Jones County lost two students to suicide in 2024 and another teenager fell to suicide last month. All three were young men around the age of 17.
The victims were individuals, unrelated except by the bewildered family members and friends left wondering why this happened and why they were not able to stop it from happening.
Members of the Jones County Suicide Prevention Coalition also shared those feelings at their May 28 meeting, with frustration over the helplessness of not being able prevent the deaths and what to do next.
Coalition member Chris Pope was close to this tragedy due to the victim being friends with his son, now a rising senior. The death occurred in the early hours of May 18, while the memory of the May 15 graduation with all the wonder of young lives and careers just beginning still fresh.
Pope said the victim had been with friends during the weekend. It was text messages sent to those friends that created so much concern that one called 911 to ask for a wellness check.
The officer was at the home within five minutes, but it was not in time.
After Pope found out about the death by suicide, he started calling the parents of the friends in the group in an attempt to allow them to break the news to their children.
He admitted that in those initial moments his frustration boiled over.
“When I joined the suicide prevention group, my hopes were high we could make a difference, but I felt like we failed to use our resources,” the father said.
Pope is the founder and manager of Music Medix, a nonprofit organization. That allowed him to help with handling the account for donations to the family. He said when word got out, people started taking food to the family, and he organized an effort to gather other supplies the family would need, such as paper products and cleaning supplies.
Pope is now working on putting together a protocol of what to do support families when a tragedy occurs.
“We need to get the community involved in how to respond to make a difference,” he said. “I want to take action to make things better.”
Pope said that is especially important if the family does not have a church family.
Music Medix works with young people who are mostly musicians. Pope said the studio has suicide prevention posters on the walls, and they have open conversations often.
“I don’t know how to stop something they plan to do, but I hope to create an environment where the intent is never even considered,” he said.
Another member of the coalition, Leslie Poythress, said one of the greatest needs in this type of tragedy is counseling resources.
She shared an experience when a close friend of her son died by suicide and the struggle to find counseling for him.
The Jones County School System posted about the May 18 tragedy on its Facebook page, offering thoughts and prayers and offering counseling and support resources for students, faculty and staff who may need them.
Policy updates issued at the May 12 Board of Education meeting included an update on JCSS policy for suicide prevention. The update was the result of new legislation approved at the close of this year’s legislative session in Atlanta.
The new policy states certified personnel will receive annual training in youth violence, suicide awareness and prevention. In addition, all students in grades 6-12 will be provided at least one hour of evidencebased suicide awareness and prevention each school year.
The training is also to include instructing students how to recognize warning signs and signals of someone at risk of harming themselves or others. In addition to the training, each school will designate a student-led youth violence prevention club to sustain awareness activities related to suicide prevention and violence prevention.
The entire policy is available on the Board of Education website at jones.k12.ga.us. and will be voted on at the June 9 board meeting.
Scan for more information on the Suicide Prevention Coalition
