The inaugural group of Hope Squad student leaders across Westerville’s high schools took their first steps learning how they can help support peers struggling with mental health.
For years, students have asked for programming specific to mental health education and wanted to play a key part of the program, education and awareness, said Tami Santa, director of Mental Health and Wellness. More than 100 students participated in training sessions this week through Hope Squad, a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program all high schools are implementing this fall.
Hope Squad advisors at each high school hosted training for student leaders who were nominated by their classmates as trustworthy peers. Students connected with their fellow Hope Squad leaders, creating a network of support with their advisors and each other. They learned more about their role for the coming school year, talked about being aware of their peers in need and recognized mental health/suicide warning signs and procedures to properly report those concerns to an adult in a timely manner.
“Remember, this is not on you,” Noelle Spriesterbach, a student assistance counselor and Hope Squad advisor at Westerville South High School, said to more than 40 student leaders during their training.
“Do what you can to support. Do what you can to help someone through hard times. I just want you to remember that when you start to feel stressed out, this is not on you,” she said. “It’s something you have to support through. And you guys are not alone — You’ve got each other. You’ve got us.”
Santa spent several years exploring options and worked with the Westerville Education Challenge (WEC) to secure financial support. Hope Squad, which has been adopted by more than 1,000 schools in 33 states, best served the district’s needs and is built on students leading the effort.
“Our biggest goal was to give tools to the kids who were hearing it and seeing it daily and help them feel that they are not alone and help them feel that there are people out there to help them, help their friends,” said WEC Board President Kristan Robertson, who is an instructional coach at Huber Ridge Elementary.
“Seeing these kids this week, listening to what they have seen and what they have heard totally validates this program and why we need it in this district.”
WEC raised enough money to fund Hope Squad at the high schools for five years and hope to eventually expand the program to the middle schools.
“We are really excited,” said Theresa Black, a school social worker and Hope Squad advisor at Westerville North High School. “The participation and enthusiasm from students was outstanding. They were asking awesome questions, had really excellent ideas and were clearly ready to get rolling and dive right in. That energized the entire group of students and adults for what’s ahead.”
Westerville North High School advisors are finalizing how they plan to integrate Hope Squad into their building.
Westerville Central High School launched a Fly Time period during the school day for student organizations to meet, including the Hope Squad. Student leaders can connect and plan activities for the entire school to do on Monday, which is dedicated to Social Emotional Learning during the Fly Time period. During extended Fly Time periods, which run 40 minutes, Hope Squad leaders will continue with the program’s curriculum.
“It’s a great time to start Hope Squad,” said Assistant Principal Eric Nickel, who is leading the Hope Squad effort at WCHS. “It’s going to be good to get everyone back together especially when they’ve been separated for so long. It’s going to be good to have support systems in place. Kids are super excited.”
Advisors at Westerville South High School extended their training to two days this week to give students more time to learn about resources and supports available to them and practice different scenarios in a safe space so they can better address situations with peers as they come up.
Hope Squad advisors are piloting Leadership in the 21st Century, which is a new class built around the Hope Squad curriculum, as well as different community engagement opportunities.
“We really wanted to expand on the ideas of the Hope Squad and being a helper and being an advocate with a real emphasis on how we use this as community engagement on a bigger level,” Spriesterbach said.
The class will also offer additional support for student leaders, helping them debrief and work one-on-one with advisors. In addition to the class, Hope Squad leaders will meet once a month after school to connect and plan events such as the school’s first-ever Hope Week.
“We do a lot of our trauma-informed care and teaching here so Hope Squad is a really good fit,” Spriesterbach said. “Our kids take care of each other and I like the idea of equipping them with tools to deal with it more effectively in a way that practices self-care.
Senior Kaiden Wolfe was honored to be nominated as a Hope Squad leader at WSHS. He recognizes the responsibility of the role and is excited to learn more about how we can help with classmates this year.
“People view me as a pillar, a rock to lean on and it means a lot to me,” he said.