Speakers Share Suicide Prevention Experiences

The ministry’s founder, Jennifer Foxworthy, said her organization provides services to deal with the impacts of homelessness, human trafficking and domestic violence, noting that “suicide” is a looming demon in all of those adverse situations.

To the attendees of the event, which was free to the public, Foxworthy warned “some parts of the presentation may be heavy.”

The event’s two keynote speakers, in fact, articulated the gravity of the issue in their brief presentations.

Kim Klump’s story was about her son, Jesse, a senior at Snow Hill High School on Maryland’s Eastern Shore who died by his own hand in 2009. Klump noted Jesse was an athlete, scholar and student leader.

“This is not someone you would expect would take his life,” she said.

Klump admitted that “in hindsight” she saw signs that her son was consumed with “depression.”

“He gave precious possessions away,” Klump recalled.

Her son also kept a journal, which was found later and revealed some of his anxieties of the present and future.

Since her son was an avid kayaker and had worked at The Pocomoke Canoe Company, Klump and others organized a fundraiser called “Jesse’s Paddle,” which raises funds for scholarships in his memory.

Klump said that while the fundraiser is a good way to keep her son’s memory alive, she decided it wasn’t enough. That’s when she decided to start a prevention program in schools.

In addition to teaching coping skills, the Jesse Klump Suicide and Awareness Program started an open conversation.

“Every conversation has the power to make a difference,” Klump said.

Last school year the awareness program visited four high schools and saw nearly 1,500 school students. This past summer the program hosted a “summer eco-therapy camp,” which included such challenging activities as kayaking, canoeing and rope-climbing.

Klump said the organization uses grant funding to fund its programs.

Pressures of serving the nationThe summit’s second keynoter, Navy Capt. Byron Lee, began his talk on a light-hearted note, passing a beach ball to attendees and engaging them in a game of “bump, bump, catch.”

“We all react to things differently,” Lee told the audience, adding that things that bring stress into people’s lives aren’t much different than the things that make people happy.

Lee’s jovial demeanor turned emotional when he revealed that at one point in his 28-year armed forces career he had considered taking his own life.

“Nothing looked positive, nobody knew,” Lee said.

He was able to get help on the base he was assigned to from a mental health expert.

Lee said that with its pressures to be ready to react and serve as a protector, while dealing with the pressures of assignment moves, raising a family and maintaining personal health, members of the military are emotionally vulnerable.

“All of those things were weighing on me,” he said.

Lee provided 2023 statistics from the U.S. Department of Defense (now the Department of War) that showed that year there were 523 suicides in the nation’s military, which was 9% higher than the previous year. The data also showed firearms were the primary method for carrying out a suicide.

In noting her own prior experience in the armed forces, Foxworthy said, “We may look big and strong but we often suffer in silence. It’s important to know your resources.”

Nearly 20 vendors participated in the summit, including the health departments of all three Southern Maryland counties, the Maryland Department of Health Behavioral Health Administration, service members, veterans and their families, as well as the Charles County Center for Children and Community Crisis Services Inc.

For more information about Unstoppable You Ministries, go to www.unstoppableyouministries.org.

For immediate, confidential mental health support, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.