As a retired high school English teacher and boys’ basketball coach of 38 years, Tom Lowery has helped thousands of students negotiate the ups and downs of high school life. During that time, he noticed many of the challenges they faced weren’t all that different from the ones he had to face growing up: things like relationships, the battle for good grades, and the wins and losses of the sports world.

But during his last four years as a teacher, Tom saw a dramatic shift occur. Five students in his school took their own lives, and another school in the area suffered a mass shooting. Tom watched helplessly as the students at his school continued to be affected by the constant negativity that surrounded them. Cyberbullying increased, fear and anxiety overwhelmed them, and all this—coupled with the looming specter of climate change and the destruction of the planet—meant that suicide suddenly started to feel like a way out.

Tom began to ask himself why students nowadays are unable to handle life’s stressors. He reflected on his own relatively carefree childhood and how his parents raised him to be independent and deal with life’s ups and downs. In Jimmy Johnson Killed Himself Last Night, Tom shares insights and lessons from his own childhood that could help teachers and parents combat the stress and anxiety that kids feel today, giving them the tools to save lives.