NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As lawmakers were discussing mental health, some House members discussed they felt the issue was getting worse, noting they know instances of suicide in their own lives.
Rep. Mike Sparks said he was working through a class at Middle Tennessee State University, where he thought it would be worth exploring targeting mental health resources on digital media. He said he called former Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron to see if he could arrange his instructor to do the video.
"It's a crisis level. Bill calls back. Do you know what he said?" Sparks said to snickers and laughter during the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee. "This is why it's serious. He said we had a suicide this morning on campus. Let's leverage higher ed. Let's leverage brilliant people. You gotta reach these kids."
However — as is typical in larger committee meetings — lawmakers have side conversations, at times eliciting laughter. Given the topic, Sparks felt that wasn't the right moment for humor. MTSU responded to a suicide on campus inside Peck Hall, its political science and English building. The death occurred overnight, and police later discovered it was a contract employee through the university.
“I don’t want suicide on my f-ing campus. It may be funny to some, but it ain’t funny to me,” Rep. Mike Sparks, R-Smyrna, said. "We need a task force that meets weekly with higher ed and K-12 leaders. I don't want to see it happen in my district like it did."
Commissioner Marie Williams amplified the discussion about mental health for kids, between kindergarten and senior year of high school. Williams oversees the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
"If you look at the research done, there’s 40% increase in anxiety, and we had the same increase in depression," Commissioner Williams said. "We saw a higher rate of kids attempting suicide, and that’s just unbelievable and at younger ages we have ever seen. If you look at 15-18, you’re seeing comingled substance abuse concerns."
In the 2023 Mental Health in America Report, 17% of kids between 12 to 17 years old have experienced at least one major depressive episode in the last year.
All told, 71% of kids go untreated in Tennessee with only 13% receiving any kind of consistent treatment. Williams said Tennessee ranks in the bottom tier of access to mental health care. Tennessee reported the second-highest number in 2021 for kids from 10 to 18 years old dying by suicide. That is the last year available from the Tennessee Department of Health.
Right now, the department is waiting on revenues from a $250 million trust fund bond that will help fund initiatives across the state. Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, said it's vital to keep funding the department. As one of the lawmakers who knew someone personally die from suicide recently, the urge for progress was top of his mind.
"We as a state, we are always reactive instead of proactive," Parkinson said to NewsChannel 5. Why do we have to wait for a crisis when we can intervene before there is a crisis? I feel like the commissioner's heart is in this. But do I think she has all the tools she needs to be as effective as she has the talent to be? No. She's up against a state that either doesn't get it or doesn't understand the crisis we are in."
