Suicide Prevention Month is more than awareness, it’s action. One father shows how.
by Emma Sutton
When Brandon Guffey became a South Carolina state representative in 2023, he expected to spend his first year learning lawmaking at the state level, after transitioning from his previous role on York County Council. What he didn’t expect was that his most important work would quickly become personal. Months before taking office, Guffey and his family suffered the greatest loss imaginable—the death of his 17-year-old-son, Gavin.
Gavin, an artistic and creative teen, died by suicide after becoming the victim of an online sexual extortion scheme. Someone posing as a teenage girl tricked Gavin into sharing private images, threatening to publicize them unless he paid money. Within hours, the pressure and shame became overwhelming.
In his grief, Guffey considered leaving politics. When his wife reminded him that sharing their story could “save the next Gavin,” he knew he needed to raise awareness about mental health, teen suicide and online exploitation.
Soon after taking office, Guffey worked across party lines to pass Gavin’s Law, making sextortion a felony offense, with stronger penalties when minors are involved. It also requires schools to collaborate with state agencies to educate and teach students about the crime.
Guffey’s advocacy has extended beyond South Carolina. In late 2024, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz invited Guffey to Washington to share Gavin’s story. In January 2025, First Lady Melania Trump hosted a roundtable at the White House as part of her “Be Best” initiative. Guffey later testified before Congress and stood with national leaders as the Take It Down Act was signed into law, making it a federal crime to publish or threaten to publish intimate images without consent. The act also requires online platforms to remove these images within 48 hours of a request.
For Guffey and his family, knowing that Gavin’s story reached the first lady and helped shape national law is deeply meaningful.
“When this all began, I told myself I would run it until it reached people,” says Guffey. “To know it reached her makes a big difference.”
“Talk to your children early and often. Let them know that when mistakes happen, you’ll help them through it.”
Back home in Rock Hill, Guffey and his family founded the Less Than 3 Foundation, named for the “<3” heart symbol that Gavin shared in his last messages to his family and friends. The foundation promotes mental health awareness, safe technology use and sextortion prevention. Guffey speaks in schools across the state, handing out crisis hotline cards and telling young people, “Tomorrow needs you.”
Sextortion cases have risen alongside teens’ use of social media. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), suicide is the second leading cause of death for U.S. youth ages 10–14 and the third for ages 15–24. Nearly one in five high school students has seriously considered suicide, and Guffey states that more than 50% of suicides are impulsive, often decided in under 20 minutes. If a gun is involved, the decision can be made in less than three.
Guffey believes fighting this crisis requires a cultural shift toward empathy and grace.
“This crime targets all of our shame,” he says. Rather than guilting each other in these situations, he asks, “How much better would it be for people to hold each other accountable and lift each other up?”
His simple advice to parents—Talk to your children early and often.
“Let them know they’re not perfect, and neither are you. Share your own shame, and let them know that when mistakes happen, you’ll help them through it.”