#ZeroReasonsWhy Campaign: A Disruptive County Wide Effort to Prevent Teen Suicide in Johnson County Kansas

Nationally, 60 percent of people personally know someone who has died by suicide. For youth between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is the second leading cause of death. In fact, suicide rates among teens and young adults have reached their highest point in nearly two decades, and suicide rates for 15- to 19-year-olds and those between 20 and 24 are at their highest level since 2000. For every one suicide, an estimated 25 people attempt suicide. 

Locally, teen death by suicide nearly doubled in Johnson County, Kansas, in the first six months of 2018, and within a 13-month time period across the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 15 teen suicides in the county.

“Let’s do something different.”
In the summer of 2018, the superintendents of the six school districts in Johnson County Kansas created the #ZeroReasonsWhy Campaign as a response to the rise in teen deaths by suicide. The following superintendents represent these six Johnson County school districts:

1. Todd White, Blue Valley Schools, Superintendent
2. Frank Harwood, USD 232 – De Soto, Superintendent
3. Pam Stranathan, Gardner Edgerton School District, Superintendent
4. John Allison, Olathe Public Schools, Superintendent
5. Mike Fulton, Shawnee Mission School District, Superintendent and Kenny Southwick, Deputy Superintendent
6. Dr. Wayne Burke, Spring Hill School District, Superintendent

“#ZeroReasonsWhy is a disruptive teen suicide prevention campaign composed of two main aspects: a Story Campaign and Community Mobilization Effort,” Johnson County Mental Health Center Executive Director Tim DeWeese said. “Sparked by the superintendent-led Mental Health Convening group in Johnson County, Kansas, to address the social and emotional well-being of teens, the campaign mobilizes teen, parent, educator and practitioner stories around a community standard of care and prevention. It is focused on empowering community members to take action toward change, by organizing, facilitating and supporting teens, parents, educators and practitioners in implementing action plans, programs, events and collaborative outreach efforts. The community is coming together to remove the reasons suicide would be an option for any teen.”

The #ZeroReasonsWhy Campaign in Johnson County, Kansas, is fiscally sponsored and managed by Johnson County Mental Health Center, or JCMHC, whose mission is improving the quality of life for Johnson County residents by providing comprehensive mental health services driven by the needs of the persons served, and providing services of the highest possible quality that are easily accessible to all residents. As part of its mission, JCMHC is incorporating the campaign into its portfolio of initiatives and programming geared toward reducing, and ultimately ending, instances of teen suicides in Johnson County. ■