Concerned with the prevalence of anxiety and depression within their school community, and grieving after losing several peers to suicide, Westerville students felt hopeless and wanted to know what they could do to bring awareness to mental health issues.
By adopting the Hope Squad program, Westerville’s high school students now have the tools to make a greater impact when it comes to mental health within their social circles, gaining some of their hope back.
“From 2019 to 2021, there was a 45 percent increase in suicidality in adolescents,” Jessica D. Martin, a licensed social worker and the director of student well-being at Westerville City Schools, says. “I feel that schools are such an impactful place for kids. Outside of the home, kids spend more time here than anywhere else, so how can we get in front of them to give them information to continue to grow their social-emotional skills and build their resilience so that we don't have these numbers continuing to climb?”
Peers for Prevention
The importance of peer-to-peer connection is a central component of a Utah-based initiative known as Hope Squad. Adopted by schools nationwide it brings awareness to topics such as preventing suicide, bullying, safety, self-care and more.
When the district decided to launch its own Hope Squads, students were encouraged to nominate peer leaders who they felt were trustworthy and good listeners.
Club advisors made sure to choose a diverse group of leaders who were involved with various activities such as sports, theatre, academic clubs, etc.
“We want to make sure that every group is represented in Hope Squad so that our Hope Squad students look like the whole school population,” Jessica D. Martin, a licensed social worker and the director of student well-being at Westerville City Schools, says.
These selected students then went through suicide prevention training over summer break, mostly focusing on a suicide prevention method known as Q.P.R. which consists of asking questions, persuading someone struggling to get help and referring them to appropriate professionals.
Courtesy of Westerville City Schools
Students learn this technique so they can be designated safe resources that other students know they can talk to about their mental health. Every year new leaders are nominated and trained, while others graduate and take the skills they learned with them on their journey.
“It’s really to continue to decrease that stigma and empower students to be an active part in helping their peers,” Martin says. “They are always going to know information before us adults, so equipping them with the right tools to be able to navigate that with their peers is going to change how mental health is perceived, but also making sure that kids get early intervention if they're having any kind of struggles.”
Hope Squad clubs officially began holding meetings at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. As of this year, each high school has an average of 70-90 students involved in the initiative, with plans to expand into the district’s middle schools in the future.
Nabiha Ilkaqor, a Hope Squad leader at South, says she joined the club because she wanted a space to talk with her peers about mental health topics. She has always been someone there to support those who need it, but she was also dealing with her own mental health struggles at that time.
Courtesy of Westerville City Schools
Nabiha Ilkaqor presents at a Hope Squad Meeting
Becoming a leader helped her not only gain confidence but also gave her a community and more knowledge about mental health. The skills that she’s learned have not only helped her look out for others’ mental health but also her own.
“I’ve come from a Somali community where there’s a stigma around mental health and so it gave me a sense of belonging,” Ilkaqor says. “I had advisors, especially Hope Squad advisors, that were there for me no matter what.”
Looking at the Bigger Picture
Apart from training leaders, club meetings usually teach a lesson on self-care and healthy relationships led by advisors and occasionally student leaders.
Noelle Spriestersbach, mental health specialist, school social worker and Hope Squad advisor at South, says the last thing the advisors want to do is put more pressure on students’ shoulders, so she emphasizes the importance of taking breaks, asking for help and making sure students are taking time for themselves.
“I think sometimes in our culture, we’re kind of like, ‘No, I’ll take care of everybody else,’ and so really just talking about how taking care of yourself is vital in taking care of everyone else, the more tools you have to take care of yourself, the more tools you then have as resources for other people and suggestions for them and how they can practice self-care,” Spriestersbach says.
Courtesy of Westerville City Schools
Covering these topics has led to discussing larger implications of considering diversity and different cultures when talking about mental health.
“The most valuable thing is the diversity aspect, not only the people that we interact with but diverse ideas,” Ilkaqor says. “It’s important that we have hard conversations about forgiveness and understanding the stigma around mental health and why they exist in certain communities to help further our impact.”
Spreading Hope
Every January each school’s Hope Squad participates in Hope Week, during which participating schools nationwide host fun activities, write notes of encouragement and promote kindness, positivity, and acceptance. They create excitement around the week and its message by holding themed spirit days such as pajama day and jersey day.
Martin says ‘Hope Week’ isn’t the only time when Hope Squad members take action to promote mental health awareness and suicide prevention.
Courtesy of Westerville City Schools
“We’ve attended cross country events and had a booth to talk about mental health awareness. There have been some football games in September, it’s Suicide Prevention Month, so South and Central do their football games where they encourage everyone to wear teal and purple – which are suicide prevention colors – and Hope Squad members are there and they hand out information and try to get the word out that way,” she says.
Ilkaqor is set to graduate from South this spring, but she hopes to see Hope Squad continue to expand and spread awareness for mental health issues and suicide.
“I definitely want it to expand into the middle school fully and in the elementary school and this is something I talk to our superintendent about,” Ilkaqor says. “That transition from elementary school to middle school to high school is so important and making sure the students know that they have these resources because of the rise in depression and anxiety that we’re seeing, especially in the young people that are going to be part of the future.”
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
