproviding programs that can really be useful
for anyone that comes into a youngperson's life. The really how we accomplish

(03:36):
our mission is through those informational seminars, both for educators and adults. We
have a curriculum for students and variousawareness initiatives for all ages. The one
thing that we do pride ourselves onis that everything we offer to the public
is at no cost. It's ourinception in nineteen ninety seven. We've never

(03:57):
charged a family, a school,a state for any of our programs or
services. Any idea why Jason choseto end his life, then, I
personally believe that there are usually multiplefactors. Sometimes there are people that want
to point to a specific incident ora specific factor, but in most cases

(04:21):
it can be a multitude of issues. Many times that may include mental illness
or struggling mentally struggling with mental healthissues. But in most cases there are
a wide variety of factors that allkind of culminate in a decision to attempt.

(04:42):
Oh, that's so sad that hedid he chose to do that.
It was so sad, so sad. But out of that terrible thing happening,
you've had good things happen. I'msure through the Jason Foundation. What
are some of the talk about someof your programs now that you use and
you go out all over the placeto or talk to groups and two people
and the youth, And I knowthat youth, the youth is still a

(05:06):
problem in Tennessee, is still aproblem for youth creating suicide, That's correct.
You know, what we try anddo here at the Adjacent Foundation is
to create the awareness or elevate thelevel of awareness people have of the issue
of suicide, especially within young people. And that's kind of where our focus

(05:28):
is here at the Jason Foundation.And really setting that stage is helpful because
we can't begin to address an issueuntil we know that one exists. Since
two thousand and seven, youth suiciderates have increased fifty five percent nationally.
Suicides the second leading cause of deathfor ten to twenty four year old in

(05:50):
our country, and we average overone hundred and thirty five young people to
suicide, losing them suicide each weekin this age group. And then one
that's absolutely concerning is even younger.The concerning trend is how it's affecting our

(06:12):
younger generations. Suicide within the tento fourteen year old range has more than
doubled in the last decade. Asyou mentioned here in Tennessee, we are
not immune to this by any means. There is a national survey conducted by
the CBC. It is controlled byeach state individually. The latest survey that

(06:38):
came out was from twenty twenty one. It was the first year that the
survey was conducted after COVID and it'sconducted every three years. So hopefully we'll
start to seeze the release of somestatistics from twenty twenty three, but as
of right now, twenty twenty oneis the most up to date that we
do have. It showed that fortytwo zero point two percent of Tennessee high

(07:02):
school students responded that they had feltsad or hopeless almost every day in a
row for two weeks or greater,so that it affected their usual activities,
and this question is really alluding toclinical depression. This is something that needs
professional help. It's not something thatsomebody can just pick themselves up off of

(07:24):
dust, their shoulders off and kindof work through. And what is almost
which is as alarming as that statistic, is really the gender discrepancy their females.
Female high school students were more thanfifty percent likely to answer yes to
that question. Really, over oneout of every two high school girls within

(07:46):
the state of Tennessee reported that theycould possibly be starting clinical depression. Oh
my god. And it's that thatdiscrepancy just really highlights the knee for us
to get information into the hands ofyoung people and into the hands of you

(08:07):
know, everyone really that comes intocontact with a young person. There's a
few more that I'd like to share. Yes, sure, go ahead.
Twenty two point eight percent, oralmost one out every five has seriously considered
suicide in the past twelve months.Eighteen point two percent actually made a plan

(08:30):
on how to attempt and over thirteenpercent of Tennessee high school students reported attempting
suicide one or more times in thelast year. And this represents three to
four students in every single high schoolclassroom attempting suicide. It equates to almost
forty thousand Tennessee high school students attemptingsuicide over the next twelve months. That's

(08:54):
an average one hundred and nine perday. And so what we're looking to
do is is trying to do somethingdifferent. Right, you mentioned wanting me
to kind of expound upon some ofthe things that we offer. Like I
said, our first program that weever developed was a presentation for parents.
So we've got a specialized website thatis devoted to parents that they can get

(09:20):
information about suicide, the warning signsthat are often exhibited by those that are
considering suicide. It contains the presentationby our president, Clark Flatt again who
was Jason, who is Jason's father, That can be found at PRP dot

(09:41):
Jasonfoundation dot com. Parent Resource ProgramPRP dot Jasonfoundation dot com. A lot
of what we do here at theJason Foundation is provide training for educators.
In two thousand and seven, wepassed the Jason Flatt Act here in Tennessee,
and it mandates that each teacher withinthe state of Tennessee require two hours

(10:07):
of continuing education in suicide awareness andprevention each year to maintain their license.
So every single year, every singleteacher within the state of Tennessee has to
take two hours of training to maintaintheir license. It's something we're really proud
of. The Jason Flat Act hasbeen passed now in twenty one different states,

