There's been a sharp increase in the suicide rate among older teenage boys in recent years, according to a 2019 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In November 2018, 18-year-old Jarrett McKnight died by suicide.

Jarrett's death struck particularly close to home for those in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.

Jarrett was the son of Shean McKnight, M.D., who completed his psychiatry residency with the department in 2015 and has remained part of the department's professional community. Dr. McKnight is a hospitalist with the Ascension Via Christi Behavioral Health Center on its St. Joseph campus in Wichita.

To honor Jarrett, the department created the McKnight Fund to help with the department's suicide prevention efforts, said Rachel Brown, MBBS, department chair.

Donations to the fund are being encouraged during the 24-hour giving campaign, One Day. One KU., on Thursday, Feb. 20.

"I'm super appreciative to KU" for creating the McKnight Fund, said Dr. McKnight. "It's hard when someone so young dies. I think about that when my daughters have kids; they won't know their uncle. You want someone to have a legacy, and this fund will keep his memory alive."

For Dr. McKnight, the memories of Jarrett remain vivid, of course.

Jarrett and his dad were particularly close, Dr. McKnight recalled, as the only males in the family that includes Jarrett's mother, Michelle, a counselor at Wichita's Clark Elementary School, older sister McKenzi, and twin sister, Sydni.

The entire family was incredibly close, Dr. McKnight said, as a result of having lived abroad while Dr. McKnight attended the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in Sint Maarten, where the children were home-schooled and where they usually found time as a family to snorkel and spend time at the beach.

Jarrett and his dad also shared a love of travel and food adventures. After graduating from Andover Central High School and moving out on his own, Jarrett would still return to the McKnight home so the pair could watch episodes of Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" show.

Jarrett had developed depression and anxiety - probably around his sophomore year in high school, Dr. McKnight said, as he looks back - and had gotten into substance abuse, which are among the risks for suicide.

"Even though I know about suicide intellectually and through my training, now I know about it more intimately," said Dr. McKnight, who thinks his personal, devastating experience has made him a more careful and deliberate practitioner.

24/7 free and confidential emotional support for those in suicidal crisis or emotional distress is available by calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255.