Father shares tear-jerking story of son’s suicide

By Kathryn Lewis
Outlook writer

Clark Flatt has told the story countless times about how his son took his own life.

 
He believes Jason Flatt’s story has to be told so that other parents won’t have the same fate of living in grief.

 
His message has resonated with hundreds if not thousands around the country.

 
“I would give this all up today, whatever good we’ve done, to get back my boy,” Flatt said during a recent visit to Tallahassee.

 
More than 300 people — some of them with tears welled up in their eyes — packed into the Grand Ballroom at FAMU, where Flatt shared the story of how his 16-year-old son committed suicide. Many in the audience wept openly, as Flatt recalled how the tragedy unfolded in July 1997.

 
Some could even relate.

 
Jason was a normal teenager who loved sports, did well in school, and was seemingly happy. To this day his father is still searching for answers. The 16-year-old raised his father’s .38 snub-nose to his right ear, stood in front of his bed, and pulled the trigger.

 
Clark Flatt knew something wasn’t right hours before. He had been calling his son and got no answer on the phone.

 
He rushed to their Nashville home, where he found two notes and his son’s lifeless body across the threshold of his bedroom door.

 
In his search for answers, Flatt founded the Jason Foundation 20 years ago with the intent of raising awareness of youth suicides. The term “silent epidemic” has become part of his mantra for describing the severity of suicide among young people.

 
“We have to begin to take any attempt a young person hurting himself or herself, very seriously,” said Flatt. “Just by not talking about it; I can guarantee, our young people can’t understand why we’re not talking about it.”
Each year 44,965 suicide deaths are reported in the United States, according to Florida Department of Health. Florida accounted for 3,122 of those deaths in 2016, while that year 26 cases were reported in Leon County.
The signs of a teenager having problems that could lead to suicide often go unnoticed, Flatt said.

 
“I can attest to it because I went through it myself,” said Destiny Lisbon, a FAMU student who was in the audience. “I feel like this (handling the demands of college) is a time for us to have these depressing thoughts or suicidal thoughts.

 
“A majority of us don’t have families up here (in Tallahassee). And, people who genuinely love us (enough) to help us and to hear us out.”

 
Since its founding, The Jason Flatt Act (JFA) was presented by a New Jersey legislator in 2001. Tennessee first passed the act in 2007 and is one of the most inclusive, obligatory youth suicide prevention statutes for educators to complete a two-hour training each year. The act has since been passed in 19 states.

 
Flatt is so committed to getting his message to anyone who would listen that he continues to push for suicide awareness to be a part of each school’s curriculum.

 
“Suicide threats can be as obvious as somebody telling you that they’re going to kill themselves,” he said. “You’d be amazed at how many times we’ve been brought into a suicide or a suicide attempt, where the young person has told multiple people that they’re going to do it. Just straight out, not being indecisive or roundabout. Just saying, ‘I want to kill myself.’ Nobody took it seriously.”