(10:30):
but we are proud to say thatTennessee really led the charge on that
piece of legislation, and it issomething where we're extremely excited about. We
provided over fifty five thousand educator trainingsin twenty twenty three alone here within the
state, and it didn't cost theschool, the school district, or the

(10:50):
states a penny. And nowadays,students, especially with extracurricular activities, spend
just as much time at school asthey do at home, maybe even more
if you factor in the amount oftime instant's sleeping at home. And I
mentioned that we do have programs foryouth themselves. Oftentimes, peers see changes

(11:18):
in behavior from their friends far beforeanyone else, so it's vitally important that
we reach young people with the sameinformation about what to be looking out for.
You know, how to recognize afriend who may be struggling, And
really one of the most important partsis where to go to next. You

(11:39):
know, it's not enough just toknow that there's a problem and you recognize
that a friend is struggling, butyou know, now what. So that's
really the basis of all of ourprograms. But for the young people I
mentioned, we do have a studentcurriculum, we have a peer support program,
and one of our most popular programsis our smartphone app. Again,

(12:01):
all that is available for free,you know. In doing that, and
you mentioned a smartphone app. Thatkind of brings me to my next point.
Do you think it's the phone orthe internet looking not just not just
a phone, but the social mediaon the phone, or they're looking at
the phone all the time? Anythinglike that? Is it? I mean,
what is reasons for it? Soyou know there is again just kind

(12:28):
of like I mentioned on the individualbasis, where I don't believe there's one,
you know, absolute factor, youknow, the reasons for the increase
in suicide, the reasons for theyou know, astronomical highs we've seen for
depression and anxiety. I think thereare a multitude of factors. Certainly,

(12:52):
I believe that the rise of smartphones, the rise of social media has played
a part in that I've seen acouple of presentations by people that are much
smarter than I, they've done alot more research than I, that have
said that it has contributed to thisrise in suicide rates. You know,

(13:15):
growing up, for me, ifI ever had an issue with bullying,
you know, it would stop whenyou get off the bus. I just
didn't have to go to that sideof the neighborhood, if you will.
Now, with being connected to socialmedia twenty four to seven, it doesn't
necessarily have to stop when you getoff the bus at two thirty. You

(13:35):
know they're connected twenty four to seven. I know I'm connected twenty four seven.
Now it's just emails instead of socialmedia, but there's always this connectivity.
There's this new pressure to look acertain way, to act a certain
way. You know, we grewup in a time without filters on pictures,

(13:56):
and so these added pressures again tolook a certain way, to act
a certain way, to have thiscertain kind of life. I believe is
different than previous generations. There's beenmore more pressure to achieve academically, you

(14:16):
know, there's been more pressure toachieve athletically as well. It's there's again,
just as I mentioned, there there'sthere's a multitude of factors that I
believe all contribute to their rise.I do believe that the rise of social
media, cyberbullying, you know,heightened expectations, all play a part of

(14:39):
that. And you know, Iwouldn't point to one certain thing. You
know, now social media, certainsocial media companies have been introducing tools I
guess you could say to to help. So if you think someone may be
posting about suicide or have making disparagingremarks online, there are certain ways you

(15:03):
can report that so that they canbe given materials about who to reach out
to, or you can be providedtools on how to reach out to that
individual. So there's definitely pros andcons. But I would say that a
majority of clinical people out there lookingat this subject would say that, as

(15:28):
of right now, it appears thatthe cons have outweighed the pros, if
you will, right right, whatabout now when somebody starts talking about suicide
or mentioning it suicide? What aresome of the what are some of the
things you look for when you lookfor somebody who may be thinking about committing
suicide? And what are some ofthe warning signs? I should say,

(15:52):
yeah, absolutely, and so Youknow, most people exhibit some signs of
their intentions that they're considering suicide,and those can be either behavioral or they
can be spoken. Depression is oneof the leading causes of suicide attempts across
all ages, and oftentimes that isexhibited in out of character behaviors. It

(16:18):
could be a sudden or abrupt changein personality. All of a sudden,
this young person who is extremely outgoingno longer has that has that exuberance.
They limit their friend group down toone or two people and they're only talking
to them to select few. Itcould be expressions of hopelessness and despair,

(16:45):
increased irritability, aggressiveness. One ofthe big ones is a lack of interest
in something that they once enjoyed.Maybe that is your athlete. This young
person who's been on the basketball teamfrom their freshman year up to their junior
and during the summer they decide thatthey don't want to play anymore. Yet

