Suicide Prevention for Children, Can It Be Done? Part II

If you have not already done so, please read Part I of this story, published on Friday, January 9.

Mr. Craig's Question

At the end of Part I, we left off with the question that Mr. Craig had posed to us nine years ago. Isn't there something that can be done with students in elementary school that could help prevent suicide?

At the time, I could not answer that question. I could not even imagine the answer to his question. But I carried it with me all these years.

A Suggested Made In Passing

While preparing to launch Jay Walkers, I spoke to a mentor/friend about our hopes and dreams for the organization and our mission. I told her we wanted to raise funds to support suicide prevention measures that work, and she injected, "Oh, like the Good Behavior Game." I was not entirely sure what that was, but I quickly jotted down the name in my datebook. I highlighted the name in orange, my cue to look it up later.

Eureka!

Months later, I found a moment to look up the orange-highlighted items in my datebook. When I searched "good behavior game," I was intrigued by what I found. According to the Paxis Institute, "The PAX Good Behavior Game® (PAX GBG) is a classroom-based universal preventive intervention used to teach students self-regulation and to build behavioral skills and stamina for focused attention and on-task behavior. Over 50 independent studies, including longitudinal research by Johns Hopkins University, demonstrate that students who receive the PAX Good Behavior Game® have significantly higher academic, behavioral, and lifetime outcomes."

This sounded great, but why did my friend recommend a classroom management initiative for Jay Walkers to support? She knows our focus is suicide prevention. I kept reading.

It turns out, the Good Behavior Game (GBG) has been around since the 1980's. Its longevity as a program has allowed researchers to measure not only the immediate benefits it offers to students and teachers in the classroom, but also the long-term impact students receive from participation in the game.

"Followup at ages 19–21 found significantly lower rates of drug and alcohol use disorders, regular smoking, antisocial personality disorder, delinquency and incarceration for violent crimes, suicide ideation, and use of school-based services among students who had played the GBG."

Wow, was I thrilled to find out this information! Mr. Craig was right! There is something that can be done in elementary schools that will reduce a student's risk for suicide as they grow. I so wish I could have called Mr. Craig to tell him what I had found. He would have been elated.

Jay Walkers Announces a Very Special Grant Program

Jay Walkers is committed to supporting evidence-based suicide prevention measures. The Pax Good Behavior Game is an ideal program for us to champion. And it only makes sense for us to establish GBG grants in loving memory of Mr. Craig, the one who put us on the path to discovering this incredible program.

Today, we are proud to announce the The Danny Craig Memorial Grant Fund to train teachers in the GBG. To kick off this grant fund, we are launching a special fundraising campaign on February 1, 2026. Every $600 raised during this campaign will fund one teacher's GBG training. We hope to raise enough for a cohort of teachers to be trained together.

In Loving Memory of Mr. Craig

Mr. Craig's insistence nine years ago that something should be done in elementary school to protect our kids was spot on. Something can be done. Through The Danny Craig Memorial Grant Fund, we can make the GBG possible for more students to benefit from the immediate and long-term benefits it offers.

We hope that Mr. Craig's commitment to young people and their futures inspires you to support this cause that is both evidence-based and deeply personal.

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