Teen suicide conference encourages talk about problems

Suicide is not the solution.

That was the central message of a teen suicide conference held earlier this month at New Salem Baptist Church in Soddy-Daisy.

"God has a plan for your life," youth pastor James Greg Sluder told the dozens of youths and adults in attendance. "He promised to prosper you, and his promise for you cannot be left unfinished."

Pastor Alan Rogers said it was coincidence that the church's conference coincided with "13 Reasons Why," a series about a teen who commits suicide that has become one of the top dramas on Netflix.

The show's popularity illustrates the need to have more discussion about suicide, he said, adding that the church is considering a follow-up conference in the fall.

"So often for teenagers, their problems are the only things they can see," Rogers said. "We want to remind them that there is more to life than just their struggles."

MedicineNet.com lists suicide as the third leading cause of death for people ages 15-24, following accidents and homicide. The majority of suicides are connected to emotional or psychiatric disorders such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to the website

New Salem's event, with the theme "Unfinished," came a year after Heritage High School student 16-year-old Ethan Jack O'Neal Gerrells committed suicide on March 26, 2016.

Nathan Leal, a 15-year-old student at the same Ringgold, Ga., school, committed suicide six months later in September 2016.

Sluder, who is also a paramedic, said he recalls a student from Hixson High School and a student from Ooltewah High School have also committed suicide within the past decade.

Some 38 people in Hamilton County took their own lives in 2014, according to the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network. In 2015, the number of suicides increased to 50.

Bryce McDaniel, who called Ethan one of her best friends, and Isabelle Hill started the larger "Unfinished" project after the deaths of their two Heritage High classmates.

"We came up with the project 'Unfinished' because your life is irreplaceable. Your story is unfinished," said McDaniel.

To implement the project, the students have gone to other schools asking administrators to consider creating an environment where students may talk about suicide, isolation or any issue that troubles them.

The classmates also have participated in walks and held rallies to shed more light on suicide and to let students know that there are people who care about them, said McDaniel.

For all the messages that were shared at the conference, the most compelling was that of Jackie Gerrells, Ethan's mom.

Her voice shook with emotion throughout her address as she talked about losing Ethan to suicide.

"Thank you for talking about this. Forgive me," she said as her tears flowed. "This is the perspective of suicide from a mother's view."

Even answering the question how many children do you have causes emotion, she said.

"Before March 25 and March 26, that was an easy question for me," she said. "I have three boys. I have an 8-year-old, a 16-year-old [Ethan] and a 20-year-old, but when you lose a child, you start having more questions."

People try to console her, she said, by reminding her that her son is no longer in pain.

"That's the bad thing about suicide," she said. "It takes all of that hurt that that person is feeling and transfers it to the survivors who are left behind."

Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.