Our Mission

Rally communities to champion youth mental health and wellness through normalizing the topic, promoting education and providing tools for healthy emotional development.

Our Vision

We envision a world in which every individual is equipped with the tools necessary to understand, express, and seek support for themselves and others. It is a world free from the social stigmas surrounding mental health, with a complete understanding of its effects. It is a world in which suicide attempts are eliminated because depression and anxiety are detected and addressed starting at a young age.

Our Impact

We are currently involved in numerous initiatives such as: organizing community awareness events, partnering with other Louisville organizations to further support our mission in our immediate community, facilitating research efforts, implementing evidence-based research pilot programs, developing educational material, and establishing a strategic action plan that will lead to new monumental goals for 2023.

About Us

We are a community of vested individuals on a mission to empower today’s youth in their pursuit of a happy, mentally healthy life, free from the internal conflict and confusion brought on by depression and anxiety.  Changes in the way society views and accepts mental illness allow us to understand our personal struggles and give us the means to seek support.  In targeting today’s youth, we will achieve our goal through open communication, cooperation, and understanding of these issues within families, communities, and nations for tomorrow.

The Jones Family created The Pete Foundation for Depression Prevention after their beloved Pete took his life at the age of 23 on December 9, 2016.  It was a day of tragedy and disbelief that so many families around the world have endured.  The Jones Family decided to invest their efforts toward ensuring that no person would have to suffer silently in the way Pete suffered for 10 years.  It struck them that Pete was only able to convey the depth of his pain in a letter discovered after his death.

The life that inspired The Pete Foundation: Pete Jones

Born the second of a set of identical twins, Pete provided joy during his first year of life as his parents struggled through the care of his twin, Matt who suffered from a Ventricular septal defect (a VSD/a hole in his heart) with surgery at age 10 months.  Pete was our strong guy.  At 3 months of age he was twice the weight of Matt and had all the strength of a happy healthy baby.

Following Matt’s heart surgery, he quickly caught up to Pete in size and strength.  They became friends and playmates with a bond that all would envy.

The family was complete now with Mom and Dad, Jeffrey, Jack, Matt, Pete and Michelle. Their group of cousins, all living within a few miles of each other, were close in age and times together were full of love, fun and laughter.

Friend circles grew and Pete and Matt played easily and freely with other children, always sharing the same friendships. Pete and his brothers saw Michelle off to school on her first day, and celebrated at her high school graduation.

Pete loved basketball, as did his brother Matt. Together they started on their high school team, often playing the full game time.  They were awarded the alumni association award upon graduation.

College offered Pete choices.  Both the Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville and the University of Alabama offered Pete a full scholarship.  It was a difficult choice, but in the end, Pete decided to attend The University of Alabama where he studied Mechanical Engineering.  It was the perfect college for a young man with an unending love for football.

Graduation was four years later.  It was truly a happy day in Pete’s life.  The family attended, celebrated with Pete and were some of the few people in Tuscaloosa interested in watching the 2015 Derby.

Pete returned home to Louisville and attended the University of Louisville working on a Masters of Engineering in Industrial Engineering.  He continued his dedicated studies and attained a 4.0 in his first semester.

It was during his second semester that it began to fall apart for Pete.  He was unable to finish the semester.  This behavior alerted his parents that something was wrong for Pete.  He confided in them that he was “sad and didn’t know why”.  This was a clear sign that help was needed.  He accepted the offer to see a psychiatrist, and was under the regular care and guidance of a caring physician.  Pete felt comfortable and trusted his doctor.  Pete regularly talked to his parents about how he was doing and what he felt he needed.  But, sadly, there was clearly a lack of understanding of his true inner struggles.  Pete expressed in a final note he left that he suffered from the age of 13 or 14 and that there was no way we could understand how he felt.  In one instant, Pete left many people who cared for him suffering with his death; but it must be kept in mind that in that same moment, Pete lost everyone who loved him.  The suffering must have been immense.