(17:06):
they've been playing basketball since they werefive years old. You know. Maybe
it is the one young person who'sbeen really interested in music and has been
in a band and then all ofa sudden decides to give it up and
no longer wants to do that.Really, what we want to do,
you know, at that point isto ask questions of why. I also

(17:26):
mentioned that some of those warning signscan be verbal, so this can be
veiled such as I won't be botheringyou much longer, or it could be
straightforwards such as I'm going to hurtmyself or I'm going to kill myself.
We often see a preoccupation with deathor suicide, so this is especially important

(17:47):
when we come to teachers, butalso friends and parents as well. But
this can be seen in essays,poems, artwork, and then you know
the social media posts. With therise of social media media, obviously that's
something that need to take into accountas well. A previous suicide attempt is
a strong indicator of a future attempt. So if you know that a young

(18:08):
person has attempted to take their lifepreviously, that individual is at a higher
risk of attempting once again rather thana young person who has not. And
so you know, we want wewant people to watch and to listen.
You know, sometimes some of thesethings that can be considered warning signs can

(18:33):
be just your typical adolescent thanks right, right, And this has not been
an all exhaustive list. I stronglyrecommend visiting our website Jasonfoundation dot com.
You can find some more information there. But you know, if a young
person is sleeping more than normal oreating more than you know as that young

(18:53):
person, well it's probably not thatyou know, it's something to keep in
mind and then maybe like take anote of But if a fourteen year old
starts eating more, it's probably nota cause of concern, right. It's
when two or three of these factorsare present at the same time for an

(19:14):
extended period of time, you know, is when you need to be concerned.
And really, as parents or asfriends, we need to be comfortable
with having that conversation. Opening upthat line of dialogue asking somebody if they're
considering suicide will not give them theidea to attempt suicide. And so knowing

(19:42):
how to approach that conversation, knowingwhat to say, equally knowing what not
to say is also important. Wewant to validate their feelings. We don't
want to make it seem like whatthey're feeling, Oh, everyone goes through
that, or you'll get over it. You know, those that the validate

(20:02):
their feelings stay with them. Askif they're thinking of hurting themselves and then
know where to go to for help? You know, what are those outlets
for help that that you should beYou should know that, you should know
how to contact with you know,that's all. That's all very very important.
We who are to speak of that? Who are some of the outlets
you go to? Like if yougo, oh my gosh, I need

(20:25):
to talk to somebody, who doI talk to it about? This kid
is committing suit, is going tothink into community suicide? Who do you
call? Yeah? So, theSuicide and Crisis Lifeline is a free resource
that's available twenty four hours a dayfor anyone who is in suicidal crisis,
emotional distress, or you want moreinformation. Maybe you're a parent out there

(20:47):
and you're concerned about your son oryour daughter, but you maybe you want
to talk to somebody about it andshould I be concerned about that? This
is a great number to call.You can reach it at night. You
can call or text nine eight eightand speak to a trained counselor there.
They also have a chat function ontheir website. Our state has a wonderful

(21:11):
resource provided by the Tennessee Department ofMental Health. It's the state wide crisis
line that can be reached at eightfive five Crisis one. Again, that's
a free program and it's operated bythese trained mental health professionals. If you
are in an emergency, you shouldalways call nine one one or visit your

(21:32):
closest emergency room. So if somebodyis an imminent danger, don't hesitate to
take them to an r Okay,that's that's yeah, that's that's true.
And you got them, just putthem in a car and take them,
you know, just take them thererather rather be there than anywhere. Yeah.
Now, you and don't don't leavea young person alone. You know,
if you are that concerned about ayoung person, you know that you

(21:57):
want to stay with them until weknow that in a safe place. Yea.
Now, you also have some whatyou mentioned called nine one one and
the call you mentioned to you havesome numbers on your website, that is
that are related to Jason Foundation whereyou'll get help to. Right. So,
we do have some information on ourwebsite, but for the most part,

(22:19):
I would say the nine eight eightnumber and the Tennessee Crisis Line probably
the most appropriate. Here at theJason Foundation, we do not offer counseling
or clinical services. We stay moreon that awareness and prevention side. So

(22:41):
if it is like a dire momentof need, I still recommend both nine
eight eight the state wide Crisis Lineor nine to one one, okay,
And to that your your your programsthat you have, go over some of
those in detail and what some peoplecan learn from by going to the Jation
Foundation. And then if you've wantto find out and how to train yourself

(23:03):
on how to how to look forthings like that, talk about your site
and what you do, what youoffer. Absolutely so. Our main website
is Jasonfoundation dot com. There youcan learn some more statistics, some of
which that I cover here on thephone today. You will find out how

(23:25):
to become involved, what you cando as a parent to become involved.
Again, a lot of that relatesto learning more about those warning signs,
learning about what to look out for. Again, We've got a free training
available online for parents on our website. Our Professional Development Series is the program

(23:45):
that I've briefly mentioned about for educatorsand what our state uses. We're one
of the providers our state uses tosatisfy the Jason Flat Act. Currently,
we have I believe fourteen modules thatrange from two to one hours. You
can watch those online. You canorder DVDs on our website as well.

