Efforts to reduce youth suicides in Tarrant County are making a difference, said the leader of a nonprofit at the forefront of prevention training and more.
The 2024-25 school year saw a reduction of more than 70% in suicides of K-12 students compared to previous years, said Matthew Vereecke, CEO of the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation.
“We are making amazing progress. But the fight isn’t even close to being over,” Vereecke said at a recent luncheon.
The nonprofit had comprehensive programs in 136 schools as of April, which include basic student suicide prevention training, more intensive training for teachers and faculty members and connections to third-party community providers.
Now such work is poised to expand as other groups fighting what the chief science officer at the American Psychological Association called the “epidemic of suicide” take note of the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation’s success. The Sam Asbury Foundation in Atlanta and the Matt Harbin Foundation in Austin will launch similar models within the next year, Vereecke announced recently.
The goal isn’t necessarily to take the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation to the national level, Verecke told the Fort Worth Report. The primary mission remains serving Tarrant County, he said.
However, if sharing information can help other cities and regions tackle the issue, the foundation will support such work, he said.
Vereecke compared this stage of the nonprofit’s work to Freedom House Ambulance, a Black-run nonprofit in Pittsburgh that was the first modern version of EMS in the country. Before Freedom House came along, having a heart attack at home was considered a death sentence, Vereecke said.
Within the decade, EMS models existed in most major American cities, based on the work Freedom House started in 1967.
“It’s not about the (Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation) model going national,” Vereecke said. “It’s about saying, ‘If we have things in our communities that are working to save lives, they need to be everywhere.’”
Efforts in Atlanta
David Asbury lost his son Sam to suicide in February 2020. About a year later, the Atlanta native started a foundation in his name to help other families.
“We wanted to bring attention to mental health and suicide,” Asbury said. “And we wanted to do it in honor of Sam and others that have lost. We wanted to do it so we can hopefully use Sam’s great life to keep another person from hurting themselves.”
In the early days of the Sam Asbury Foundation, the nonprofit did a good job raising funds, Asbury said. He pointed to an annual golf tournament, which raised a net $140,000 in its first year.
But foundation leaders wanted to take the next step and implement change.
“We were strategic in giving to causes directly related to suicide prevention, raising awareness about suicide and providing hope to those who’ve lost someone to suicide,” said Stephanie Johnston, executive director of the Sam Asbury Foundation. “From early on … there was a desire among the board to do more and to have something tangible, something that we are actively doing to to prevent suicide.”
Johnston and Asbury connected with the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation over the summer, and all parties were interested in expanding the Tarrant County model into other areas.
“We were in,” Asbury said. “We were immediately caught by this and super intrigued.”
The first step for the Sam Asbury Foundation is working with private schools in the Georgia area, Asbury said.
The nonprofit hosted its first training in October at the Holy Innocence Episcopal School, which his son attended. Staffers from the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation flew to Georgia to help.
“The sentiment, overwhelmingly from the school staff, was that while they were nervous about the subject matter, the actual training itself was so much better,” Johnston said. “It challenged common myths about suicide and left participants feeling empowered and equipped to help intervene in a time of crisis.”
Asbury said he hopes to help more private schools in the new year.
From left to right: David Asbury, Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation staff members Kristi Wiley and LaTasha Jackson, David Umanzor, and Holly Innocents’ Episcopal School head of school Paul Barton at their first Question, Persuade, and Refer suicide prevention training. (Courtesy photo | The Sam Asbury Foundation)
The room at the Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School where the first suicide prevention training was held. (Courtesy photo | The Sam Asbury Foundation)
Efforts in Austin
Brett Harbin lost his brother Matt to suicide in 2018. About a year ago, he started the foundation in his honor — inspired in part by the work in Tarrant County.
“I had visions of creating programs to help people in general with their mental health and empower them to become the people that they want to be,” Harbin said.
Harbin grew up in Tarrant County and saw the work being done by the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation. Harbin’s parents got involved with the Tarrant County nonprofit soon after Matt died.
“We wouldn’t be where we are now without the help that we’ve gotten from Matt Vereecke and (the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation),” Harbin said.
The Matt Harbin Foundation, still new, recently started its own charity golf tournament: the Lil Smokie Invitational.
Harbin, who was a general contractor for K-12 schools in the Austin area, wants to implement programs similar to the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation in that region. He’s already had conversations with certain school districts who are interested, he said.
Continued work in Tarrant County
Despite the continued success of the Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation, the work is not done, Vereecke said.
The nonprofit works in nearly 160 schools as of November with plans to expand to others. Vereecke said the goal is having programs in every school in the county.
“This is one of those wicked problems where I don’t think you can take a risk-adjusted approach and say, ‘It’s pretty unlikely someone will die, and so we’ll just kind of leave this set of schools alone,’” Vereecke said. “Suicide doesn’t care about where you live.”
Vereecke noted that the foundation is working to reduce the number of students dropping out of school by exploring how to reach those children through faith-based partnerships.
He noted that the goal is to eliminate suicide in Tarrant County.
“It’s tough to design a solution that’s going to fix one or two or three student deaths when they don’t have a whole lot in common, but the common factor we’re seeing is a lack of access to resources, ” Vereecke said. “Thinking about additional ways that we can bring those resources to bear is what we’re going to be spending our time doing over the next six months.”
Ismael M. Belkoura is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
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