(24:11):
We range in topics. The twohour ones are pretty in depth look at
suicide. The one hour ones arereally tailored to how different topics relate to
suicide. So maybe it's bullying insuicide or suicide postvention in schools, what
a school system should do or notdo in the wake or the aftermath of

(24:34):
a suicide. For youth, we'vegot a student curriculum that's designed for middle
and high school. We've got awarenessinitiatives like I mentioned to really kind of
raise the awareness of all people,regardless of age, about what's going on
and what to look out for.Our smartphone app is available there as well.

(24:56):
It's called a Friend Asks. Andhere within the state, we are
in our third year of a statecentered program, a state centered campaign,
if you will, called Tennessee Won'tbe Silent. Our intention with this campaign
is to raise awareness of suicide withinthe volunteer state, provide options on how

(25:19):
to become involved, and inform tennesseeansof the resources that are available to them.
That website is just Tennessee Won't beSilent dot com On there you will
find information again about those warning signs. We have how to Get Involved tab
that will provide businesses and sports clubs, individuals with ways that they can go

(25:45):
out in their community and help usgenerate this awareness and know what to look
out for. But probably the biggestpart of the Tennessee Won't be Silent website
is our resources tab. We havecompiled a resource guide for all ninety five
counties within the state. You cango to this interactive map, click on

(26:07):
Davidson County and find mental health resourcesthat are available near you. Right so
call and do you have trainers thatgo out to different places too, and
do this absolutely? So. Imentioned we don't charge for any of our
programs or services. So anytime youwant a DVD, anytime we can provide

(26:29):
a curriculum to a school, oranytime that that meet somebody here at our
staff are representatives around the state.Anytime that we set up a presentation,
I have people from Memphis to Knoxvilleand beyond, And so anytime that we
have the availability, we'll be happyto try and set up a time to

(26:52):
come out and speak to your groupof parents, your church, you know,
whatever kind of community organization it maybe. And we'd be happy to
do so at no post. Well, it's got it. It's something that's
got to be done, and it'sgreat that you're doing it. And it's
really it's really a serious issue.You know, it still is, isn't
it. Absolutely, And it's youknow, we're just so thankful for opportunities

(27:17):
like this. Anytime that we canget our mission out in front of more
of the community, we'll take thatopportunity any chance we get. Yeah,
it's it's really, it's it's sad, but it's true. And you know,
if we can if we can stophunt one from doing it, then
we we we've done our job,but we want to stop everybody from doing
it. So I know you're you'rea passionate about that too. Absolutely,

(27:42):
and that's a sentiment that that ourPresident Clark goes all the time. If
everything we've done in our twenty sixyear history, you know, if it's
saved one life, and it'll allhave been worth it, that's right.
That's right. Well, thank youso much today, Brett, and I
really appreciate you doing this and giveout all that necessary information once again so

(28:04):
that people know for sure who theycan call and what they can do.
And you know what, if somebodyis committing thinking about committing suicide, they
should talk to somebody first, getto somebody and tell them all about that.
Now how to find that out?Absolutely, If you or someone you
know struggling with thoughts of suicide,you can find more information and talk to

(28:30):
a trained counselor at nine eight eight. You can call or text nine eight
eight. There's also a chat functiononline. If you believe that someone is
in immediate danger, call nine oneone or take them to the nearest emergency
room to find more about the problemof suicide, the warning signs often exhibited

(28:51):
by those considering suicide. Or toorder our programs free of charge, you
can do that at Jasonfoundation dot com. Again, our state specific campaign is
called Tennessee Won't be Silent Again.You can find resources in your county and
in your area at Tennessee Won't beSilent dot com. Thank you so much,

(29:15):
Brett, thank you for being ontoday and continued success in this and
you're welcome back anytime. We wantto get the word out, so you're
welcome to come back sometime. Thankyou so much. Thank you, John.
I'll take any opportunity to give meabsolutely. That's Breton Marciel, president
of the Jason Foundation. To findout more, visit Jasonfoundation dot com.
If you have questions or comments abouttoday's program, you can email me,

(29:38):
John Clark at iHeartMedia dot com.Thanks for listening to I'll talk to you
next week right here on your localradio station on Tennessee Matters.
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